State's Flint legal bills: $12 million - including $3.4M for Snyder
LANSING — The state has paid $12 million to outside attorneys for work related to the Flint drinking water crisis, with nearly 30% of that amount going to criminal and civil defense attorneys hired by Gov. Rick Snyder, according to the latest numbers compiled by the Free Press.
And the amount continues to climb as the lead poisoning of Flint's drinking water has proven to be a bonanza for Michigan's legal industry.
"It's a lot of money," but given the breadth and scope of the Flint issues, "I can see $10 million to $15 million being eaten up very quickly," said Jeffrey Swartz, an associate professor at Western Michigan University-Cooley Law School with experience in attorney fee litigation.
The state is still "on your way up the slope" in terms of mounting legal costs, said Swartz, a former senior trial counsel in commercial litigation and criminal defense attorney for a private law firm and county judge in Florida.
Read more: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2017/04/05/flint-michigan-legal-fees/100066936/
