Staff Reports
In 2014 and 2015, a judge prevented the Environmental Protection Agency from appealing a significant verdict in a protracted litigation against the United States government for negligence in relation to lead contamination in the water supply of Flint.
U.S. In the year 2020, District Judge Judith Levy issued a ruling stating that people of Flint had the legal right to sue the EPA. Now, after a delay of two years, she has stated that she would not put the matter on hold in order to grant the government permission to appeal that judgment to a court of law.
According to Levy, the attorneys involved need to put in additional effort to flesh out the case.
The United States depicts this complicated case as one of essentially a series of discrete, straightforward legal concerns, the judge stated. The United States contends these matters are all objectively controlling, incorrectly determined, and amenable to reasonable debate. However, this is not even close to being the case.
According to what Levy remarked on Wednesday, an appeal in the midst of proceedings is appropriate only where the speedy determination of a pure point of law could significantly speed up the action.
In the 18 months beginning in April 2014, the city of Flint did not treat the water that it obtained from the Flint River in order to prevent corrosion. The water caused lead to be freed from older pipes, which then found its way into water heaters, kitchen faucets, and bathrooms.
The regulators working under Gov. Rick Snyder's administration were largely to blame since they did not require corrosion control measures to be taken.
Residents in Flint, mostly kids, who were given access to the water are suing the state for a total of $626 million, and the state has agreed to pay a significant portion of the settlement.
However, locals are also suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was notified of complaints concerning the water and has the capacity to actively intervene in the situation. According to the findings of the EPA's inspector general, a regional office did not define clear roles and duties for its employees.
In spite of the fact that a federal agency has objections to charges of negligence in court, Levy has thus far disregarded them. A separate complaint against the EPA, which is quite similar to the one that is currently being heard by U.S. District Judge Linda Parker.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on Headline USA.
