RI.gov hosts live webcast of lead-paint hearing

PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in the state’s landmark lead paint case from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. today … and so can you. To view a live webcast of the hearing, visit courts.ri.gov, then click on “Lead Paint Appeal Webcast,” at lower left.

Rhode Island is seeking to recover $2.4 billion in cleanup costs from three former lead-paint makers – Sherwin-Williams Co., NL Industries and Millennium Holdings LLC – to help eliminate lead-paint problems at homes, schools and child-care centers across the state. (READ MORE) The paint has poisoned tens of thousands of children and contaminated at least 240,000 homes, the state contends.

The companies, however, are seeking to overturn the February 2006 jury verdict that held them responsible for creating a public nuisance in Rhode Island. That decision was the first verdict against former lead pigment makers to rely on public-nuisance law. (READ MORE)

But the three manufacturers contend that the state has not proven its case. And, in a December filing, they asserted that the state’s cleanup proposal – the R.I. Lead Nuisance Abatement Plan, drafted at the direction of Superior Court Judge Michael A. Silverstein – “is not only economically dangerous, but may well result in higher, not lower, blood-lead levels in children and others across the state.” (READ MORE)

The high court hopes to make a ruling in the case by July, Chief Justice Frank J. Williams has said.

The multi-year court battle stretches back to 1999, when then-Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse filed a 10-count lawsuit citing eight manufacturers and a trade association. (READ MORE) A mistrial was declared in 2002 – after the first jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision (READ MORE) – but the state soon filed suit again. DuPont Corp., another former manufacturer of lead paint, was dropped from the case in 2005 after pledging $11.85 million to remediation efforts in Rhode Island. (READ MORE)