It is up to the residents of Flint. They need to understand what is occuring to protect their rights.

There will be an "opt-out" filing but then a resident will need their own lawyer to sue in court. There are approximately 96,000 residents of Flint. Simple math means the settlement will deliver about $6700.00 per resident. For a family of four that is a settlement of $26,800. Every family is going to be different. Some were hit harder than others. Applications to the settlement will be weighed according to the severity and will bring greater amounts of settlement. Every resident may not necessarily receive a settlement either.

At this point, the city and the people have to decide about the settlement and/or whether they want to move forward with lawsuits. The lawyers will tell residents to take the settlement and move on. The residents have to come to a consensus on what the city's direction will be. 

Property taxes in Flint can increase if the city does not accept the settlement. It is a difficult decision and there is no guarantee taxes won't go up, but, it won't be due to this liability. There is a lot to consider. In all honesty, Flint did not bring this on itself, but, the liability is still there. Snyder's administration made a huge mess. This can be the beginning of reclaiming Flint. I am curious about the cost of insurance for Flint if there is a settlement.

November 27, 2020

By Amy Diaz

Flint – Attorneys involved in the Flint Water Litigation provided an overview of the $641.25 million water settlement Nov. 23 on the City of Flint Facebook page (click here).

This information session followed the proposal of a $20 million contribution to the settlement by the city’s insurer. Flint City Council is set to vote on the city joining the settlement at the Nov.23 city council meeting.

Present at the live session was Attorney Rick Berg, Attorney Sheldon Klein, Assistant City Attorney William Kim, City Attorney Angela Wheeler, and Director of Communications Marjory Raymer.

Berg presented an overview of the lawsuit settlement at the beginning of the meeting.

He shared four key points for residents to understand:

- Berg said the city’s insurer has provided all of the money for the settlement, meaning the $20 million will come at no cost to the city or the residents.

- He said that more money can be recovered through lawsuits against the EPA, and the two engineering companies that have indicated they would not settle: Veolia and LAN.

- If the City Council does not approve the settlement, Berg said “the city will be at risk for thousands of dollars in lawsuits, if not millions of dollars.” He said the $20 million that has been negotiated from the insurance company won’t be contributed, and the city “will be in the same boat it’s in right now.”
Berg said it was important for residents to make sure to get information from reliable sources, and shared the following links:

- After Berg presented an overview of the settlement, Raymer asked the attorneys to respond to questions that were being asked in the comments of the live video:...

...Klein said residents can opt out of the settlement and file their own lawsuit, which he said is “an extremely risky course,” or object to the settlement and tell the judge why it shouldn’t be approved.

“The court will consider all of that before deciding whether to approve it. Assuming it is approved, then there will be your opportunity to submit your claim and provide documentation,” he said.

Once the claims are submitted, Klein said someone will review them and make sure the documentation is correct, and then the money will be paid out.

“We’re on a very aggressive schedule to make that happen,” he said. “It’s not gonna happen tomorrow. It’s going to take a little bit of time to process the tens of thousands of claims, and give you an opportunity to understand and make your decisions.”...