Flint Water Lawsuits Pave Way for Midland Dam Flood Victims (1)

A legal theory that helped get money for property owners impacted by the Flint, Mich., water crisis is paving the way for suits seeking billions of dollars for victims of the 2020 floods in Midland to the north.

The Michigan Court of Claims denied the state’s attempt to dismiss flood victims’ “inverse condemnation” claim. It argued that environmental officials’ failure to ensure the functioning and safety of dams created an “unconstitutional taking” of property when two dams failed, damaging or destroying more than 10,000 peoples’ homes.

That exact claim received high-pressure legal stress-testing in recent years, culminating in a July ...