Federal judge finds Flint, Michigan, in contempt for missing water line replacement deadlines

LANSING, Mich. — A federal judge has found the city of Flint in contempt of court for missing deadlines for lead water line replacement and related work in the aftermath of the Michigan city's water crisis.

U.S. District Judge David Lawson found the city in civil contempt for violating a February 2023 court order. The order arose from a 2017 settlement of the lawsuit under which the city pledged to replace lead pipes that carry drinking water.

The city had agreed to replace the pipes by early 2020 but still has not completed that work, according to a news release Wednesday from the Natural Resources Defense Council. Also, homeowners are waiting, in some cases for years, for the city to repair property damage such as damaged curbs, sidewalks, and lawns caused by the lead line replacement, the NRDC said.

"The city has failed to abide by the court’s orders in several respects, and ... it has no good reason for its failures," Lawson wrote in an order issued late Tuesday.

Though lead lines have been replaced at tens of thousands of homes, the city still hasn't completed outreach to several dozen homes. A recent survey showed that at least 275 still had lead service lines — many of those may have declined to participate in the replacement program.

Also, at least 2,000 homes have damaged curbs, sidewalks, or lawns from the replacement work and the city has repeatedly failed to comply with court-ordered reporting requirements to document all the work it has completed, according to filings in the case.

'Anger I can't get rid of':10 years after lead poisoning, Flint residents still haven't been paid from $626.25M fund

'Depths of disgust and despair felt by Flint residents'

The contempt finding was made in a lawsuit brought against the city and state in 2016 by Concerned Pastors for Social Action and other plaintiffs. The judge said he would reimburse the plaintiffs for the cost of bringing the city's violations to the court's attention if they filed the required paperwork.

Other than offering to award attorney fees, costs, and expenses to the plaintiffs, the judge's order did not set out other specific penalties for the city if it failed to comply with the order. Lawson cited the city's strained finances as one reason for declining to do that, as well as the fact that the city came into compliance with three specific issues that prompted the contempt motion while the motion was pending.

"The court’s decision to hold the city of Flint in contempt reflects the depths of disgust and despair felt by Flint residents," said Melissa Mays, one of the plaintiffs in the cases and operations manager for the nonprofit group Flint Rising.

City of Flint blames winter weather for recent delays

The case is separate from another Flint lawsuit, which has also been settled, under which Flint residents were awarded $626.25 million to compensate them for lead poisoning. No Flint resident has yet to receive payment under that settlement as delays continue in the claims administration process.

The city has said in court filings that it has taken all reasonable steps to comply with the court's orders. The city blamed winter weather for some of the most recent delays.

"The city is committed to continuing to replace lead service lines above and beyond the terms of the NRDC settlement as long as funds are available," Flint attorney William Kim said in an emailed statement Wednesday. "To date, the city of Flint has completed service line identification and replacement at 29,485 addresses. Under the settlement agreement, there are approximately 30 addresses requiring lead service line excavation remaining."

Flint's water crisis began in 2014 when a state-appointed emergency manager switched the city's drinking water supply from Lake Huron water treated in Detroit to Flint River water treated at the Flint Water Treatment Plant. It was intended as a temporary, cost-saving measure, but turned out to be a disastrous mistake.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has acknowledged it failed to require needed corrosion-control chemicals as part of the water treatment process. As a result, lead leached into the drinking water from pipes and fixtures.

Contact Paul Egan at pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on X, @paulegan4.