Trial began Tuesday in Rhode Island's second attempt to hold former makers of lead-based paint accountable for a product that prosecutors say has sickened children and contaminated hundreds of thousands of homes.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Trial began Tuesday in the state's second attempt to hold former makers of lead-based paint accountable for a product that prosecutors say has sickened children and contaminated hundreds of thousands of homes.
"If you help make a mess, you have to help clean it up," Jack McConnell, a lawyer for the state, said in his opening statement in Providence Superior Court.
The four defendants are the Sherwin-Williams Co., Atlantic Richfield Co., Millennium Holdings LLC and NL Industries, Inc. The companies, former makers of lead paint and pigment, call the lawsuit unfair and say they are being targeted for a problem they didn't create.
"These companies did not do the evil things that you were shown this morning," John Tarantino, a lawyer for Atlantic Richfield, told jurors. "They acted responsibly and consistently with the medical knowledge that existed at the time."
McConnell told jurors that the companies made lead-based pigment and paint despite knowing the product posed a health risk for children. He accused them of engaging in a public relations campaign to deny and downplay medical problems associated with lead.
McConnell said half the homes in the state are potentially contaminated with lead paint and that 35,000 children have suffered lead poisoning in the last decade. Rhode Island, with its large stock of older homes and buildings, is among the most at-risk states for lead poisoning.
But Tarantino said the lead paint problem is confined to a small pocket of poorly kept-up properties and that even routine maintenance can reduce the risk. He argued that the state should go after landlords who fail to fix up their properties.
If the state is successful, the trial could pave the way for additional lawsuits against former lead paint manufacturers. Lawyers for the other defendants were to deliver opening statements Wednesday and testimony is to begin Thursday.
Lead paint was banned nationwide in 1978 after studies showed children who eat or breathe flaking paint chips or dust could suffer brain damage, behavioral disorders and even death.
Rhode Island became the first state to sue the paint industry in 1999, and the first trial ended with a hung jury three years later.
A fifth company, American Cyanamid Co., was later removed from the trial. Another company, DuPont Co., was dismissed as a defendant after reaching a multimillion-dollar agreement with the state in June.
Source: Associated Press
Contact Info:
