PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Wolverine Worldwide doesn't intend to pay what it owes in connection to a PFAS contamination settlement, according to Plainfield township leaders.
The matter over the settlement’s remaining $20-million is now in court.
If the company succeeds, the Township, a party to the 2020 settlement and original lawsuit, worries water customers could be on the hook for the contamination-related financial obligations that remain.
Among other safety-minded repairs and improvements, the more than $60-million settlement financed the expansion of the Township’s water system to approximately 1200 properties with contaminated wells in Plainfield and Algoma Townships.
“Hopefully in the end, we've got a solution that will protect our residents long term, but there's a lot of interruption in between,” Township Manager Cameron Van Wyngarden noted.
The effort has, thus far, taken up the better part of the previous four years and entailed the installation of in excess of 20 miles of new water line.
“We agreed to provide the municipal water and Wolverine agreed to pay $69.5-million dollars to provide the water to those homes and to make improvements at the water plant,” Van Wyngarden explained. “Now we're at the point where construction is not quite completed, but we're getting near the end and they've decided they aren't interested in paying anymore.”
The outcry follows a filing by attorneys for Wolverine Worldwide in US District Court:
The motion argued, among other points:
“Wolverine believes it has already paid the Township’s full costs to extend municipal water”
Noting the present figure totaled around $42-million and that the groups were now “at an impasse” over the nearly 20 million still on the table under the settlement cap, requesting “a declaration that no further payment is owed.”
Elaborating further in a statement emailed to 13 ON YOUR SIDE by a company spokesperson:
“As part of a February 2020 Consent Decree, Wolverine Worldwide agreed to pay the total actual costs to extend municipal water to more than 1,000 properties in Plainfield and Algoma townships, up to a maximum amount of $62 million. Wolverine has held up its end of the Consent Decree by paying the full costs to install municipal water – more than $40 million over the past several years, which includes not only the installation of the municipal water service lines, but also all hookup and connection fees that homeowners typically pay on their own, as well as the Townships’ administrative costs, engineering and legal fees, and other contingencies.
The project is coming to a close and running almost $20 million under budget, so Wolverine asked Plainfield Township multiple times whether it has incurred any additional costs to extend municipal water beyond what Wolverine has already paid. Wolverine stands ready to pay these costs, just as it has over the past few years, but unfortunately the Township has not provided any support for them.
Rather than abide by the terms of the Consent Decree, Plainfield Township instead demanded payment of the full $62 million – a position that directly conflicts with the Consent Decree that was reviewed by the public and approved by a federal judge. As a result, yesterday Wolverine Worldwide filed a request in federal court seeking to hold Plainfield Township to the terms of the Consent Decree, to confirm that Wolverine’s payment is limited to the Township’s total actual project costs, and to prevent the Township from recovering costs that it has not incurred.”
The Township’s own filing disputed the company’s claims, noting a response featured on Wolverine Worldwide’s own settlement FAQ page indicated the total would amount to a fixed $69.5-million.
“Not all the bills have come due and they're claiming that that they've held up their end of the bargain,” Van Wyngarden related, explaining the scope of work still included necessary upgrades to the Township water plant.
“They have re construed the language of the settlement document,” he said. “And as they've put it, to read more in their favor, that they're not obligated to pay the full amount? We disagree with that. And we anticipate the courts will see our side.”
The motions could receive a response at any time. This article will be updated with new information as it’s received.
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