Dirty, red-tinted water that is not safe to drink– that is what Compton, California residents are claiming has been coming out of their faucets. And like other city-residents in Flint, Michigan there is now a lawsuit against the city for this major health hazard. The class action lawsuit filed against the local water provider, Sativa Los Angeles County Water District is seeking damages ranging from reimbursement for water bills and more.

The Los Angeles Times reports on the Compton dirty water lawsuit, “Sativa mismanaged public funds by failing to use them for the intended purposes of maintaining and improving the water district’s infrastructure for the delivery of potable water.” The dirty water that has been coming out of thousands of Compton residents faucets for months has forced this community to pay for outside bottled water to drink, cook and bathe in. For their part, Sativa admits that there are high levels of magnesium in the water supply in this area which is a result of  70 year old pipes that they do not have the financial infrastructure to replace.

Like any LA personal injury lawsuit, the plaintiffs (here, the Compton residents filing the suit) need to successfully show that they were injured and it was the fault (or partial fault- California is a comparative negligence state) of the defendant. Here, the defendant water company freely admits their role in the issue so while liability may be an easy showing, they also admit that funds are limited. An additional legal note on cases like this– while the legal proof might be the same, suing any type of government means much tighter timelines for filing and more administrative hoops to jump thru. For one reason or another, too many people delay filing a LA personal injury lawsuit for too long and waiting means that you can completely miss out on an important financial recovery that you are owed.

If you have been injured by another person (such as a car or truck accident), a place (such as a shopping slip and fall) or a government agency (dirty water, fall at a government building or bad sidewalk) then take the very simple step of calling us ASAP so that we do not miss any important statutes of limitations. For most injuries, you have two years from the accident but for many injuries or deaths in which the government is responsible, you only have six months! Walch Law is available 24/7 to help with all your LA personal injury and wrongful death legal needs.