LANDLORD LEAD PAINT DEFENSE: Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Area

Attorney Charles Jerome Ware is renowned and consistently ranked among the best attorneys and legal counsellors in the United States. [GQ Magazine, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, The Columbia Flier, USA TODAY, The Howard County Sun, The Anniston Star, The New York Times, et al.]
www.CharlesJeromeWare.com

The national law firm of Charles Jerome Ware, Attorneys and Counsellors, is a premier lead poisoning defense firm headquartered in Maryland.  We are: "Still working.  Still committed.  Still here to make a difference."

Lead Poisoning Prevention Program

Lead is one of the most significant and widespread environmental hazards for children in Baltimore Maryland. Children are at greatest risk from birth to age six while their neurological systems are developing. Sustained exposure to lead can cause long lasting neurological damage or death. Effects of sustained exposure include learning disabilities, shortened attention span, irritability, and lowered IQ.

The major source of exposure for children is lead paint dust from deteriorated lead paint or from home renovation. Most childhood exposure occurs through children's normal hand-to-mouth activity after contact with a source of leaded dust. The most effective prevention of childhood lead poisoning is to reduce or eliminate exposure.

Maryland Department of the Environment's (MDE) Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (Lead Program) serves as the coordinating agency of statewide efforts to eliminate childhood lead poisoning. Under the 1994 "Reduction of Lead Risk in Housing Law", MDE assures compliance with mandatory requirements for lead risk reduction in rental units built before 1950; maintains a statewide listing of registered and inspected units; and, provides blood lead surveillance through a registry of test results of all children tested in Maryland.

 

The Lead Program also oversees case management follow-up by local health departments for children with elevated blood lead levels; certifies and enforces performance standards for inspectors and contractors working in lead hazard reduction; and performs environmental investigations for lead poisoned children. The Lead Program provides oversight for community education to parents, tenants, rental property owners, home owners, and health care providers to enhance their role in lead poisoning prevention.

 

Baltimore LPPP

 

Childhood Lead-Paint Poisoning (CLPP) cases are an epidemic in the Baltimore City metropolitan area. In fact, so many of these lead paint cases are filed by plaintiffs' attorneys in Baltimore City, particularly, every year that a special "lead paint case" docket exists within the Circuit Court for Baltimore City.

Further, to compound the problems for the defense in these cases, numerous judges as well as commentators suggest that in certain circumstances lead paint poisoning cases are "indefensible".

To be sure, especially in Baltimore City, a lead paint case defendant must retain a good lead paint defense attorney for legal representation in these cases.

Lead poisoning claims can, however, be defended on a number of grounds, including challenging the CDC's assertion that a low blood-lead level (10 to 25 micrograms per deciliter) can result in decreased IQ, learning disabilities, and psychological, neurological, and behavioral injuries.

From the insurer's perspective, the best defense to lead poisoning claims begins with educating and monitoring their insureds.

It is essential that property owners take an active role in preventing lead poisoning claims, rather than simply reacting to complaints of lead paint violations.

TRENDSThere are some trends in the arena of lead paint poisoning in Baltimore (as well as nationwide) that should be of enormous concern to property owners:

1. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has repeatedly lowered acceptable blood-lead levels to the point where hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of children are now legally classified as "lead poisoned." Many of those newly classified children will go on to become plaintiffs in lead-based paint poisoning lawsuits.
2. Various state health departments have consistently lowered the amount of lead permissible in residential paint to the extent that millions of apartment units nationwide may suddenly be in violation of local ordinances and regulations.
3. Multimillion-dollar verdicts and six-figure settlements are increasingly common in lead-based paint poisoning civil lawsuits. Juries in Baltimore and across the country seem receptive to arguments that children have suffered irreversible neurological impairment as a result of their alleged ingestion of lead paint chips and dust. This alleged impairment - depicted as manifesting itself in loss on intellectual capacity with resultant medical care, loss of earnings, and pain and suffering - if often the basis for exorbitant jury awards rendered against property owners.

Property owners, insurers and property managers are encouraged to contact us directly for further information concerning Baltimore, Maryland lead paint defense at:

www.CharlesJeromeWare.com

Renowned and respected for his extensive trial experiences and legal counselling of thousands of individual and organizational clients, Attorney Charles Ware is also noted for being a prolific author of several best-selling books, numerous information blogs, and hundreds of articles.

Ware is a widely acclaimed expert legal commentator who, for eight years in the 1990s hosted the extremely popular legal advice radio program "The Lawyer's Mailbox": the Number One (#1) legal advice radio program in the Mid-Atlantic States, on WEAA-88.9 FM, Morgan State University Radio in Baltimore, Maryland.

Among attorney and author Charles Jerome Ware's best-selling books are:

(1) The Secret Science of Winning Lotteries, Sweepstakes and Contests;
http://amzn.com/1432793888

(2) Understanding the Law: A Primer;
http://amzn.com/1440111456

(3) The Immigration Paradox: 15 Tips for Winning Immigration Cases;
http://amzn.com/1440171920

(4) Legal Consumer Tips and Secrets: Avoiding Debtors' Prison in the United States; and
http://amzn.com/1462051847

(5) Quince (15) Consejos Para Ganar Casos Del Inmigracion.
http://amzn.com/1462068952

Ware's blogs and twitter include, inter alia:

http://charlesware.blogspot.com

http://www.thelawyersmailbox.blogspot.com

http://www.twitter.com/CharlesJWare

http://open.salon.com/blog/charlesjware

 

[www.mde.state.md.us/programs/Land/Lead Poisoning Prevention; www.peoples-law.org/Lead Paint Law in Maryland; A Complete Guide To Lead Paint Poisoning Litigation, by Kaminsky, Bottari and Boulhosa, ABA (1998); www.leadhelp.com/atny.htm]