In what Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch called an “historic” lead paint cleanup effort, the DuPont Corp. has pledged $11.85 million in donations to a national group and Brown University for lead paint remediation, public education and compliance programs in Rhode Island.
After that pledge, Lynch moved to dismiss DuPont from a pending public-nuisance lawsuit against the Lead Industries Association Inc. There was no settlement agreement.
A retrial against the remaining six defendants – Atlantic Richfield, American Cyanamid, ConAgra, Millennium, NL Industries and Sherwin-Williams – is scheduled to start in September before Superior Court Judge Michael A. Silverstein.
Lead paint became illegal in 1978, but it was widely used before that, and it continues to harm children even today, especially in the cities. As of last year, 1,685 Rhode Island children under age 6 were known to be lead-poisoned, including 1,167 cases newly identified in 2004.
Following the model of the tobacco lawsuits, Lynch’s predecessor, Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse, filed a 10-count complaint against lead paint makers in 1999 seeking to have them declared a public nuisance, and charging them with violations of unfair trade practice and consumer laws, fraud, conspiracy, unjust enrichment and other offenses.
Whitehouse alleged that the defendants had marketed and sold lead-based paint with “full knowledge” that it was toxic. As an example, his complaint cited a 1904 Sherwin-Williams article warning that “white lead is poisonous in a large degree, both for the workmen and for the inhabitants of a house painted with white lead colors.”
The suit was the first of its kind, and it drew national attention both from other states and public-health advocates, and from the industry, which has strongly defended itself. The case went to trial in 2002 and ended with a hung jury.
At the time, DuPont issued a news release saying the jury’s inability to reach a verdict “reaffirms DuPont’s position that litigation is not the answer to lead paint issues,” and arguing that improved public awareness and education were “the only constructive solution to the issue.”
DuPont also argued that its own role in lead paint manufacturing was “limited,” ending in 1924, and that it had been a “leader” in developing lead-free alternatives.
In a statement after Lynch dropped DuPont from the lawsuit, Chief Administrative Officer Stacey J. Mobley said the dispute had ended with a “thoughtful and focused alternative to litigation,” and he stressed that “there is no settlement agreement and DuPont will not make any payment to the state or pay any fees or expenses.”
Most of DuPont’s money will be channeled through the Children’s Health Forum, a national nonprofit group dedicated to preventing lead poisoning. The company is giving $1.5 million for education and training, $1 million for community outreach, $1.75 million for enforcement of lead-related laws and regulations, and $6.6 million for lead abatement in 600 homes.
In addition, DuPont will donate $1 million to Brown Medical School to help improve the public health response to the lead problem, and it will work with Rhode Island communities to seek $2.5 million per year in federal money for the next five years.
“From the outset, I’ve said that my office would pursue this litigation for the explicit purpose of ensuring that the children of Rhode Island – particularly those in the inner cities – are protected from the hazards of lead poisoning,” Lynch said. “What makes this announcement so gratifying is that this money will go straight to cleaning up the mess. It presents a great opportunity for the attorney general’s office to make a real and lasting impact on the health and safety of Rhode Island’s children.”
