A federal district judge found the city of Flint, Michigan in contempt for its failure to finish the replacement of lead-contaminated pipes in the city’s water supply system according to a timeline laid out in a 2023 court order.
The order, released Tuesday, granted a motion from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) which sought to enforce a 2017 settlement where the city agreed to deadlines for remediation and replacement of the contaminated pipes. The settlement also required outreach to residents regarding their rights to remediation as well as progress reports to ensure compliance with the settlement’s terms.
The city began missing deadlines shortly after the finalization of the settlement, and the plaintiffs subsequently sought a motion for contempt six different times to hold the city accountable. In 2023, Judge David Lawson granted an order enforcing the settlement with a detailed list of actions the city was required to take, along with new deadlines for the work.
In their most recent motion to hold the city in contempt, the plaintiffs alleged the city failed to inform residents that their homes were eligible for service line replacement, failed to determine other addresses where restoration work was necessary and failed to “provide accurate and complete monthly restoration reports.” They also sought an increase in litigation costs which the settlement agreement had ordered state parties to pay, but which had been capped at $895,000.
The court held that the city failed to demonstrate that they “took reasonable steps within [their] power to comply with” the 2023 order and further held that the city only attempted to comply with the order after the plaintiffs had made the most recent motion to hold the city in civil contempt.
Despite the failures, the city completed much of the work after the most recent motion and avoided compensatory sanctions, with Judge Lawson tentatively agreeing to increased attorney fees for the latest proceedings, but limiting the remedy to time spent trying to enforce the 2023 order. Lawson wrote of the original settlement’s fee cap: “The court found that though the City’s performance of its obligations under the Settlement Agreement has been woefully dilatory, and the delay in replacing the service lines impacts the health and welfare of the community, it cannot be said that the Agreement has been transformed thereby into ‘an instrument of wrong,’ at least not to the extent that would justify a blanket approval for additional attorney’s fees for future enforcement efforts.” The court instructed plaintiffs to come forward with reasonable attorney’s fees for the court’s approval.
Flint City Attorney William Kim issued a statement Wednesday praising the limitations of damages and expressing ire at the plaintiff’s fee adjustment request:
We appreciate that the court recognized that the City of Flint corrected the issues raised by the NRDC in the spring of 2023. This included completing outreach to over 31,000 addresses and a full inventory of restoration needs and reporting. While the court held the City in contempt, we appreciate that the court denied the NRDC’s request to hold Flint’s Mayor in contempt, impose daily fines of $500 on the City, and give the NRDC a right to attorney fees for any future motions. However, we are disappointed that the Court is allowing the NRDC to seek attorney fees for their motion, over and above the $895,000 that the plaintiffs’ attorneys previously received. We will review any NRDC requests for fees very closely and will seek to minimize any additional burden on the City’s taxpayers.
The Flint water crisis began a decade ago in 2014 when the city made a cost-cutting move to switch the city’s water supply from Detroit-treated water from Lake Huron to the Flint River, whose water was treated at a local Flint treatment plant. The plant failed to treat the water with the proper corrosion control chemicals, causing lead and other chemicals to leech into the water supply. The contamination forced Flint’s population of 100,000 to rely on bottled water for basic tasks like cooking, washing and cleaning. Reports of the water’s foul odor, taste and toxic effects accompanied an outbreak of Legionnaires disease which killed 12 and sickened 87. A $600 million settlement for residents affected by the crisis was reached in 2020 and finally approved in 2023.
In Wednesday’s statement, Flint City Attorney Kim said lead service line identification and replacement have been completed at some 29,485 addresses, and that “there are approximately 30 addresses requiring lead service line excavation remaining.”
Editor’s note: This story originally ran on Wednesday, March 13. The original text, written by Sean Nolan, has been updated to include a statement from the City of Flint. JURIST Editorial Director Ingrid Burke Friedman contributed to these updates.
