$1.5 Billion Lead Paint Award Breaks Precedent

A judge in a California state court has ordered three corporate defendants – Sherwin Williams, ConAgra and NL Industries – to pay $1.5 billion for household lead abatement. The case has potentially far-reaching effects, according to Morrison & Foerster attorneys Peter Hsiao and Andrew Stanley, because it is based on a nuisance cause of action under which liability can be assessed without the plaintiffs having to make the notoriously difficult causal connection between a particular product and particular plaintiffs’ injuries. The nuisance theory in this kind of case has been rejected in six other states. If it were to be accepted, the authors say, it would enable a wide range of previously untenable lawsuits and create uncertainties for companies in a wide range of industries. The defendants in the California case said they would appeal.