“since the government is responsible for this mess, I think it means the affected parties will not be able to sue? Is this accurate?”
The “government” does not have a blanket absolute immunity from lawsuits. I think it was @nottelling who outlined some potential lawsuit routes in one of the earlier posts.
^ Yes, post #31 has a helpful overview!
Thanks BB and Romani! I should note that immunity issues are very, very complicated and any question of whether or to what degree any defendant would have a viable immunity defense would depend on who was actually sued and by whom, what the claims were, whether there was evidence of scienter (reckless or intentional conduct), what forum the suit was brought in, whether the government entity has waived immunity and consented to suit through various means, and many, many, many other factors. it is very, very complicated. I haven’t analyzed the immunity issues but there are no easy answers. Government entities and government employees are sued all the time and only rarely is an immunity defense successful (from the point of view of the defendant).
One huge factor on the viability of an immunity defense will be who the next president is. If Ted Cruz is elected president, you can rest assured that the composition of the Supreme Court will be such that it would be much, much harder for federal lawsuits against state and / or municipal actors to proceed. If it were up to Thomas and Alito, many of the lawsuits we are envisioning would not be permitted to proceed.
The emergency manager who was the EM of Flint when they switched the water and is now the EM of Detroit Public Schools announced today he was stepping down.
Latest: the FBI is now in on the investigation of the Flint debacle, but it’s unclear whether they’re looking at civil or criminal enforcement. It’s also been reported that Darnell Early, the emergency manager when the decision was made to switch to Flint River water, may decline to testify before a congressional committee looking into the matter, possibly invoking his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Early is now serving as the governor-appointed emergency manager of the Detroit Public Schools, but the governor’s office announced today that Early is resigning from that post. My interpretation: Gov. Snyder is trying to distance himself from Darnell Early and possibly make him the fall guy. Without question, Early has his hands all over this matter, but there’s probably plenty of blame to go around to others as well. Maybe they think if everyone points fingers at Early and Early refuses to speak, it deflects attention from the governor, Michigan DEQ, etc. I don’t think it will work.
Thanks for the update, bc. I didn’t know about the FBI investigation.
I also think you’re probably right about Snyder trying to use Early as the fall guy.
Snyder was dining in Ann Arbor a few days ago when he got heckled by some other patrons. He whined about it saying that they should do something productive to help Flint rather than heckle him. He then said it wasn’t fair to be heckled in public.
People died from this calamity, Snyder. If heckling is the worst he gets, he should count his lucky stars.
I am surprised Early gets to “step down” from anything, and not be fired. But I agree about Snyder possibly, belatedly, setting him up. We’ll see I suppose.
I hate when government employees really mess up, resign and then any charges they faced just go away.
Jeffrey Feiger sewing Snyder administration and Flint hospital over covering up the Legionnaire’s outbreak during the midst of this mess: http://www.wxyz.com/news/fieger-lawsuit-targets-flint-hospital-and-snyder-administration-on-behalf-of-legionnaires-patients
Apparently some of the patients families weren’t even told of their diagnosis.
ETA Snyder is going to have to do some pretty fancy tap dancing to get around all of this.
thanks @nottelling for this latest post, and I went back and found your previous one too
Gov. Snyder wants everyone to focus on solving the problems “instead of laying blame”.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-michigan-water-governor-idUSKCN0VE21L
Yeah, I bet he does.
When he was campaigning, he was all for “being held accountable”. Now Michiganders want to hold him accountable and suddenly that’s just a blame game.
the problem should be solved first.
then blame can be handed out.
that is the way to solve in the quickest
(this post should not be taken as being a supporter of the governor regarding all of this)
There is no way to solve the problem. I don’t think some people quite understand that. They’re doing what they can- handing out water. The only way to really fix this would be to completely repipe Flint.
Snyder was supposed to speak at UMich tomorrow with Kevyn Orr about Detroit’s bankruptcy. Orr was Detroit’s Emergency Manager until it “emerged from bankruptcy” in 2014.
Of course, students were angered and a protest was planned. It was announced a few days ago that the talk would be “postponed indefinitely” because “the organizers of the event do not wish to distract from efforts devoted to higher priorities in the state and have postponed this event.”
Instead, the protest has been turned into a collection event for things other than water that Flint residents need.
http://michiganradio.org/post/um-law-school-postpones-snyder-panel-amid-controversy#stream/0
romani is right, as usual. Flint has already gone back to Detroit water, but the damage is done; the lead pipes are still leaching. They can’t be repaired, they need to be replaced, along with much of the interior plumbing and appliances in homes contaminated with lead That’s probably in the $1.5 to $2 billion range, and that figure doesn’t include the truly horrific cost, the lifelong learning disabilities and neurological disorders that will be borne by all those kids who drank poisoned water, plus all the medical and psychological and social services they’ll need the rest of their lives. Or the lost values of people’s homes, which are now unsellable. Or the cost of lost business to Flint businesses. Total direct and indirect costs could easily run to tends of billions of dollars. There’s no way Flint, an impoverished city of about 100,000 residents, can absorb those costs. It’s going to take a massive infusion of state and federal cash. So let’s get to it, Gov. Snyder. The ball is once again in your court.
Personally, I don’t see anything wring with simultaneously working toward solutions and assessing and assigning blame for who caused the problems in the first place. After all, that’s how they do it in the private sector, and Gov. Snyder is the one who says he wants to run Michigan more like a business, with accountability a central element in that program.
Now even dogs show signs of lead toxicity:
https://www.yahoo.com/health/lead-toxicity-showing-up-in-flint-areas-dogs-224043030.html
This is our Minamata, Mr. President.
Oh no those poor babies 
I don’t have any rescue contacts in Flint but now I wonder how the rescues and shelters up there are coping. I haven’t seen any calls for water donations from my local /Detroit rescues but that certainly doesn’t mean they haven’t helped somehow.
According to reports, the state actively prevented the CDC from intervening in the Legionnaire’s outbreak which killed 9 people.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/12/us/flint-michigan-legionnaires/index.html
I’m running out of words to express my anger and disgust… besides, words do nothing anyway. It won’t bring those people back and it won’t unpoison the kids.
If this is not criminal activity, what is then?! Horrible.
as no big surprise–sad scary but not a surprise!