Flint water crisis

Dayne Walling served as mayor of Flint from 2009, when he won a special election, until 2015, when he lost his re-election bid. It was just after Walling won the 2011 mayoral election, that Gov. Rick Snyder appointed an emergency financial manager to run the city.

On Friday, a federal judge told lawyers for Gov. Snyder and the others to file written briefs next week, that would be a step toward appealing to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court.

The judge says Snyder and four others facing criminal charges may take the Fifth on the witness stand.

The former governor, two former emergency managers and two others previously answered questions in legal depositions in the civil case two years ago. But that was before they were criminally charged in connection with the Flint water crisis.

Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder wants to invoke his Fifth Amendment right and not testify at the civil trial.

The civil trial concerns damage claims by four children exposed to Flint’s tainted drinking water. Former Gov. Rick Snyder has been subpoenaed as a potential witness.

The court says the bellwether Flint water crisis trial against LAN and Veolia could last four months.

Four Flint children alleging harm from exposure to lead in the city's water have sued two engineering firms that advised Flint in its transition from Detroit's water system to water drawn from the Flint River.

This is a bellwether case. It’s called that because it could predict how other plaintiffs may fare if they decide to proceed to trial.

The plaintiffs' attorney had requested more than $200 million. Co-lead counsel Michael Pitt estimates the judge's order will mean the attorneys will receive around $190 million.