Visiting Judge to Preside over Sebring Water-Crisis
Trial
This triggered quite a stir in our area, on the heels of the Flint crisis. Sebring is a beat-down little farm town south east of Youngstown, 7 miles east of the greatest college football power on the planet -- the Mount Union Purple Raiders. There was a lot of hand-wringing, the big tort firms headed there. Investigations were had. As a result, James Bates, was charged with failing to timely notify Sebring water customers in late 2015 and early 2016 of excessive lead levels in Sebring’s drinking water. The Ohio Attorney General’s office is prosecuting the case on behalf of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. The late notifications came on the heels of the Flint, Mich., drinking-water crisis and resulted in Sebring-area water customers being told to consume bottled water for several weeks until the problem was fixed.
I was asked by Sebring's insurer to represent the Village if claims came. Not one single claim came.