FLINT, Mich. (Legal Newsline) – The state of Michigan has filed a lawsuit against Veolia and Lockwood, Andrews & Newman (LAN), Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette stated recently in an announcement, joined by Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton, Special Assistant Attorney General Noah Hall, Special Counsel Todd Flood, Chief Investigator Andy Arena, Chief Deputy Investigator Ellis Stafford and the Flint Investigation Team.
The lawsuit charges both Veolia and LAN with professional negligence and fraud in the lead-up to Flint’s lead poisoning problem.
“Many things went tragically wrong in Flint, and both criminal conduct and civil conduct caused harm to the families of Flint and to the taxpayers of Michigan,” Schuette said. “In Flint, Veolia and LAN were hired to do a job and failed miserably. Their fraudulent and dangerous recommendations made a bad situation worse.”
The state claims Veolia and LAN either knew or should have known about the high chloride levels in Flint River water, irresponsibly interfered with the public right to health, safety and comfort in Flint and made false and misleading statements to the public regarding Flint’s drinking water.
The lawsuit seeks to recover monetary damages.