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Saturday, January 06, 2007

Law - "6 Ohio Cities Rush to File Suits Against Makers of Lead Paint" [Updated]

From today's NY Times, this story:

CINCINNATI, Jan. 5 — Racing against a proposed state law that would limit paint manufacturers’ liability for lead poisoning in aging neighborhoods, Cincinnati has joined five other Ohio cities in filing suits that seek millions of dollars from the companies to clean up lead paint.

Ohio is the latest front in a battle that pits paint companies against cities and states struggling to overcome problems associated with lead poisoning.

The problems include learning impairment in children, high blood pressure in adults and, at high levels of exposure, seizures, comas and deaths.

Municipal and county governments in California, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey and Texas have also sued major manufacturers seeking what would amount to billions of dollars in damages.

Whether responsibility rests primarily with paint companies, landlords who let paint deteriorate or cities that fail to enforce housing codes remains an open question.

Rhode Island broke new ground in February by winning a jury trial that found that three paint companies had created a public nuisance and had to clean up lead-paint contamination throughout the state at an estimated cost of $1.37 billion to $3.74 billion.

The companies are seeking a new trial there and trying to fend off litigation throughout the country. They are Sherwin-Williams, based in Cleveland; NL Industries, part of Valhi of Dallas and whose predecessor National Lead made Dutch Boy paint; and Millennium Holdings of Hunt Valley, Md., a successor to a company that owned Glidden Paint, originally based in Cleveland.

“The movement is gaining steam,” Jack McConnell, the lead lawyer in the Ohio lawsuits and a participant in the Rhode Island trial, said. “We’ve seen it both in the Rhode Island trial and in three or four appellate court decisions, all of which have ruled against the lead-paint industry.” * * *

In Ohio, Gov. Bob Taft decided on Friday to allow a bill to become law without his signature that will ban future suits like those filed by the cities that are based on public nuisance grounds. Plaintiffs will instead have to rely on product liability law, which requires proof linking lead paint in a given home to a specific manufacturer. Noneconomic damages, including punitive damages, will be capped at $5,000 a consumer, instead of being unlimited. Mr. Taft said that provision prevented him from signing the bill because the cap was too low.

See this April 2nd, 2006 ILB entry on "How paint companies [in Rhode Island] lost a multi-billion dollar lead paint suit."

[Updated 1/7/07] Here is an earlier article from the Cincinnati Enquirer that I had misplaced, dated 12/27/06, written by Sharon Coolidge. Some quotes:

Paint manufacturers should pay to clean up the thousands of Cincinnati properties with peeling paint filled with toxic lead particles, city officials say.

The city filed a lawsuit this week against nine paint manufacturers - including Cleveland-based Sherwin Williams - asking that the companies be required to clean up all lead hazards in properties in the city, pay for a public awareness campaign about lead's dangers and repay the city for years of testing and investigating lead hazards. * * *

The paint manufacturers are fighting back.

Sherwin-Williams filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Columbus last fall against several cities, including Cincinnati, claiming the plaintiffs conspired with lawyers who want to fleece the company.

The company argues that property owners, not the manufacturer, should be held liable for lead hazards. * * *

The suit comes a week after the legislature moved to curb product liability lawsuits.

Senate Bill 117 caps non-economic damages for lawsuits brought under the Consumer Sales Practices Act at $5,000 and extends protection to manufacturers of lead-based paint. The bill is now under review by Gov. Bob Taft. It would not affect lawsuits already filed.

"The legislative maneuvering and Sherwin-Williams' pending lawsuit ... does little to solve our common problem: the health of Ohio's children," Mallory wrote Tuesday in a letter to the paint manufacturers. "The citizens of Ohio and Cincinnati deserve better. The city of Cincinnati has no choice but to file a lawsuit now to preserve its ability to address the public health crisis caused by lead poisoning."

Canton filed a similar suit in Stark County Common Pleas Court on Thursday.

Cincinnati and Canton follow Columbus, East Cleveland, Lancaster and Toledo in filing civil suits to hold paint manufacturers liable for damages.

Earlier this year, a Rhode Island jury found Sherwin-Williams, NL Industries and Millennium Holdings liable for creating a public nuisance by manufacturing and selling a toxic product.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 6, 2007 07:21 PM
Posted to General Law Related