Lead Paint Risk Low Yet Lawsuits Continue

“Lead Paint: All Over but the Lawsuits,” By James R. Copland.
As if California and its municipalities were not already making life difficult for businesses and taxpayers, the Golden State’s courts could pile on too. On July 15, a trial began in San Jose, in which seven California counties (Santa Clara, Alameda, Los Angeles, Monterey, San Mateo, Solano and Ventura) and three cities (Oakland, San Diego and San Francisco) are suing five companies that once manufactured paint containing lead. The lawsuit alleges that these companies’ sale of lead-based paint created a “public nuisance” and that such companies should pay the municipalities a total of $1.4 billion for the cost of “abating” the problem — in essence, to support government-led efforts to find and replace all lead paint from older buildings. Read the full article in the Los Angeles Times.