384 F. Supp. 3d 802
E.D. Mich.2019Background
- Flint switched its municipal water source to the Flint River in April 2014; residents allege lead, legionella, and other contamination followed and caused personal and property injury.
- Plaintiffs (residents and property owners, including African-American subclasses) sued multiple government actors (state officials, MDEQ staff, city emergency managers, City of Flint) and private consultants (LAN, Veolia) in consolidated Flint Water Cases.
- Plaintiffs moved for leave to file a fourth amended complaint adding factual material and claims; the court treated the motion alongside pending motions to dismiss and adopted the proposed fourth amended complaint in part as the operative pleading.
- The court granted leave to amend only as to the § 1983 bodily-integrity claim against Governor Snyder and allowed inclusion of new factual allegations and class definitions; it rejected numerous other proposed federal and state claims as futile.
- Surviving claims: (1) § 1983 substantive due process (bodily integrity) against several individual government defendants (including Snyder, Dillon, certain MDEQ and city officials) and (2) Monell claim against City of Flint; professional-negligence claims against LAN and Veolia survive in part. All other counts were dismissed.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether to permit 4th amended complaint (Rule 15) | Plaintiffs sought to add facts, classes, and claims (notably bodily-integrity claim vs. Snyder) | Defendants argued undue delay, prejudice, futility | Court granted leave in part: allowed bodily-integrity claim against Snyder and new facts/classes; denied remainder as futile |
| § 1983 bodily-integrity (substantive due process) | Plaintiffs: officials knew of contamination risk, concealed/denied it, and acted with deliberate indifference | Defendants: various contests re: knowledge, causation, immunity | Court found plausible bodily-integrity claims against Snyder, Dillon, Wurfel, Shekter-Smith, Rosenthal, Busch, Cook, Prysby, Earley, Ambrose, Croft, Glasgow, Johnson; dismissed claims vs. Lyon, Peeler, Wyant, Kurtz, Wright, Walling; qualified immunity unavailable where right is clearly established |
| Equal Protection / ELCRA / § 1985(3) (race/wealth claims) | Plaintiffs: Flint (majority-Black) received inferior water vs. surrounding (whiter) Genesee County; delay in emergency declaration shows disparate treatment/motivation | Defendants: rational bases (cost, infrastructure, differing circumstances); lack of pleaded discriminatory intent or comparable class treatment; heightened pleading for conspiracy | Court held plaintiffs failed to plead discriminatory intent or negate rational basis; equal-protection, ELCRA, and § 1985(3) claims dismissed as futile |
| State-law claims (gross negligence, NIED, fraud, ordinary negligence, exemplary damages) | Plaintiffs pleaded gross negligence (to overcome GTLA immunity), NIED, fraud against Veolia, ordinary negligence against LAN/Veolia, and exemplary damages | Defendants invoked GTLA immunity, pleading standards (Rule 9(b)), and that professional negligence is the proper theory (preemption of ordinary negligence); exemplary damages unavailable under pleaded professional negligence | Court dismissed gross-negligence, NIED, fraud (for lack of particularized reliance), ordinary negligence (must be professional negligence), and claims for exemplary/punitive damages; allowed professional-negligence claims vs. LAN and Veolia to proceed in part |
Key Cases Cited
- Guertin v. Michigan, 912 F.3d 907 (6th Cir. 2019) (Sixth Circuit decision recognizing bodily-integrity theory and that contamination plus deliberate indifference can be conscience-shocking)
- Boler v. Earley, 865 F.3d 391 (6th Cir. 2017) (Ex Parte Young injunctive-relief principles and immunity analysis in Flint context)
- Mays v. City of Flint, 871 F.3d 437 (6th Cir. 2017) (addressing absolute-immunity arguments for state officials)
- Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978) (municipal liability where official policy or custom causes constitutional violation)
- County of Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833 (1998) (substantive due process standard: conscience-shocking conduct)
- Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982) (qualified immunity standard protecting reasonable official action)
- Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U.S. 731 (2011) (clearly established right inquiry for qualified immunity)
- Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) (plausibility pleading standard)
- Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009) (pleading standard: plausible inference of liability required)
- Kallstrom v. City of Columbus, 136 F.3d 1055 (6th Cir. 1998) (state-created-danger and disclosure/third-party-risk principles)