6 ms·
With a population of about 95,000 (circa 2020), and assuming 50% of that goes to the lawyers, that's about $3,294 per person.
by crooked-v 5y ago
With a population of about 95,000 (circa 2020), and assuming 50% of that goes to the lawyers, that's about $3,294 per person.
- advisedwang 5y ago> The deal makes money available to every Flint child who was exposed to the water, every adult who can show an injury, certain business owners and anyone who paid water bills. After you subtract own money going to non-local property owners like large coporations, and then average out, yes.
- rhizome 5y agoAll you have to do is send a request letter of no more than three hundred words to [address] by December 1, 2021. Envelopes must be #11 and the requestor's address must be centered on the back over the seam of the flap in a typeface no larger than 14pt. The front of the envelope should have [address] and a stamp. Any other markings or creases on the envelope will void the request.
- treeman79 5y agoMe and family were poisoned a few years ago, severe negligence by a rental company. Probably half a million in medical bills so far and counting. Insurance covered most of it. One thing we leaned is doctors have zero interest in helping you to show injuries or claims. Something like posion is outside their domain. They treat symptoms and want nothing to do with you as person. Claim forms send them running. Was functionally blind and stuck in bed for a year. No doctor would fill out paperwork. Disability literally just laughed at me. By the time we got lawyers involved we started hitting deadlines for suing. So now layers have zero interest. Unless it’s a very clear thing like “piano fell on head” your going to have a rough time getting justice.
- kortilla 5y ago> They treat symptoms and want nothing to do with you as person. Claim forms send them running. They treat medical problems, not legal ones.
- Pxtl 5y agoOuch. I'd like to think "not having lead poisoning" would be worth a bit more than that.
- arthurcolle 5y agoNot to sound callous but maybe they incorporate future expecting earnings of someone living in Flint, MI in their calculations somehow. EDIT: I know there is a rule against discussing downvotes, but this is a factual statement and the notion that this comment isn't relevant or doesn't enhance the conversation (for anyone who downvoted me) is an affront to any semblance of being capable of reasonable discourse in civil society - any downvoters should really reflect on what makes you feel like a statement made by a poster is actually what the poster thinks may or may not be right vs. your feelings of the post upsetting you.
- thebooktocome 5y agoWow, yeah, that sounds pretty callous.
- gruez 5y agoYeah, that's the point of the legal system. Even though the non-callous thing would be to treat life/health as priceless, you can't really be giving the victims infinity dollars for their suffering.
- dontbeevil1992 5y agosurely there's some middle ground between infinity and a paltry $3500. in our legal system there are concepts like damages, emotional damages, pain and suffering. it's not just about how much wages you missed out on. or does all that just go out the window because these are members of society who aren't paid a lot for their labor?
- loonster 5y agoThe problem is it's a class action against the government that the people elected. The victims are both the petitioner and the defendant. Regardless of the amount paid, the only beneficiaries are the lawyers.
- njovin 5y agoAnd it's being paid by the state, presumably in no small part by tax dollars the victims themselves contributed to state funds. It's a slap in the face all around.
- madengr 5y agoWho’s it supposed to be paid by?
- teawrecks 5y agoInsurance
- loonster 5y agoThe people that were ultimately responsible. Which I would argue is the voters. It's a neat trick. Lawyers take 600m out of the voters back pocket, hand back 400m, and the people rejoice.
- gruez 5y ago>It's a neat trick. Lawyers take 600m out of the voters back pocket, hand back 400m, and the people rejoice. and that's fine, because you're not taking $60 out of everyone's pocket and giving back $40, they're taking $60 out of everyone's pocket and giving $4000 to the people affected. The point of the lawsuit is to force redistributing wealth to compensate the people affected, not as some sort of money-maker.
- jvanderbot 5y agoAttorneys have been seeking as much as $200 million in legal fees from the $626 million settlement. -TFA
- judge2020 5y agoBetter than some class-action settlement splits, I suppose.
- jandrese 5y agoIt also depends on how strict the claim process is. Do they need a signed doctors note from 2014 to take part or some other obnoxious legal roadblock? I agree that at least it at least isn't a spit in the face like those "coupon for 5% off your next purchase of bottled water" while the lawyers pocket hundreds of millions.
- gruez 5y ago>as much as do they typically get what they ask for? or does the judge strike it down?
- mLuby 5y agoHow do they justify that? Or is it part of some agreement with the primary claimant that they'll take the case for free but get some % of the winnings? Either way, mixing justice and profit feels slimy.
- gruez 5y ago>Either way, mixing justice and profit feels slimy. It's slimy but it's still the least bad system. The alternative is the state having sole authority in compensating the victims (judging from the fact this went to trial, my guess is that they would have paid the victims far less), or leaving it to non-profits (which have limited budgets and are up against tax-payer funded lawyers).
- mLuby 5y ago
- scrose 5y agoConsidering adults also have to ‘prove’ they were injured by the lead… much of this money likely won’t be making it into the right hands
- optimiz3 5y agoToo bad it doesn't include 1 year of free credit monitoring.
- gruez 5y ago*health monitoring.
- 1121redblackgo 5y agoJesus, don't remind me. What a joke of an outcome for the Equifax fiasco.
- chefandy 5y agoYep. It's disgusting.
- authed 5y agoKids should have got at least 100 times that amount...
- RandallBrown 5y agoI don't believe the whole city was exposed since not everyone had lead pipes between the source and their house.