Lead Paint is not a Public Nusiance

In February 2007, the Superior Court of Rhode Island in the case of State of Rhode Island v. Lead Industries Association, Inc. issued a ruling upholding a jury verdict against defendants The Sherwin Williams Company, NL Industries, Inc., and Millennium Holdings, LLC, hereafter collectively referred to as “the paint manufacturers”. After what is considered by many as the longest civil trial in Rhode Island history, the jury found that the paint manufacturers “caused or substantially contributed to the creation of the public nuisance." In addition, it concluded that these three paint manufacturers “should be ordered to abate the public nuisance." This is the first jury trial to have found lead pigment paint manufacturers liable under a theory of public nuisance.