Former lead paint companies found responsible for public nuisance
PROVIDENCE, R.I. --Three former makers of lead paint created a public nuisance that continues to poison Rhode Island children, a jury ruled Wednesday in a verdict that could saddle the companies with millions of dollars in cleanup costs and embolden other states to sue, too.
Rhode Island -- the first state to sue the paint industry over lead -- argued that the substance has sickened tens of thousands of children, contaminated homes and burdened landlords and taxpayers. The state asked the jury to force the former manufacturers of lead pigment or paint to deal with the mess, though it did not seek a specific dollar amount.
Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein will decide later what the companies must do to clean up the contamination. The judge will also hear arguments Monday on whether the companies should have to pay punitive damages over and above the cleanup costs.
He instructed the jury to return to court on Tuesday.
"Now that we have the resources to clean up the mess that the industry created, there's no reason we can't make lead poisoning history in Rhode Island," Roberta Hazen Aaronson, executive director of the Childhood Lead Action Project.
Attorney General Patrick Lynch hailed the verdict as historic and said in a statement that the decision would "help make Rhode Island a safer and better place to live."
The sale of lead-based paint was banned in 1978 in the United States after studies showed it can cause brain damage and other serious health problems in children. But in Rhode Island and other states with older houses, many homes still have lead paint.
The jury decided that one of the four defendants, Atlantic Richfield Co., was not responsible. But it found the three others were:
Sherwin-Williams and NL Industries fell sharply on the New York Stock Exchange after the verdict. Shares of Sherwin Williams fell $9.37, or 18 percent, to close at $43.20. Shares of NL Industries fell $1.15, or 8 percent, to close at $13.21.
A spokeswoman for the companies, former Iowa Attorney General Bonnie Campbell, said in a statement that the verdict "is but one step in a lengthy process." Sherwin-Williams said that the facts and the law are on its side.
The companies argued in court that the incidence of childhood lead poisoning has plummeted over the years, and that lead paint remains a problem in just a small number of poorly maintained properties.
They also said that paint is not the only source of lead exposure, and that the state did not prove a definitive link between the lead pigment they made and children who suffered lead poisoning in Rhode Island.
Former Rhode Island Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse, who brought the lawsuit in 1999 and is now running for the Senate, pronounced the verdict "an incredibly important turning point in this fight." He said it could pave the way for similar lawsuits in other states.
"I think they are waiting and watching to see how this case comes out. I certainly think other attorney generals will be looking at the success of the litigation today," he said.
The state wants the companies responsible for a program that could entail home inspections; the removal or the painting over of lead paint; and public education.
The jury began deliberating Feb. 13 following a trial that lasted more than three months. An earlier trial ended in 2002 in a hung jury.
Jurors were asked to sift through months of testimony from doctors, public health historians, home inspectors and others called as witnesses by the state. The witnesses detailed the health hazards associated with lead paint, saying exposure to the substance could cause reduced intelligence, behavioral disorders, gastrointestinal pain, brain damage and even death.
Dr. Philip Landrigan, an expert in childhood lead poisoning at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, testified that a paint chip half the size of his fingernail, if swallowed, could send a child into a coma or convulsions.
The state argued that the companies or their corporate predecessors continued to manufacture lead pigment even after they realized the dangers.
The companies called no witnesses, saying the state failed to prove its case.
Last June, the state dropped DuPont Co. from the lawsuit after it agreed to pay several million dollars to a nonprofit group to remove or cover over lead paint, and for public education and compliance programs in Rhode Island.
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