Court approves portion of the $626.25 million -Flint Water Settlement

It’s a long but well sourced article concerning the recent and historic settlement approved by the Court.

Given the topic of this article it just seemed horribly insensitive and rather tone deaf for me to include a video of the beach. Yes I try to be mindful on maters that relate to facts…

May 2020 baby -I have the receipts too-

Also just when I finally accepted that retrieving my past twitter & blog research —of which it was a prolific amount of data, Court filings, EPA Reports —surrounding the ongoing Flint MI water contamination is all but lost —forever flushed down the twitter toilet - the unexpected occurred:

May 2020 Twitter 6thCCOAs thread

The notion that I’m a hyper partisan hack, actually strains credulity. My track record has proven that I’m not bound to the “Us v Them” mentality and my history proves I’m an equal opportunity PITA. My long time followers will recall the countless threads and solid research which included a cornucopia of original documents. So when I miraculously find an archive of my old research —it’s like getting a present you didn’t expect.

Late last week — United States District Judge, Judith E. Levy, Eastern District of Michigan issued a 178 page order in case styled as:

Waid v. Snyder circa February 8, 2021

February 2016 EDMI Case No 5:16-cv-10444 ( via ECF)

As you’ll note in the embedded May 2020 Twitter thread I primarily focuses on the 6thCCOAs case(s). See ECF links for the following cases: 

• U.S. Court of Appeals - Sixth Circuit 19-01425

• U.S. Court of Appeals - Sixth Circuit, 19-01472

• U.S. Court of Appeals - Sixth Circuit, 19-01477

• U.S. Court of Appeals - Sixth Circuit, 19-01533

• U.S. Court of Appeals - Sixth Circuit, 20-01352

• U.S. Court of Appeals - Sixth Circuit, 21-00103

The ruling is nearly five yes FIVE years in the making and to be clear this is only a partial settlement. I also think it is very important to understand that according to the Environmental Protection Agency (sorry for yelling)

EPA …there is no known safe level of lead in a child's blood…

The known adverse impacts to children, specifically long term exposure to heavy metals which is predominantly ingested by drinking water, water for brushing your teeth and bath/shower —in children is particularly egregious -as the EPA reports and data make clear, any amount of heavy metals in child’s bloodstream is directly linked to;

• Negative health effects of drinking water with a lead presence include behavioral issues,

  • a lower IQ,

  • hyperactivity,

  • slowed growth,

  • anemia,

  • cardiovascular effects,

  • decreased kidney function and

  • reproductive problems

In the recent 178 page Order/Opinion the Court held and this is pretty important -concerning class members and “non-class members”…

“The settlement reached here is a remarkable achievement for many reasons, not the least of which is that it sets forth a comprehensive compensation program and timeline that is consistent for every qualifying participant, regardless of whether they are members of a class or are non-class individuals represented by their own counsel,"

As noted by the Court -a separate order will be forthcoming as it relates to the expected $60 Million in litigation cost…and welcome to my actual wheelhouse…

The point is the former Michigan Governor knew exactly what he was doing. I think a socioeconomic (specifically demographics) one could argue that the lack of urgency by the State of Government (under Governor Synder Administration) disproportionately impacted the Community of Color that considers Detroit home. This assertion can be backed up with data from the US Census and that data is further aggregated:

In 2020 the US Census noted that the African American population for Detroit, MI ¹² -which fell to 493,212 in 2020, compared to 586,573 in 2010. Black residents made up 82.2% of the overall population 10 years ago, but only 77.2% today, according to the census.

Similarly the US Census Data for Flint MI the demographics actually mirror Detroit but there’s one significant deviation: Black or African American: 54.08% but Flint MI. Census data reflects that the plurality of Black or African American population in 2010 was 15.2% and in 2020 15.3% those are statewide numbers. What is worrisome is the population grown was effectively flat 2010 v 2020 but part of that lack of growth could be rationalized that some of the population considers themselves “other” mixed raced. But again that’s how I read the Michigan Statewide Census data and you can formula your own deductions by reading the same US Census data too - but I’d also recommend that you read the August 12, 2021 UM-Flint Office of Economic Development data

UM-Flint Office of Economic Development August 2021

As noted in the recent Order/Memorandum the Flint water crisis isn’t fixed. And yes of course this historic settlement will help ease the financial burden shouldered by the residence of Flint MI but the long term injuries won’t be actualized for years to come. That is the brutal reality of settlements like this. As previously mentioned the EPA states unequivocally that no, zero, zilch, nada amount of lead in water is safe for children.

…Plaintiffs are tens of thousands of Minors, Adults, individuals and entities who owned or leased residential property, and individuals and entities who owned or operated a business, all of whom allege that they suffered losses and damages resulting from Defendants’ roles in the Flint Water Crisis. The Defendants participating in the settlement…are not all of the Defendants involved in the Flint Water litigation, and accordingly, this settlement is only a partial settlement of the Flint Water cases

The real concern here is the long term adverse health impacts to thousands of Flint, MI children. That is incredibly worrisome catastrophe that needs to be carefully balanced. Because throwing money at injured parties is fine —as long as that money flow is properly managed, which this case/Court seems to have taken in to consideration. Moreover there is an equal and proportionate distribution of the funds.

