Flint Mom, Water Activists Win Historic Victory as Virginia Tech’s Marc Edwards’ $3 Million Lawsuit to Silence Them is Dismissed.
Federal Judge Finds That Lawsuit To Silence Concerned Flint Residents is a Dangerous Attack On Free Speech and Expression.
After receiving a $1.9 million EPA grant, Water Scientist Marc Edwards declared himself the real victim of the Flint Water Crisis and demanded a pound of flesh from two clean water advocates and a Flint mother who almost lost her home last year. Federal Judge mocks Edwards’ case across a scathing 115-page decision.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Bill Moran
Phone: (208)242–8413
Email: moranmedialaw@gmail.com
Just before closing for the July 4th holiday, lawyers for Virginia Tech’s celebrity water scientist Marc Edwards issued a lawsuit demanding $3 million from a Flint mom with three kids who is on 18 prescriptions to stay alive and almost lost her house last year because she couldn’t afford the water bill.
Nine months later, a federal Judge ruled that Dr. Edwards’ lawsuit violated U.S. Constitutional protections for opinion in the context of a heated debate on matters of public health and dismissed the entirety of the claims.
“[T]he Flint water crisis is a paradigmatic example of a matter of public concern where the freedom to call for an ‘investigation’ into the activites of those in positions of significant persuasive power and influence is essential.”
Judge Urbanski made note throughout the 115-page decision that quotation marks do not always mean a direct quote but in context can often be expressions of frustration and sarcasm while repeatedly referring to Dr. Edwards “allegations” in air-quotes seemingly to drive home this point.
BACKGROUND
Dr. Edwards rose to prominence following the D.C. water crisis and played a critical role in bringing the Flint lead in water crisis to the public light several months after residents, an EPA official, and a pediatrician first raised concern.
Years later, many felt that Dr. Edwards had worn out his welcome following attacks on rivals (Water Defense and FACHEP), his pronouncements that he spoke on behalf of “the People of the State of Michigan,” and his increasingly erratic online behavior on the Flint Water Study blog.
In May 2018, sixty Flint residents signed a letter highlighting what they perceived as Edwards’ offensive behavior and attacks on water activists. Edwards responded with the $3 million lawsuit to silence those concerns.
Named in the case were clean water advocates Paul Schwartz and Yanna Lambrinidou, and Flint resident Melissa Mays. Melissa Mays is best known for helping to spearhead legal efforts to force the State of Michigan to replace the lead water lines in the City of Flint, Michigan in the wake of the water crisis.
THE DECISION
Judge Michael F. Urbanski, the Chief Judge for the Western District of Virginia, issued a scathing 115-page rebuke of Edwards’ attack on Flint residents’ rights to speak out about the conditions that they face.The Court believed that Dr. Marc Edwards had invited the criticism.
“Edwards’ decision to voluntarily “thrust himself into the vortex” of an important and emotionally-fraught public controversy… and to immerse himself in spirited online exchanges, invited intense scrutiny of his conduct.”
Urbanski took Dr. Edwards to task for a lawsuit that Buzzfeed eight months earlier had referred to as “bizarre” stating: ‘In its review of the pleadings, the court struggled to determine with any precision which of Edwards’ sundry “allegations” were intended to support which claims for relief.’
The Court also noted repeatedly in the decision that Edwards had repeatedly contradicted himself throughout the Complaint stating that it was untrue to attribute certain claims about Flint residents’ bathing habits to Dr. Edwards but then stating later in their arguments that they intended to prove it.
The Judge noted that Edwards sought to “mire the court in a scientific debate of the sort courts are loathe to resolve in defamation actions” before quoting a past decision ruling that “[s]cientific controversies must be settled by the methods of science rather than by methods of litigation.”
A FLINT MOTHER & TWO WATER ACTIVISTS GET THEIR VOICES BACK
An attorney for the Defendants Mays, Lambrinidou and Schwartz called the decision by Judge Urbanski a “wise ruling” and a “complete and total victory.”
“Judges don’t write 115-page opinions dismissing a lawsuit if they think that what the Plaintiff (Dr. Edwards) was doing is okay — the opinion, which I encourage everybody to read, was appropriately scathing of Dr. Edwards, a person in a position of great authority and power punching down.”
Melissa Mays speaking out for the first time since the lawsuit described the victory as the first time in a long time that her family could breathe easy.
“We could breathe again! We could speak again!! After nine months!! It’s a massive win for the First Amendment and the residents who share their experiences and speak truth to power.”
Paul Schwartz expressed a similar sentiment, “The nine months of silence are over. It’s time for the hard truths to be told and for accountability to be established. Edwards’ false narrative just lost in federal court.”
The decision can be read HERE.
Case citation: Edwards v. Schwartz, No. CIV.A. 7:18–00378, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45553 (W.D. Va. Mar. 19, 2019).
