R.I. lead paint suit goes to trial

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Rhode Island went to court Wednesday seeking to hold eight manufacturers of lead paint liable for poisoning children for decades.

The companies deny they are responsible, blaming instead landlords who fail to properly maintain their properties.

Lawyers for both sides began presenting opening statements Wednesday in what likely will be a lengthy Superior Court trial watched closely by other states.

While previous suits failed against paint companies by individuals and communities have all failed, Rhode Island is the first state to go to trial with a lawsuit seeking to have lead paints declared a public nuisance.

If the state wins, Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse said he would then seek to have the paint companies held liable for damages.

"We will show that thousands of children have been poisoned and we will show the vector is the paint," Whitehouse told the Providence Journal.

"We'll use a lot of expert witnesses and they will show it takes very little lead to poison," he said. "We're not doing this house by house or child by child. The question is whether society collectively has been harmed."

It is estimated that some 330,000 houses in Rhode Island have lead paint, and that more than 2,800 children showed signs of lead poisoning last year.

The poisoning rate in Rhode Island is more than twice the national average, and Providence is regarded as the lead paint capital of the United States, according to the Journal.

Many of Rhode Island's homes were built before lead paint was banned in 1978.

Attorney John Tarantino, representing the paint companies, contends that lead paint causes no problems if the properties are properly maintained.

He said the state would better serve the public by more enforcement against landlords who let properties deteriorate to the point they poison children.

He noted a Brown University undergraduate study found that of the 330,000 properties with lead paint, 204 landlords were responsible for poisoning more than 2,600 children over several years.

"To us, that demonstrates that the vast majority of painted properties are safe," he said.

The companies named in the suit are American Cyanimid Co., Atlantic Richfield Co., E.I. du Pont de Nemours Co., NL Industries, The O'Brien Corp., Millennium Inorganic Chemicals Inc., ConAgra Grocery Products Co., and the nation's largest paint company, The Sherwin Williams Co.

The case is being tried before six jurors and six alternates. Judge Michael A. Silverstein is presiding. The trial is expected to last up to 10 weeks, with more than 60 witnesses expected to testify.