R.I. Supreme Court upholds <br>state’s lead-paint law

PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Supreme Court today upheld the constitutionality of the Lead Hazard Mitigation Act, according to Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch. “Today marks another step forward in our efforts to eliminate a public nuisance that has caused widespread harm to the most vulnerable citizens of the state,” Lynch said.
Today’s unanimous ruling reversed a decision last year by Superior Court Judge Stephen Fortunato, who declared that a portion of the 2005 law was unconstitutional. The lower-court judge had ruled that the law violated the R.I. Constitution by treating buildings owned by absentee landlords differently from those that were owner-occupied.
Under the law, owners of rental properties built before 1978 are required to attend a lead-hazard awareness seminar; evaluate rental units for lead hazards; mitigate (correct) any such hazards, within 30 days of learning about them; and inform their tenants.
A group of landlords challenged the law, saying that its exemption for owner-occupied two-unit and three-unit dwellings was arbitrary, and asking the court to declare the law unconstitutional.
The state argued that the law targets the properties that pose the greatest risk for lead poisoning; it introduced evidence that repeated lead poisonings are far more common in homes that are not owner-occupied. Special Assistant Attorney General Terence Tierney handled the case for Lynch, the Attorney General’s Office said.
Dr. Patricia Nolan, former director of the R.I. Department of Health, testified for the state, saying that the law was intended to change the state’s approach from reactive to proactive – from taking action only after a poisoning had occurred to preventing possible poisonings.
The Supreme Court concluded that “the state has offered a plethora of reasons to support the current statutory scheme,” citing affidavits from many experts that were introduced as evidence in the case. The high court’s opinion also mentioned Rhode Island’s efforts to eradicate childhood lead poisoning, saying: “We are persuaded that the General Assembly believed that targeting the areas where poisonings are most prevalent is one step toward that end.”
The case is separate from the landmark case that resulted in a February 2006 jury verdict against former lead-paint manufacturers Sherwin-Williams, NL Industries and Millennium Holdings LLC. Since then, the companies have requested a stay of the cleanup order while they appeal the verdict to the R.I. Supreme Court (READ MORE), and Lynch has filed a $2.4 billion abatement plant that would mitigate lead hazards in 240,000 homes and other buildings across the state. (READ MORE) The full R.I. Lead Nuisance Abatement Plan has been posted by the R.I. Attorney General’s Office at www.riag.ri.gov.