Mistrial in Michigan Water Contamination Lawsuit Blamed on Jury Stress

August 12, 2022 by Tom Ramstack
Mistrial in Michigan Water Contamination Lawsuit Blamed on Jury Stress
The Flint water plant tower is seen on Jan. 6, 2022, in Flint, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

FLINT, Mich. — A federal judge declared a mistrial Thursday in a lawsuit over contamination of the Flint, Michigan, water supply after jurors who were unable to reach a verdict told him they were too stressed to continue.

After nearly a week of deliberations, the jurors sent the judge a note saying, “For the physical and emotional health of the jurors, we don’t believe we can continue with further deliberations.”

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of local children against two utilities contractors who engineered a change in drinking water sources that is believed to have made lead leach into municipal pipes. The children’s attorneys said they drank the contaminated water in their homes and schools during 2014 and 2015.

While the plaintiffs blamed the engineering firms Veolia North America LLC and Lockwood Andrews & Newnam, the contractors blamed public officials.

There was one legal issue in the case, namely professional negligence.

Under Michigan law, the engineering contractors were required to take reasonable steps to avoid foreseeable harm to the public. The plaintiffs needed to prove the defendants breached their duty of care and caused them injuries.

The contractors said state and local officials were grossly negligent in pressuring them to switch the water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River, which is known for acidic pollutants. The water source was switched back to the lake in October 2015.

Project managers appointed by then-Gov. Rick Snyder tried to save money by using water from the river while a new pipeline was being built to Lake Huron.

Lead was not the only problem, according to an attorney for Veolia. “This was a full-blown water crisis,” said attorney Dan Stein. 

The contractors said they were called into the water purification dispute after government project managers made all the major decisions. They also said they recommended more testing to determine the appropriate treatments but their requests were rebuffed.

Attorneys for the four children named as plaintiffs said the contractors should have done a better job of treating the corrosive river water, which ate away at pipes and released lead into drinking water. They also said they should not have allowed the switch from a regional water supplier in Detroit, Michigan, to tapping into the Flint River.

The plaintiffs asked the jury to find Veolia 50% liable for the damages from lead contamination, LAN 25% responsible, and that public officials and entities should share the rest of the blame.

The lawsuit focused heavily on potential neurological damage to children, who are most susceptible to lead contamination.

Witnesses included  geochemists, water engineers, neurologists and the children’s family members. 

The five-woman, three-man jury during the trial in Ann Arbor, Michigan, asked the judge during deliberations for clarifications, definitions, copies of an engineering report and other exhibits, according to court records.

After being told by the judge to try again, the note they sent back said, “Further deliberations will only result in stress and anxiety with no unanimous decision without someone having to surrender their honest convictions, solely for the purpose of returning a verdict.”

Attorneys for the children asked the judge to allow a less than unanimous verdict. U.S. Magistrate Judge David Grand declined, saying, “This is not a focus group.”

The mistrial means a new trial will be needed, despite the fact the first one took years of preparation. The trial started Feb. 28 after two weeks of jury selection procedures.

In a separate lawsuit over the Flint water contamination, the state, city of Flint and a local hospital agreed last year to pay property owners and more than 100,000 Flint residents $626 million to settle their claims.

Juror stress is not a new issue in jury deliberations, according to trial experts.

“One issue with which trial courts struggle is how to assist jurors who have served in particularly difficult trials, especially trials involving gruesome evidence or emotional testimony, lengthy trials, and high-profile trials,” wrote Paula Hannaford-Agor, director of the Center for Jury Studies, in a recent National Center for State Courts newsletter.

“These types of trials can provoke serious stress-related symptoms in jurors, including anxiety, depression, nightmares, and even physical symptoms such as nausea, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, and shortness of breath,” Hannaford wrote.

About 70% of jurors report some stress from jury duty while less than 10% report high stress, she said.

The judge in the Flint lawsuit explained his declaration of mistrial on Thursday by saying, “In my view, the jury has spoken.”

The case is Walters et al. v. Flint et al., case number 5:17-cv-10164, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Tom can be reached at [email protected] and @TomRamstack

A+
a-
  • contaminated water
  • Flint
  • Michigan
  • mistrial
  • Water
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Law

    March 25, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    DC Attorney General Warns Sports Teams About Relocating to Virginia

    WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia’s attorney general is invoking a contract provision with local professional sports teams in the... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia’s attorney general is invoking a contract provision with local professional sports teams in the city’s latest bid to keep them from relocating to Northern Virginia. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb told Monumental Sports and Entertainment in a letter last week... Read More

    March 22, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    Judge Upholds DC Law Giving Noncitizens Voting Rights

    WASHINGTON — A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Thursday against the District of Columbia Board of Elections that sought to... Read More

    WASHINGTON — A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Thursday against the District of Columbia Board of Elections that sought to invalidate a law giving noncitizens a right to vote in local elections. The Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act would allow anyone who is a resident... Read More

    March 20, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    Trump Wins Right of Appeal to Try to Disqualify Georgia Prosecutor

    ATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump is getting another chance to exclude a prosecutor he accused of political reprisal in... Read More

    ATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump is getting another chance to exclude a prosecutor he accused of political reprisal in his upcoming criminal trial in Atlanta on charges of illegally trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election vote count in Georgia. Trump asked the judge overseeing... Read More

    Pro-Trump Michigan Attorney Arrested After Hearing in DC Over Leaking Dominion Documents

    An attorney facing criminal charges for illegally accessing Michigan voting machines after the 2020 election was arrested Monday after a... Read More

    An attorney facing criminal charges for illegally accessing Michigan voting machines after the 2020 election was arrested Monday after a hearing in a separate case in federal court in Washington, D.C. Stefanie Lambert was arrested by U.S. Marshals after a hearing over possible sanctions against her... Read More

    March 15, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    Fani Willis Can Continue Case Against Trump With Single Condition, Judge Rules

    ATLANTA — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can continue to pursue an election interference case against former President Donald... Read More

    ATLANTA — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can continue to pursue an election interference case against former President Donald Trump and several others — as long as the prosecutor with whom she had a romantic relationship steps aside, a judge in Georgia ruled on Friday.... Read More

    March 13, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    Georgia Judge Dismisses Some Charges Against Trump

    ATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants facing criminal prosecution in Georgia for trying to overturn the 2020... Read More

    ATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants facing criminal prosecution in Georgia for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election won a partial court victory Wednesday. A Georgia judge dismissed six of the 41 charges against the former president and his accused fellow conspirators.... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top