FLINT, MI – Children 6 years old and younger during the Flint water crisis are the biggest potential beneficiaries of a historic $600-million settlement with the state of Michigan.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel announced some details of the deal, which would set up a claims process for Flint residents harmed by lead or bacteria in their water, on Thursday, Aug. 20.
“Several things need to happen before this agreement can be finalized and because of those steps, many of the details must remain confidential for the time being,” Nessel said in a video statement released by her office Thursday morning.
Nearly 80 percent of the settlement, which state officials said is likely the largest in Michigan history, would be paid to children who were younger than 18 when they were first exposed to Flint River water, which contained elevated levels of lead and bacteria in 2014 and 2015.
Although Flint children will be eligible to recover part of the settlement without proof of personal injury, adults will be eligible to recover compensation only with proof of personal injury. A formula would provide larger individual payments to those who can show personal injuries, blood or bone lead levels, or who lived in homes with lead service lines.
How Michigan will pay for the settlement – more than the state has paid in court judgments and settlements in the last 10 fiscal years combined – wasn’t immediately announced.
“What happened in Flint should have never happened, and financial compensation with this settlement is just one of the many ways we can continue to show our support for the city of Flint and its families,” Whitmer said in a statement issued Thursday.
Attorneys for the state and Flint residents have been in mediation for more than 18 months in an effort to settle more than 100 lawsuits filed against city and state officials and agencies as well as private companies that advised the city as it struggled to keep lead and bacteria in its water under control during the water crisis.
Approximately 28,000 claims of damage or injuries from individuals are already pending in civil lawsuits filed in state and federal courts.
The lawsuits will continue, but state agencies and employees, including former Gov. Rick Snyder, will no longer be defendants if a federal court judge, a state Court of Appeals judge and Genesee Circuit Court Judge Joseph Farah accept the settlement -- something that could happen after the settlement is finalized in the next 45 days.
Attorney Corey Stern, co-liaison for residents, called the settlement “the first chapter toward closure for the residents of Flint…”
“Most importantly, the settlement recognizes the effects the crisis had, and will continue to have on the children of Flint. Despite some who would have preferred a different model, the kids won,” Stern said.
Injuries of children will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, “with the most damaged receiving the most compensation,” the attorney said.
The full settlement was not released by the state, but a document highlighting the deal shows Flint’s youngest children at the time of the water crisis stand to gain the most from it.
After accounting for attorney fees and administrative expenses, the agreement specifies that about 80 percent of the settlement fund will be spent on the claims of children who were minors when first exposed to the Flint River water, with a large majority of that amount -- 64.5 percent -- for those who were ages 6 and under when they were first exposed to Flint River water.
Ten percent of the settlement would be awarded to children ages 7-11, and 5 percent would be allocated for those 12-17 years old.
Two percent of the settlement would be earmarked for special education services in Genesee County, the Department of Attorney General said, and 18 percent of the funds are to be spent on claims of adults and for lead exposure and property damage.
Approximately 1 percent of the settlement would pay claims for business losses.
While ingestion of lead causes long-term health harm in adults, its effect on young children is especially profound, including potential damage to the brain and nervous system, according to the World Health Organization.
In Flint during the water crisis, the percentage of children with elevated blood lead levels nearly doubled citywide, and nearly tripled among children in “high risk” areas of lead exposure, according to research by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha.
For adults, the settlement establishes a filing process for those who want to submit damage claims to a court-approved claims administrator. Those who meet certain conditions, including having owned or lived in a home that received water treated by the Flint water treatment plant in 2014 and 2015, would qualify.
Owners and renters of residential property in the city who received Flint water between April 25, 2014, and July 31, 2016, will be eligible to recover property-related compensation, the agreement says.
Because the amount to be paid to each person with a claim will in part depend on how many settlement claims are verified, the precise amount to be paid for each claim “will not be known until the claims process is completed,” the terms of the deal say.
Attorneys involved in the case said Flint residents who want to apply for a portion of the settlement will have to wait for acceptance of it by the courts and the appointment of the claims administrator. Residents who have an attorney, who have filed a lawsuit and those who have yet to file any claim can request payment from the settlement.
In a statement released by her office, Nessel said if the settlement is approved, the state will have contributed more than $1 billion in aid related to the water crisis, including $97 million for lead and galvanized steel service line replacements.
Those home service lines were damaged by improperly treated, corrosive water drawn from the Flint River for 17 months in 2014 and 2015, researchers have said. The water caused lead to leach from service lines and home plumbing into residents’ tap water.
State-appointed emergency financial managers made a series of decisions that led to the switch in the city’s water source, and state agencies responsible for oversight spent more than a year denying residents’ claims that their water was unsafe to drink.
“Providing relief for the people of Flint and resolving these long-standing legal disputes has been a top priority for me since taking office,” Nessel’s statement says. “Flint residents have endured more than most, and to draw out the legal back-and-forth even longer would have achieved nothing but continued hardship.
“This settlement focuses on the children and the future of Flint, and the state will do all it can to make this a step forward in the healing process for one of Michigan’s most resilient cities. Ultimately, by reaching this agreement, I hope we can begin the process of closing one of the most difficult chapters in our state’s history.”
The agreement with the state was reached through mediation with two court-appointed mediators -- retired U.S. Sen. Carl Levin and retired Wayne County Circuit Judge Pamela R. Harwood -- and Nessel urged other defendants in other cases, including Veolia North America and Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, to join in settling remaining complaints for damages against them.
Separate litigation against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will also continue, according to a statement released by two attorneys who are interim co-lead class counsel for residents.
Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley thanked Whitmer for the settlement in a statement issued Thursday.
“We appreciate her leadership with this issue that she inherited and we appreciate that she was able to come to an amicable settlement with attorneys representing the residents of the city of Flint,” the statement says. “We look forward to seeing the actual terms of this settlement, and hope that it will provide a path to resolve this litigation.”
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