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A group of California counties has struck a $305 million deal to end nearly two decades of litigation seeking to hold three companies liable for cleaning up lead paint in the state's older housing stock.

Lawyers for 10 local governments and the companies—The Sherwin-Williams Co., ConAgra Grocery Products Co. and NL Industries Inc.—filed court papers Wednesday indicating that each of the companies had agreed to pay a third of the settlement. The total is a little more than a quarter of the amount of the initial $1.15 billion judgment handed down in 2014 by now-retired Santa Clara Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg and less than the $409 million judgment entered Judge Thomas Kuhnle post-appeal.

Justin Berger of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, who represented the government plaintiffs, said that settlement will allow his clients to do things such as removing lead paint from the exterior of contaminated houses and extend abatement programs past a four-year time limit that would have been in effect under Kuhnle's judgment. He also noted that the judgment still faced further potential appellate challenges, where the settlement funds will start to be paid in the coming months.

“This $305 million gives the jurisdictions much more flexibility as far as what they spend the money on and designing programs that most sufficiently and effectively address the lead paint problem,” Berger said.

Santa Clara County launched the litigation in 2000 claiming the companies endangered the state's residents through exposure to products containing lead, which they promoted as safe going back 70 years. The California Court of Appeal largely upheld Kleinberg's judgment in 2017, but limited the company's liability for abatement costs to homes built before 1951. Both the California Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the companies' further appeals.

Mike Cummins, a spokesman for Conagra, said in a statement Wednesday that the company was pleased to put nearly 20 years of litigation behind it. “This ensures that our focus will remain where it should be—on making great food and driving shareholder value,” Cummins said. The company was represented by counsel at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

Andre Pauka of Bartlit Beck, which represents NL Industries, said that although his client continues to deny liability, “NL looks forward to bringing this decades-long litigation to an end.” The company had additional counsel from McManis Faulkner.

David Kiernan of Jones Day, which represents Sherwin-Williams, didn't immediately respond to an email Monday.

The plaintiffs team also included counsel from Motley Rice, Mary Alexander & Associates and the Law Offices of Peter Earle, along with county counsels and city attorneys from Alameda County, Los Angeles County, Monterey County, city of Oakland, city of San Diego, city and county of San Francisco, San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, Solano County and Ventura County.

Berger said Wednesday that the private plaintiffs' counsel will be paid a 17% contingency fee, or about $52 million. The California Supreme Court signed off on the contingency fee arrangement after an earlier challenge by the companies.

Berger also said that he had submitted evidence recently that from 2010 to 2015 about 7,000 new cases of lead poisoning were reported in the plaintiff jurisdictions each year.

“Sometimes people don't understand the magnitude of the problem,” Berger said. “This is a huge victory for California's most vulnerable kids, mostly low-income children of color.”