Lead Paint Defendants Seek to Upend $1B Public-Nuisance Finding
Three companies hit with a $1.15 billion lead paint judgment in California are hoping on Thursday to reverse a judge's finding that they created a public nuisance by promoting for decades a product that they knew was toxic.
August 23, 2017 at 04:58 PM
6 minute read
Three companies hit with a $1.15 billion lead paint judgment in California are hoping on Thursday to reverse a judge's finding that they created a public nuisance by promoting for decades a product that they knew was toxic.
Sherwin-Williams Co., NL Industries Inc. and ConAgra Grocery Products Co. will make their case before the California Sixth District Court of Appeal in San Jose, California. They face Danny Chou, assistant county counsel for Santa Clara County, one of 10 cities and counties in California hoping to uphold the 2014 judgment. If California wins, it would be the first government victory in a public nuisance case over lead paint. Other government cases in New Jersey, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and Wisconsin failed in their efforts to bring public nuisance claims over lead paint, which has been found to cause learning disabilities in children.
But unlike those cases, the main focus on Thursday will be whether Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg, who presided over a bench trial before issuing an 111-page statement of decision, failed to follow a standard that the Sixth District set forth in 2006 when it allowed the public nuisance claim to go forward in the case. “The plaintiff had to prove the defendants had intentional promotion of the use of lead paint in the interiors of buildings with the knowledge of the public health hazard that this use would create,” said Tony Dias, a partner in Washington, D.C., at Jones Day, who represents Sherwin-Williams.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
J&J Aims to Wipe Out $417M Talc Verdict, Citing 'Passion and Prejudice' of Jurors
24 minute read
Trending Stories
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
