COLUMBUS, Ohio – The State of Ohio yesterday filed suit against Sherwin-Williams Co., DuPont Co. and eight other former lead-paint makers, seeking to recover the cost of cleaning up contaminated buildings, Bloomberg News reports. No price tag has been set.
The lawsuit, filed yesterday by Attorney General Marc Dann, claims the paint created a public health hazard and caused the state and its residents to “incur substantial costs.” The makers intentionally “omitted adequate warnings about lead paint and coating hazards,” Dann said in the complaint, according to Bloomberg.
It follows similar suits filed by four Ohio cities, claiming lead paint harmed children and endangered public health, as well as Rhode Island’s landmark February 2005 victory over Sherwin-Williams, NL Industries and Millennium Holdings LLC in the first such state lawsuit. (The Rhode Island verdict is still being contested, but state officials have estimated the cleanup here might cost the companies more than $3.7 billion.)
Defendants in the Ohio case include Sherwin-Williams, NL Industries and Millennium’s parent Lyondell Chemical Co., plus Dupont and the Atlantic Richfield unit of BP Plc. The case is “State of Ohio v. Sherwin-Williams Co.,” CA 07- CVC-044587, Franklin County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas (Columbus), Bloomberg said.
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