The Ohio attorney general also has sued lead-paint makers.
YOUNGSTOWN — The city's lawsuit against lead-paint manufacturers has the enthusiastic support of its health commissioner.
"I'm personally delighted to see the city taking this step to move against someone to try to get back some of the money it's been spending on this issue," said Neil H. Altman, who has been city health commissioner since 1980. "They made the paint," he said.
Children who are poisoned by eating or inhaling dust from peeling and chipping of cracking lead paint in older homes suffer brain damage and learning difficulties, he said. "As they grow, they're developmentally disabled. The lead ultimately disables their brains," resulting in substantial educational and health care costs to society, he added.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that one out of 11 American children has dangerous levels of lead in the bloodstream.
On Monday, the city sued a host of lead-paint manufacturers, processors and marketers in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to recover money the city has spent to make structures lead-safe.
Companies listed in suit
Named as defendants were Sherwin-Williams Co. of Cleveland; E.I. DuPont DeNemours & Co. of Wilmington, Del.; American Cyanamid Co. of Augusta, Maine; Armstrong Containers Inc. of Atlanta; Atlantic Richfield Co. of Warrensville, Ill.; Conagra Grocery Products Co. of Napierville, Ill.; Cytec Industries Inc. of West Patterson, N.J.; Lyondell Chemical Co. of Houston; Millennium Holdings LLC of Houston; NL Industries Inc. of Dallas; and an unspecified number of John Doe corporations.
Neither Altman nor Anthony Farris, deputy city law director, knew how much the city has spent on lead hazard control, but both said it has been millions of dollars. Altman said the city has been engaged in removing lead from structures since the 1980s, but he didn't know the total number of structures the city has made lead-safe since the program began.
The city administers U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds for lead-hazard removal in owner-occupied housing through its Community Development Agency. Even though that money comes from a federal source, the city wants to recover it because the city has discretion over how it spends these funds, explained Iris Torres-Guglucello, city law director. "If we spent it on lead paint [hazard removal], there are other things we haven't spent it on," she noted.
In 2006, the city spent $245,479 in HUD money to make 19 homes owned and occupied by low- or moderate-income people lead-safe at an average of $12,920 per home, said Linda Hoefert, housing director at the city's Community Development Agency.
The city isn't alone in lead-paint litigation. Also Monday, Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann sued 10 companies, including Sherwin-Williams and DuPont, in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, alleging they continued to market lead paint long after they knew it was toxic.
Defendants' response
In prepared statements, the lead-paint defendants said state law requires property owners to keep their properties hazard-free and that the companies aren't responsible for the condition of individual houses. They also said industry and public health officials adopted a voluntary national limit of 1 percent lead in interior paint in 1955, long before the federal government banned lead paint in 1978.
Altman agreed that property owners are responsible for making their premises lead-safe. As part of the effort to hold them accountable, the city has entered into a $10,000 contract with Atty. Angela Mikulka to sue noncompliant property owners in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Mikulka said she has sued nine owners of Youngstown rental properties. One of the cases was resolved late last year with demolition of a house and a garage at the owner's expense.
The other eight cases are still pending, and some of the landlords have taken steps toward compliance, she said.
Mikulka said she prefers civil to criminal prosecution, because civil prosecution gets the problem solved, but criminal prosecution can result in a fine or jail term, possibly without accomplishing the goal of making the property lead-safe.
"Our goal is not to harm anyone or to punish anyone, but rather to clean up the environment and make Youngstown lead-safe," she concluded.