Notwithstanding some funds should be bifurcated from the various settlements to account for the long term “health injury” much of which won’t be actualized until these children grow up and the potential fertility issues is something that should be scrutinized. Because (sorry to repeat myself) those injuries might not materialized until Flint Children grow up. And the downside is there isn’t a lot of scientific data to make an informed decision. Which is deeply problematic because settlements should have a longevity plan or at the minimum a projection of long term care some of these children need.

For Example on page 7 which breaks down the various Defendants. And yes water rights (more broadly property rights underground water/aquifers/wells), contaminates and public utilities are in my actual wheelhouse. As in I do this kind of specific subject matter research almost every day. When I read page 6 my immediate impression was OMFG the healthcare Defendants I had completely forgotten that -yikes.

McLaren Health Care Corporation, McLaren Regional Medical Center, and McLaren Flint Hospital are also Defendants…

To be clear there’s complex litigation but then there’s Flint.Mi Water complex litigation -as further elucidated by the Court. As you’ll note on pages 7 & 8 (bates number) there have been several classes, subclasses (of which the Court created six subclasses), Court Appointed Special Master (who’s charged with providing the Court with quarterly reports and two Court appointed mediators, as well as Court appointed Subclass Settlement Counsel…

August of 2020, Plaintiffs and the State Defendants announced that they had reached an agreement to settle their claims for $600 million. In October of 2020, Plaintiffs and the City Defendants preliminarily agreed to a $20,000,000 settlement, which required approval from the Flint City Council on or before December 31, 2020. The Flint City Council voted to join the settlement on December 21, 2020. (ECF No. 1357, PageID.42106.) Plaintiffs and the McLaren Defendants also agreed to settle for $20 million, and Plaintiffs and Rowe agreed to settle for $1.25 million.

Again you can either pay for the Nov 2021 Court Order/Memo via EDMI-ECF or you can pull dow the 177+ page Order/memo from my Scribd account -and look at that (gasp clutching my pearls) I didn’t type a single curse word and I’m pretty sure I’m on the lower threshold of spelling and grammatical errors.

Frankly if you’re only criticism of my writing/reporting is “bad spelling” — clearly you do not understand the amount of facts and original documents I provide my readers. All while shoulder the cost and exposing pretty complex matters into layman’s terms —but the reality is, if you lack the intellectual capacity to overlook my proclivity to misspell. News flash English was my second language so what exactly is your excuse? In fact what is the excuse of our Founding Fathers and their numerous “spelling errors” in our Country’s founding documents. Also when said grammar/spelling police, as a layperson who clearly had a minimal comprehension of legal or legislative filings do not understand what […] means or (sic) —I can’t help you. Well I mean I could help you…

…the thing is I just don’t want to help trolls/stalkers. I do find it amusing that those who criticize actually do little to no research and they consistently failed to add value to various debates. Everything and I mean everything I research and publish fun fact -YES- I actually read all the supporting documents. Every. Darn. Page.

And guess what I’m not paid a single dime -I have a job so I don’t need to grift. Wait a minute how absentminded of me. Yes of course I’m paid, my payment has been doxing, death threats, swatting, injecting malware into various devices (sink hold you dummies), harassment of my family (including my siblings) and constantly looking over my shoulder because my four primary stalkers/trolls have repeatedly put my home address, my unpublished telephone numbers and emails on Twitter -yes it was so much fun seeing pictures of my children being tweeted out too. Actions have consequences and I’m not in control of those consequences.

In the gif below you’re either the predator or prey…choose wisely because I have.

Also to properly set my readers expectations -I’m skipping writing until November 18th. Those who have known me for any amount of time, already know this is notoriously my busy season (Nov thru late Jan). And not to belabor the point -I write in my “copious” free time. During this time of year I’m up and out the door by 4:55AM so I can drive the 2.5 hours to the General Assembly —it’s not like lobbying can be done remotely— we tried that last year and it was an epic train wreck.

Also because last week my employer/client closed several offices because more than a handful of employees didn’t get vaccinated and now hundreds of employees are either sick with break through COVID infections, thankfully recuperating at home -while several others are in the ICU on vent.

Please get the vaccine, unless of course you have a medical reason that precludes you from getting it. FTR it’s really selfish if you work with immunocompromised individuals and you’re shedding the virus to nearly 1,200+ employees & contractors —whispers those of us who are vaccinated are absolutely judging you with judgey-eyes. And that’s why I closed the elevator door when I saw you were coming my way.

Make a plan to get your vaccine https://www.vaccines.gov -I’m tired of seeing coworkers getting sick and getting other sick just because ‘Mah Freedom -no mask COVIDiots you are really testing our patience. Totally not a sermon (snort)

-Filey

1. See 2010 US Census Black Population -plurality of all states https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf -last accessed November 12, 2021

2. See 2020 NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE’S STATE OF THE 2020 CENSUS:AN ACCURATE BLACK COUNT AT RISK -https://nul.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/State_of_the_2020_Census_Black_Count.pdf -last accessed November 12, 2021