CHARLESTON – More than 43,000 claims have been filed in the water crisis settlement with two months to go until the deadline.
The landmark settlement deadline to file claims is Feb. 21. So far, approximately 43,500 claims have been filed. Of those claims, 41,000 are by residential households.
The final approval hearing on the settlement is scheduled for Jan. 9—four years to the day that the chemical spill occurred.
Anthony Majestro said there have been zero objections to the settlement. The deadline to file objections was Dec. 8.
“With a class of this size, that’s pretty amazing,” he said.
Majestro, one of the six attorneys appointed by the court as settlement class counsel, said there were less than 50 opt-outs, most of which are employees of Jackson & Kelly, the law firm representing West Virginia American Water.
Majestro said one of the best ways to judge a settlement in a class action is through the reaction of the members of the class.
"In this case none of the over 225,000 class members objected to the settlement, and an extremely small number of class members have chosen to exclude themselves," Majestro said. "Claims are coming in at a good pace with over two months left in the claim period."
Majestro said he and the other attorney are pleased with the process to date and look forward to the final hearing.
"In the meantime, we encourage everyone to file their claims," Majestro said.
District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. will consider whether to grant final approval of the $151 million settlement at the Jan. 9 hearing.
The class action lawsuit alleged that West Virginia American Water did not adequately prepare for or respond to the chemical spill and that Eastman Chemical, the maker of the chemical MCHM, did not properly warn Freedom Industries of the dangers of its chemical or take any action when officials learned that the Freedom facility along the Elk River in Charleston was in disrepair.
WVAW and Eastman both deny any liability and blame the crisis on Freedom Industries.
Residential households can file a simple claim form and obtain $550 for the first resident and $180 for each additional resident, or they may file more detailed information about their losses if they provide proof of those expenditures on a separate type of claim form.
Businesses and nonprofit organizations can likewise obtain flat payments, based on their size, or can submit documentation of specific losses to be reimbursed.
The settlement also provides additional payments to women who were pregnant at the time of the chemical spill, residents who had medical expenses and hourly-wage earners who lost money when businesses they worked at closed because of the crisis.
Government agencies also are eligible to submit claims.
For more information or to file a claim, go to www.wvwaterclaims.com.