A federal judge in Michigan declined on Feb. 7 to accept the contention of engineer Lockwood, Andrews and Newnam Inc. that claims against it for professional negligence in its advisory role to Flint, Mich. ahead of the city's drinking water crisis should not go to trial. The civil case, set for trial on Feb. 15, was brought on behalf of four children who say they suffered neurocognitive harm from exposure to lead in the water supply.
U.S. District Court Judge Judith E. Levy partly denied the firm’s motion for summary judgment—saying LAN may be liable for failing to warn city officials about a plan lacking orthophosphates for corrosion control in the water after March 2014, but she also agreed with the firm that plaintiffs in the case had failed to show evidence that it could have intervened before that date.