April 20, 2024
A proposed class of 45,000 Flint, Michigan, property owners, businesses and adult residents on Friday urged a Michigan federal court to give the go-ahead to a $25 million settlement with Veolia North America, the last remaining engineering defendant in sprawling litigation over the city’s water crisis.
In a memorandum filed in support of the motion for preliminary approval, the proposed class said the deal had been reached through arm’s-length mediation by counsel well-versed in the case after eight years of litigation.
The proposed class added that while they are confident they would succeed at court, they’re not certain, and the settlement is fair and preferable to the potential pitfalls of continuing the litigation, such as adverse rulings and extended appeals of favorable ones.
“This settlement is an important step to bringing some closure to the Flint community,” Ted Leopold of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, representing the class, said in a statement Friday. “We hope the court will swiftly approve the unopposed motion for settlement against VNA, so the community can put the Flint water crisis behind them and move forward and rebuild their lives.”
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Leopold added in an email Friday, “We look forward to moving the approval process along as quickly as we can in order to help bring closure to this sad chapter in the life of the Flint community.”
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The class is represented by Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Pitt McGehee Palmer Bonanni & Rivers PC, Weitz & Luxenberg PC, Susman Godfrey LLP, Motley Rice LLC, the Law Offices of Teresa A. Bingman PLLC, Bronstein Gewirtz & Grossman LLC, the Law Offices of Deborah A. LaBelle, the NAACP, Goodman Hurwitz & James PC, Trachelle C. Young & Associates PLLC, Dedendum Group LLC, McKeen & Associates PC, the Law Office of Cirilo Martinez PLLC, Shea Aiello PLLC, Cynthia M. Lindsey & Associates PLLC, McAlpine PC, and the Abood Law Firm.
Read Flint Class Urges Approval of $25M Water Firm Settlement.