Doe v. Wallace and Florence Rich

Plaintiff, age 7, lived in a Portsmouth, Virginia apartment as an infant. She claimed that she was poisoned by lead and sustained brain damage that makes it difficut for her in school and will cause her to need lifelong assistance because of the damage done to her developing mind by lead-based paint.
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The lawsuit, filed in 1997, alleged that landlords Wallace and Florence Rich allowed lead-based paint in their building to chip and peel between 1995 and 1997, when the girl lived there. They also failed to warn the girl's family about the paint, and their negligence caused the infant to be poisoned, according to the lawsuit.
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The defendants claimed that the aparemtn had no lead-based paint problems when the they purchased it in 1991. They managed the building from another state while the girl's family lived there, and a contractor working on the building spread black dust.

Plaintiffs' verdict for $2 million.

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Federal law requires that landlords disclose the presence of lead-based paint to tenants. State building codes require that the paint, outlawed in 1978, be covered up. Children exposed to lead through paint chips and dust can develop nervous system and kidney damage and problems with hearing, behavior and learning, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Between 1994 and 2001, more than 6,000 children in Virginia tested for lead levels higher than the acceptable standard, according to the state Health Department.
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For more information about the dangers of lead based paint see: <a href="http://home.earthlink.net/~shabazzaupal/_wsn/page2.html" target="_new">United Parents Against Lead</a>
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Excerpted from The Virginian-Pilot. Copyright (c) 2003. Reprinted with permission.