Youngstown sues lead paint-makers

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Defendants have known about lead hazards for 100 years, suit alleges.

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — In an action that is unprecedented for the city of Youngstown, lawyers for the city have sued several lead-paint manufacturers, processors and marketers to recover the city's expenditures for lead abatement.

The city filed the suit, which demands a jury trial and seeks unspecified damages in excess of $25,000, Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Deputy city law director Anthony Farris said that he didn't know how much money the city has spent on lead abatement but that it is in the millions of dollars. He said the city's suit is similar to suits against the tobacco companies, which alleged the companies knew decades ago about the hazards of their products, but marketed them anyway.

"Beginning at least in 1900, lead was recognized by the defendants and members of the medical and scientific community as a source of lead poisoning," the suit said, citing scores of medical and scientific journal articles published between 1904 and 1955 concerning the serious health hazards lead poses to children.

Still a hazard

Although residential use of lead was banned in the United States in 1978, lead is still present in many homes, schools and hospitals, where it poses a health hazard, the suit says.

"It's harmful to children, in particular, who are exposed to peeling paint that's lead-based. It causes brain damage" and learning difficulties, said Iris Torres-Guglucello, city law director. "It's a problem that costs millions of dollars in communities every year to abate," she added.

"It has really hit the City of Youngstown hard, and it's a continuing long-term problem. It's not as though we're looking for easy money here," Farris said. "The presence of lead in the buildings is an obstacle that we have to deal with in order to redevelop properties," he added.

A state law passed late last year, but vetoed by Gov. Ted Strickland in January, would have severely restricted the city's ability to file such a suit against lead-paint manufacturers after Monday, Farris said. Farris added that state Republican leaders said they would challenge in court the timeliness of Gov. Strickland's veto and whether he had the authority to veto a legislative act that occurred under a previous governor — Bob Taft. If the veto is voided, Monday would have effectively been the last day for the city to sue, Farris explained.

Defendants

Listed as defendants in the suit were Sherwin-Williams Co. of Cleveland; E.I. DuPont DeNemours & Co. of Wilmington, Del.; American Cyanamid Co. of Augusta, Maine; Armstrong Containers Inc. of Atlanta; Atlantic Richfield Co. of Warrensville, Ill.; Conagra Grocery Products Co. of Napierville, Ill.; Cytec Industries Inc. of West Patterson, N.J.; Lyondell Chemical Co. of Houston; Millenium Holdings LLC of Houston; NL Industries Inc. of Dallas, and an unspecified number of John Doe Corporations, whose identities the suit says are unknown.

"Lawsuits against companies that acted responsibly are wrong," said a prepared statement from Bonnie J. Campbell, former Iowa attorney general, a spokeswoman for the defendants. Industry and public health officials adopted a voluntary national limit of 1 percent lead in interior paint in 1955, some 20 years before the federal government banned the sale of lead paint, she noted.

"Ohio law requires property owners to keep their properties in a safe condition and free of hazards. ... These companies are not responsible for the condition of individual houses," she said of the defendants.

Contingency basis

The city will not spend any of its money to pursue the lawsuit because lawyers in Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo, Wayne, N.J., and Providence, R.I., who have filed similar suits against the lead industry on behalf of other municipalities, have agreed to take case on a contingency basis, meaning they'll get a share of the award if the city wins, Farris said. The lawyers, who Farris said sought Youngstown officials out, have already won a judgment in favor of Providence, R.I., in a similar suit filed against lead paint manufacturers, Farris said.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007