Three Lead Paint Makers Are Found Guilty

By ERIC TUCKER

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Three former makers of lead paint created a public nuisance that continues to poison children, a jury decided Wednesday in the state’s landmark lawsuit against the companies.

The verdict means the companies that once made lead paint and pigment could be held responsible for millions of dollars in cleanup and mitigation costs, though the state never put a dollar value on its lawsuit.

Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein will decide later how much, if anything, the companies must pay.

The state argued that lead paint created a sweeping public nuisance that has poisoned tens of thousands of children since the early 1990s and contaminated hundreds of thousands of homes.

The sale of lead paint was banned in the United States in 1978 after studies showed it can cause serious health problems in children. But in Rhode Island, which has an old housing stock, lead paint still exists in many homes.

In 1999, Rhode Island became the first state to sue the lead paint industry.

The jury began deliberating Feb. 13 following more than three months of trial.

Jurors found one of the four companies named in the suit, Atlantic Richfield Co., was not responsible. The three jurors found responsible are Sherwin-Williams Co., NL Industries Inc. and Millennium Holdings.

An earlier trial ended in 2002 with a hung jury following four days of deliberations.