Family awarded $2.5M in lead-paint case

BALTIMORE, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- A Baltimore jury awarded $2.5 million to a pair of siblings whose mom says suffered brain damage from lead paint in their rented home.

Tiffini Wallace alleged her son, Donate, 20, and daughter, Serra, 17, suffered cognitive and behavioral problems caused by lead even though the non-profit agency City Homes assured her the paint in the unit was lead-free when she moved in in the early 1990s.

"I had no idea there was lead in that house," Wallace said. "I would have never moved there if I had known there was lead in that house.

Wallace said she sought out City Homes after enrolling Dontae, then 4, in a lead-paint study conducted by the Kennedy Krieger Institute and learning that he had been exposed to lead in their previous home.

City Homes countered that it had inspected the rowhouse for lead and had responded to Wallace's requests for maintenance.

The Baltimore Sun said problems at the home also included rodents and an apparent leak that caused the wall to become wet when it rained.