Lawyers hosting town halls to help Flint residents file water crisis claims

• In February, Flint residents reached a $25 million settlement with the engineering firm involved in the city’s water crisis 
• Many Flint water crisis claimants have received notices that they are missing paperwork 
• The co-lead class counsel for the settlement is hosting a series of free, virtual town halls to assist claimants

Attorneys for plaintiffs in the Flint water crisis are hosting a series of virtual town halls starting Wednesday to help people who are filing claims in the $25 million settlement with engineering firm Veolia North America. 

Many settlement claimants have been told that they are missing documents, which could prevent them from receiving money from the settlement if not turned in within 30 days of receiving notice of missing documentation. 

The first town hall will be at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The meetings are free to anyone looking for assistance. All attendees must pre-register for the meeting to receive the link.

Additional town hall meetings will be 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 24 and 3 p.m. on Sunday, July 28. 

Leslie Mitchell Kroeger of law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll and Channing Robinson-Holmes of Pitt McGehee Palmer Bonanni & Rivers, the co-lead class counsel, will assist Flint residents with claims and answer questions.

Related:

• Flint residents reach $25M settlement with engineers in water crisis case
• Flint water crisis still crippling kids’ futures. But not because of lead
• Judge holds Flint in contempt for continued lead pipe replacement delays

Flint residents reached a settlement with the engineering firm in February, in a class-action lawsuit that dragged on for eight years. 

Veolia North America’s decision to settle came just days before a trial was set to begin later in February. Claimants are expected to receive $1,500 each from the settlement. 

The city hired the company to help fix water-quality problems, but the class-action lawsuit alleged that the company failed to identify corroding pipes and ignored signs of contamination. Veolia has said it stands by its work in Flint and that it made recommendations that were “almost entirely ignored.” 

Another engineering firm, Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, settled with the city in 2023 for $8 million.

Flint residents have received a total of over $655 million in settlements from the water crisis.  

It has been a decade since the state-appointed emergency manager switched Flint’s water source from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to the Flint River in 2014 causing catastrophic damage. 

The emergency manager at the time did not require anti-corrosion chemicals, which would have prevented lead from leaching out of the pipes.