The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] on Wednesday affirmed [opinion, PDF] a lower court ruling that a class action lawsuit regarding the Flint, Michigan, water crisis should be decided in state court. The lawsuit was filed against Lockwood, Andrews, & Newnam, an engineering company that worked on the Flint water treatment plant to fill the three-year period it would take Flint to switch its primary drinking water provider to Karegnondi Water Authority [corporate websites] after April 2014. Residents affected by the crisis accuse the company of failing to ensure the plant would be able to treat Flint River water for corrosion, which caused lead from old plumbing and fixtures to contaminate Flint’s water supply. The appeals court ruling was based on the suit meeting the elements of a “local controversy” under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) [text]. The court stated:

Though the Flint Water Crisis captured the attention of the nation, its infamy does not make it any less local. Because plaintiffs’ suit consists of a proposed class of more than two-thirds Michigan citizens, a significant local defendant, and injuries limited to the reach of Flint’s water system, it satisfies the statutory requirements of the local controversy exception. We therefore affirm the district court’s decision to remand this case to state court.

One judge dissented, finding the plaintiffs had failed to meet their burden of showing that the federal courts could abstain from exercising jurisdiction.

In response to the Flint water crisis, many organizations and legal affiliates have stepped forward to help residents take legal action against liable parties. In October the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan [advocacy website] filed a class action lawsuit [JURIST report] regarding children’s education in relation to the Flint water crisis. In May the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced [JURIST report] a lawsuit against Michigan officials over the Flint water contamination crisis. In April David Leyton, a prosecutor in Genesee County, Michigan, announced [JURIST report] that a Michigan judge will allow criminal charges against three people involved in the water crisis in Flint, including the man who supervised the treatment plan as well as two state environmental officials. In March Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan was served with a class action lawsuit [JURIST report] for alleged gross negligence in connection to the lead-contaminated water.