US Supreme Court clears the way for Michigan citizens to sue over the Flint water crisis by turning away officials’ appeal claiming they are ‘immune’ to charges
- Between 2014 and 2015, residents of Flint were exposed to drinking water contaminated with lead
- Thousands have sued, but city and state officials argued they should be immune from lawsuits
- Lower courts rejected this argument, but it was appealed before being rejected by the US Supreme Court on Tuesday
- More than 25,000 people say they’ve been harmed through exposure or have experienced ailments such as rashes and hair loss
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal for immunity from legal action made by Flint, Michigan city officials, clearing the way for residents to sue the city and state over the infamous water crisis.
Between 2014 and 2015, hundreds of thousands of residents were exposed to drinking water that been contaminated with lead.
Lawsuits were quickly filed alleging that public officials had knowingly allowed the city’s water supply to become contaminated
Officials argued they should be immune from being sued, but the lower courts rejected the argument.
The ruling was appealed, but the nine Supreme Court justices turned away the case on Tuesday, meaning the lawsuits filed by residents can move forward.
The US Supreme Court has declined to take a case regarding the 2014 water crisis in Flint, Michigan, meaning lawsuits by residents against city and state officials will be allowed to proceed. Pictured: The Flint Water Plant tower, February 2016
In April 2014, Flint changed its drinking water source from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the Flint River to reduce costs during a financial crisis.
However, corrosion inhibitors were not applied to the water, allowing lead to leach from aging pipes into the water supply.
More than 100,000 residents, including as many as 12,000 children, were exposed to elevated lead levels.
Lead is a powerful neurotoxin that can accumulate in the bloodstream, settling into the bones, teeth and soft tissues and building up in the body – damaging organs and affecting the central nervous system.
Previous research has also found that lead poisoning can stunt children’s cognitive development. No level of exposure is considered safe.
In January 2015, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department offered to reconnect Flint with Lake Huron, even proposing to waive the $ 4million fee to restore service.
However, city officials declined, concerned about having to pay higher rates for their water down the line.
The city switched back to water from Detroit in October 2015, but the damage from the crisis was already done.
In addition to the lead poisoning, the contaminated river water had also triggered an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, which is a severe form of pneumonia caused by inhaling water droplets containing legionella bacteria.
Between June 2014 and November 2015, at least 12 people were killed by the infection and dozens of others were sickened.
Lawsuits over Flint’s water have proliferated in recent years.
According to court records, the number of people who have reported being harmed through exposure to contaminants in Flint, including lead and bacteria, or who experienced ailments such as rashes and hair loss, has reached more than 25,000, including more than 5,000 children under age 12.
The suit before the justices was filed in 2016 by two Flint residents including Shari Guertin, who said that she and her child were exposed to high levels of lead.
Residents argue their rights are being violated under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantee of due process under the law, under which people can be protected from government-induced harm to their personal security or health, a legal principle known as ‘bodily integrity.’
Flint’s water crisis and the city and state’s alleged refusal to address it amount to an abuse of power that inflicted harm and suffering on the citizens, their lawsuits claim.
Courts have previously enforced the right to confront abuses of power in cases of direct physical intrusion, such as non-consensual medical procedures or forced drug administration.
The city and state officials argued the lower courts have gone too far and don’t have the right to punish them for policy decisions that result in public exposure to environmental toxins.
They also argued they are protected from the claims through a legal doctrine known as ‘qualified immunity’ because they could not have known they could be held liable for ‘doing the best they could in difficult circumstances with limited information.’
However, a three-judge panel ruled against the officials in January, saying they had officials ‘created the Flint Water environmental disaster and then intentionally attempted to cover up their grievous decision.’
The 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals declined to take the case before it reached the US Supreme Court.