Written by Tanya Terry
Tracelle Young, Flint resident and one of the attorneys in the Co-Lead Class Counsel, and her loved ones have been affected tremendously by the Flint Water Crisis along with numerous, numerous others who were in the city.
“We’ve experienced the good, the bad and the ugly,” she stated. “The bad obviously being we were recklessly exposed to contaminated water. The ugly was the cover-up; the lies from elected, appointed officials and people working in departments that failed to do their jobs and protect the people – literally, people who got away with murder because at the end of the day, no one was held accountable. The exposure caused the distrust that we now have for something as fundamental and as basic as water – something that we need. But the good that has come out of it is that we’re smarter. We’re less susceptible to being fooled again…and we now demand more transparency and accountability. And we do our own homework.”
Young said her team’s ultimate goal is to ensure that every valid claim is approved and that every claim has all the information they need to finalize their claim so claimants get every dime that they are entitled to.
“So, we’ve had multiple stages, but we can break it down into four key stages. The first is obviously reaching the settlement – because not a single defendant stepped up and voluntarily acknowledged the harm that they did. Our team has fought from day one to get to where we are. And- it’s no small feat that we have accomplished the largest settlement in the history of the state of Michigan involving this case.”
Young said after the settlement was reached, the next step was opening up to make sure those who are exposed were able to register for the settlement.
“Once the registration period closed, we turned to the claims period. That’s where individual claimants had to submit their actual claim to support where the exposure was, what the injury was, what the harm was.”
According to Young, the last steps of the process is occurring now!
“Notices have been going out and will continue to go out until about mid-September that’s notifying people of the status of their claim and letting them know what the next steps are, or if there’s any deficiency or missing documentation.”
Young said she is was unable to give specific dates for when settlement dollars will be actually distributed. She did, however, share her team’s goal for the disbursements.
“We don’t know because of this process. Once people are notified about what the status of what their claim is, they’re basically given 30 days to rectify any deficiencies. Even then, if a person is not satisfied with what the claims administrator has done with their claim, they can request a reconsideration, or they can request to appeal that decision. So, until those processes are completed, we’re not able to give a date because we don’t know how many people are going to exercise those options – and how many people are just going to accept what the claims administrator places them. We’re not able to give a date as to when any money will go out. But we’re hoping by the end of this year people at the very least will be notified what category they’re in. Then, hopefully checks will start going out early 2025.”
Deficiencies Young and her team see include claimants not submitting proper identification, proof of residency, proof of exposure, proof of injury or proof of business economic loss – or they may have simply not signed the attestation form at the end of the claims packet.
She stated that if a claimant has died since submitting their claim, the claims outlive those individuals. In these cases, the representative of that person’s estate must open a probate estate. The amount awarded to the deceased individual will go into the probate so the beneficiaries of the probate estate can decide how the proceeds are spent.
The Co-Lead Class Counsel encourages people to try to make their deadlines. However, Young noted they have been successfully able to submit materials past the deadline, on a case-by-case basis. So, Young stated individuals should get their documents in as soon as possible, even if they have missed their deadlines.
“We are close to the end, and we don’t want people to give up. We don’t want people to miss out on having something they are entitled to have. There should be no reason why anyone that was exposed and harmed should not take part in this settlement.”
Claimants with questions or concerns can contact the claims administrator, or they can contact the Co-Lead Class Counsel by email at info@flintwaterjustice.com, or by calling 1-866-536-0717. The Co-Lead Class Counsel’s website is flintwaterjustice.com, and their office is located at 1164 Robert T. Longway Blvd. Ste. A. They are open Tues. – Thurs. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Walk -ins are welcome.
The Co-Lead Counsel is not able to represent claimants represented by another attorney or another firm.
