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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 22 January 2021
Judge gives preliminary OK to $641M Flint water deal

By ED WHITE torney General Dana Nes-
Associated Press sel and Gov. Gretchen
DETROIT (AP) — A judge Whitmer, both Democrats,
granted preliminary ap- who were elected in 2018
proval Thursday to a $641 while the litigation was
million deal that would ben- pending.
efit thousands of Flint resi- The agreement makes
dents who were harmed by money available to ev-
lead-contaminated water. ery Flint child who was ex-
The settlement includes posed to the water, every
$600 million from the state adult who can show an
of Michigan, although Flint, injury, certain business own-
an area hospital and an ers and anyone who paid
engineering firm are also water bills, Levy said. Flint
part of the agreement. U.S. switched back to a Detroit
District Judge Judith Levy regional water agency in
signed off in a 72-page fall 2015, when Dr. Mona
opinion. Hanna-Attisha publicly re-
"There may be no amount ported elevated lead lev-
of money that would fully els in children.
recognize the harm the res- Attorneys representing Flint
idents of Flint have experi- residents have said 80% of
enced, including their anxi- payments will go to people
ety, fear, distrust and anger In this Jan. 13, 2021 file photo, vehicles drive through downtown Flint, Mich. who were under 18 when
over the events of the last Associated Press the river water was used.
seven years," Levy said. "Liti- The estates of people who
gation has its benefits but They will have until March through taps. charged last week with died from Legionnaires'
also its limitations, and the 29 to register to participate. Separately, experts have two misdemeanor counts would qualify for $300,000
preliminary approval of this Flint managers appointed blamed the river water of willful neglect of duty to $1.5 million.
settlement does not affect by then-Gov. Rick Snyder for an outbreak of Legion- in Flint. Eight other people The judge has not yet de-
or preclude other avenues and regulators in his ad- naires' disease, which led were also charged, includ- termined legal fees.
of redress." ministration allowed the to at least 12 deaths in the ing two health department "At last, the victims of the
Preliminary approval trig- city to use the Flint River in Flint area. They believe officials who are blamed Flint water crisis no longer
gers a monthslong process 2014-15 without treating there wasn't enough chlo- for the deaths of nine peo- have to hope for a day of
during which Flint residents the water to reduce corro- rine in the water to fight off ple with Legionnaires'. reckoning," said attorney
can object and pursue sion. As a result, lead in old bacteria. The settlement was an- Corey Stern, who repre-
their own claims, Levy said. pipes broke off and flowed Snyder, a Republican, was nounced in August by At- sents 4,000 people.q

Judge: NY lawsuit seeking NRA's dissolution can go forward

ed tens of millions of dollars The NRA has been incor- ing, NRA lawyer Sarah Rog-
for trips, no-show contracts porated in New York since ers said the organization
and other expenditures. 1871, though it is head- had no position on seeking
James is the state's chief quartered in Virginia and to stay the case through
law enforcement officer last week filed for bank- bankruptcy, but that it re-
and has regulatory power ruptcy protection in Texas served right to seek such or-
over nonprofit organiza- in a bid to reincorporate in ders from bankruptcy court
tions incorporated in the that state. in the future.
state, such as the NRA, Co- The NRA, in announcing its Normally, a bankruptcy
hen said. bankruptcy filing last Friday, filing would halt all pend-
"It would be inappropriate said it wanted to break free ing litigation. James' office
to find that the attorney of a "corrupt political and contends that its lawsuit is
couldn't pursue her claims regulatory environment in covered by an exemption
in state court just because New York" and that it saw involving a state's regula-
one of the defendants Texas as friendlier to its in- tory powers and cannot be
wants to proceed in fed- terests. stopped by bankruptcy.
In this Jan. 18, 2019, file photo, an attendee at a gun-rights ral-
ly wears a hat supporting the National Rifle Association, at the eral court," Cohen said at The NRA's lawyers said at a Assistant New York Attorney
Capitol in Olympia, Wash. a hearing held by video bankruptcy court hearing General James Sheehan
Associated Press because of the coronavirus on Wednesday in Dallas said he hoped to bring the
pandemic. that they wouldn't use the case to trial by early 2022.
By MICHAEL R. SISAK lawsuit to move ahead in Cohen also rejected the Chapter 11 proceedings to In seeking to dismiss or
NEW YORK (AP) — A New state court in Manhattan, NRA's arguments that halt the lawsuit. move the state's lawsuit to
York judge on Thursday de- rather than dismissing it on James' lawsuit was improp- After Thursday's ruling, they federal court, Rogers ar-
nied the National Rifle As- technical grounds or mov- erly filed in Manhattan and said they were ready to gued that many of its mis-
sociation's bid to throw out ing it to federal court, as should've been filed in Al- go ahead with the case, spending and self-dealing
a state lawsuit that seeks to the NRA's lawyers desired. bany, where the NRA's in- including a meeting with allegations were also con-
put the powerful gun advo- James' lawsuit, filed last Au- corporation paperwork lists lawyers from James' of- tained in pending lawsuits
cacy group out of business. gust, seeks the NRA's disso- an address. The NRA's ar- fice on Friday and another in federal court — a slate
Judge Joel Cohen's ruling lution under state nonprofit guments for dismissing the hearing in March. of cases she described
will allow New York Attor- law over claims that top case did not involve the In a letter to Cohen in ad- as a "tangled nest of
ney General Letitia James' executives illegally divert- merits of the case. vance of Thursday's head- litigation."q