CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) – An order to consolidate five class action lawsuits involving the water contamination crisis in West Virginia in January has been filed in federal court.

The five class action lawsuits were consolidated because they all involve damages and injuries sustained from the water contamination crisis in which a chemical called MCHM was released from a Freedom Industries facility in to the Elk River on Jan. 9 and affected nine West Virginia counties.