EPA Loses Bid to Evade Claims in Flint Water Crisis Lawsuit

The EPA must defend against allegations that its slow response to the Flint water crisis negligently exposed roughly 100,000 Michiganders to lead-contaminated water, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Residents suing over the city’s switch to untreated Flint River water in 2014 alleged enough Environmental Protection Agency wrongdoing to keep their Federal Tort Claims Act suit alive, and the agency didn’t demonstrate a legal defense precluding the suit, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan said in denying the EPA’s motion to dismiss the case.

“Plaintiffs’ complaint details much more than a ‘mere failure to detect another’s violation ...