BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A class action lawsuit has been filed against the city of Buffalo in regard to the lack of fluoride in the city's water. For nearly a decade, Buffalo Water customers have not had fluoride in their drinking water.
The lawsuit, filed by Buffalo residents, including Abdukadir Abdullahi, Melissa Mosko, and Robert Galbraith, named not only the city of Buffalo, but Mayor Byron Brown, and the city's water board chairman, Oluwole McFoy, as having deprived "Buffalo's Residents of therapeutic fluoridated drinking water."
The lawsuit additionally calls for the fluoridation of the water to immediately resume and for all the previously named defendants to be held responsible for damages to "plaintiffs, their families, and hundreds of thousands of other Buffalonians."
One of the plaintiffs, Abdullahi, is the father of six children, ages 9 to 16. Abdullahi and two of his teenage children have been "diagnosed with cavities as a result of Buffalo's failure to provide a healthful environment with fluoridated public water."
Abdullahi does not have dental insurance and has claimed to have been forced to pay out of pocket for dental issues that arise regarding him or his children.
Plaintiffs Melissa Mosko and Robert Galbraith, spouses, own a home on the East Side of Buffalo where they live with their 4-year-old son. The complaint states that the family has "relied and continue to rely on Buffalo's water supply as their drinking water," and that they "have been and continue to be harmed by defendants failing to resume the fluoridation of Buffalo's drinking water."
At the end of a 55-page complaint filed by the plaintiffs and their attorneys, the following was requested as an award from the Erie County Supreme Court:
- Certify the plaintiff's claim as a class action
- Declare that the defendants have and are continuing to violate the plaintiff's constitutional rights by depriving Buffalo residents of fluoridated drinking water.
- Immediate resumption of fluoridation of Buffalo's drinking water
- Orders the defendants to provide free preventative treatment dental clinics to Buffalo residents that experienced cavities, diseases, and other complications that are preventable through public water fluoridation.
- Award actual damages and interest at the legal rate.
- Award plaintiff's costs, attorney's fees, and disbursements
In the complaint, damages are believed to exceed $160 million dollars, a payment the plaintiffs expect to be paid out by the defendants.
