BALTIMORE LEAD PAINT LITIGATION : DEFENSE 101

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Premier defense attorney Charles Jerome Ware is considered and ranked by his many satisfied clients as well as his legal peers as one of the best lead paint litigation defense attorneys in the United States. If you are being sued in a lead paint or lead poisoning lawsuit, contact Attorney Charles Ware immediately at (410) 720-6129. He can help you.

Lead (Pb) is ubiquitous in Baltimore. It is everywhere in the city. In fact, virtually everybody in industrial civilizations such as the United States, Great Britain, etc., have some lead (Pb) in their bodies. Lead is not dissolvable in water, does not decay,  nor dissipate, nor burn.  It simply lasts ... and lasts... and lasts. It is guesstimated that over the more than 6,000 years last has been used, over 10 million metric tons have accumulated in the earth's environment.

Lead can be found in many consumer products that are made outside of the United States, and in a few that are made inside the country, such as batteries. Aside from the frequently-mentioned lead that can be found in many pre-1978 built apartments and houses in Baltimore, lead can be found in  drinking water, the air we breathe, soil, dust, playgrounds, sandlots, pipes and other plumbing fixtures, toys, furniture, jewelry, cosmetics, cribs, high chairs, lunchboxes, folk and home remedies, pottery, ceramics, candies made in Mexico, other products, commercial buildings, job sites, industrial sites, etc. In the past ( year 2000, for example), many toys were recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission when they were found to be contaminated with lead. And, as mentioned, supra, consumers (including children) can also be exposed to lead through imported pottery, candies, or Mexican or Asian folk remedies, which may contain high concentrations of lead.

Lead particles or dust can also be brought into the home from contaminated work clothes. Despite all these potential sources of contamination, however, most lead paint litigation arises out of the toxic exposure of children under age 6 to pre-1950 built housing (originally, in Baltimore). It must be noted that in 1991 the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) opined that " it is unlikely that there is a single predominant source of lead exposure" for young children.  [ See, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Preventing Lead Poisoning in Young Children (October 1991), Chapter 4 ].

I recommend that landlords and residential property managers be aware of the following three keys to avoiding or winning lead paint lawsuits : (1)  MAINTENANCE of the rental property;  (2) NOTICE to tenants in the rental property; and (3) DOCUMENTATION/RECORD-KEEPING on the tenant as well as the rental property.