Lawyers seeking 32% of $641M Flint tainted water settlement

Litigation Reports

Lawyers who negotiated a $641 million settlement for victims of Flint’s lead-contaminated water are asking a judge to set aside up to 32% for fees and expenses for years of work on the case.

If granted, the request would total $202 million in fees and $7 million in expenses for dozens of attorneys who made a deal with the state of Michigan, Flint, a hospital and an engineering firm, according to a court filing Monday.

“Working together, plaintiffs’ counsel have achieved a landmark $641.25 million partial settlement in these cases that the court has rightly called ‘complex’ and ‘intensely litigated.’ ... Plaintiffs’ counsel have worked on a contingent basis for more than five years now, without compensation of any kind, to achieve this remarkable result,” the lawyers said.

Regulators in then-Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration allowed Flint to use the Flint River in 2014-15 without treating the water to reduce corrosion. As a result, lead in old pipes broke off and flowed through taps. The catastrophe in the majority-Black city has been described as an example of environmental racism.

Separately, experts have blamed the water for an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, which led to at least 12 deaths in the Flint area.

Michigan is paying $600 million of the settlement. Attorney General Dana Nessel said she will not take a public position on how much the attorneys should receive, a condition that was part of the deal.

In the months ahead, U.S. District Judge Judith Levy will decide how much money for lawyers will be carved out of the settlement.

The agreement makes money available to every Flint child who was exposed to the water, every adult who can show an injury, certain business owners and anyone who paid water bills. Flint switched back to a Detroit regional water agency in fall 2015, when a doctor publicly reported elevated lead levels in children.

Attorneys representing Flint residents have said 80% of payments will go to people who were under 18 when the river water was used. The estates of people who died from Legionnaires’ would qualify for $300,000 to $1.5 million.

Separately, Snyder and eight other people are charged with crimes in the Flint water scandal.

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USCIS to Continue Implementing New Policy Memorandum on Notices to Appear

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is continuing to implement the June 28, 2018, Policy Memorandum (PM), Updated Guidance for the Referral of Cases and Issuance of Notices to Appear (NTAs) in Cases Involving Inadmissible and Deportable Aliens (PDF, 140 KB).

USCIS may issue NTAs as described below based on denials of I-914/I-914A, Application for T Nonimmigrant Status; I-918/I-918A, Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status; I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant (Violence Against Women Act self-petitions and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status petitions); I-730, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petitions when the beneficiary is present in the US; I-929, Petition for Qualifying Family Member of a U-1 Nonimmigrant; and I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status (with the underlying form types listed above).

If applicants, beneficiaries, or self-petitioners who are denied are no longer in a period of authorized stay and do not depart the United States, USCIS may issue an NTA. USCIS will continue to send denial letters for these applications and petitions to ensure adequate notice regarding period of authorized stay, checking travel compliance, or validating departure from the United States.