The state of Rhode Island has scored a victory of sorts for all the children that live in poor homes and as a result might be exposed to poisonous leaded paint.
No other state prior to Rhode Island has won such a case before although some have tried. It is expected that many states will file similar law suits, on behalf of their children. Although the production of paint with lead pigment was stopped by law in the United States in 1978 yet the judge and jury did find in favour of the plaintiffs and have ordered the three paint producers;Sherwin Williams, NL Industries and Millenium Holdings to bear the full cost of the cleanup. On the otherhand the ruling exempted the three companies in question from the need to pay punitive damages because the judge did not think that their acts were willful.
It is estimated that the cost of the clean up will amount to around $330 million but that is only for Rhode Islands' 300,000 affected units. Should the same principle apply nation wide then the cost of sealing all the units affected will easily climb into the tens of billions. I do not believe that this case will become as comprehensive and costly as tobacco since there does not seem to be strong evidence that the paint manufacturers conspired to hide the deleterious effects of lead pigments. Nonetheless this is an impressive victory for the principle that the polluter pays despite the fact that the offensive product was legal when initially produced.
1 comment:
A solid pat-on-the-back for the judge in Rhode Island. It is right (in my humble opinion) that those three companies should be forced to replace affected buildings in order to safeguard the health of children.
The worry over future rulings however, I feel is unnecessary. While they have not done it as of yet, I believe/hope/pray that the companies will realize what they are facing and will “save face” by agreeing to clean up affected walls without the direction of the courts.
A possible solution: They could ask for resident assistance and community help in the clean-up process, and assume all costs for clean-up, waste disposal and paint replacement.
For the companies: This could drop the cost of the cleanup, while demonstrating what good guys they are, show how much they care about their customers- both past, present and future. For the citizens: This could insure a proper job done on the cleanup (which they will be overseeing) and save them the option of loosing a court battle, all while educating them on their environment. For the Environment: It is not going to benefit in any way from this-- lead will go from the cities into the mountains. Perhaps a little education, however, will go a long way.
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