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The city of Milwaukee is suing a company that was the largest manufacturer of lead pigment in paint for $85 million to compensate the city for the millions of dollars it has spent on lead abatement. A trial against NL Industries Inc., formerly known as National Lead Company, began recently with the city's allegation that the manufacturers of lead paint knew of its dangers as early as the 1930s but nevertheless promoted their products as safe.
Lead Paint Manufacturers Knew of the Danger
The leading attorney for the City, Richard Lewis, contended that NL Industries created a public nuisance that poisoned thousands of Milwaukee children, mostly in the city's poorest neighborhoods. He noted that "Every major health organization…says the same thing…the most common source of childhood lead poisoning is lead paint and the dust that comes from it."
Lewis said that in the last 10 years, more than 19,000 children in Milwaukee under the age of six were found to have abnormally high levels of lead in their blood, including 884 such children found in 2006 alone. He also said that the city of Milwaukee has already spent $53 million on abatement and removal of the lead paint in about 11,000 homes. Lewis noted that the Milwaukee Health Department "has been left holding the bag for a problem they did not create."
Only the Second Lead Paint Trial in the U.S.
Milwaukee's lawsuit against NL Industries is the second lead paint poisoning case in the U.S. to reach the trial stage. In the first, the state of Rhode Island sued three lead paint manufacturers, winning a verdict against them in February 2006.
An attorney for NL Industries, Donald Scott, stated in court that the dangers of lead-based paint have been public knowledge for decades, but he alleged that both the city of Milwaukee and the federal government still used lead paint for their housing projects as recently as the 1970s because the product is so durable. He argued that the maintenance of properties in which lead-based paint was used is the key issue — that better-maintained homes in the same neighborhoods described in the city's lawsuit do not have high lead levels.
(Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Do you have children who may have been harmed by exposure to lead? Contact an experience attorney today to discuss your legal rights.
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