Lead Paint Poisoning: a Personal Injury Concern

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New Hampshire is one of the oldest states in the United States. While many New Hampshire properties have the charm of houses built long ago, older homes can come with some serious health-related hazards. One of these health issues involves houses filled with lead paint. Lead paint was commonly used in homes in the 1950s and 1960s, until Congress banned its use throughout the United States in 1978.

How Many Americans Still Live With Lead Paint?

Shockingly, 37 million homes in the U.S. built before 1960 still contain lead paint, according to the Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning. Additionally, over 23 million U.S. homes contain at least one significant paint hazard due to lead-based paint.  One out of every three households that include children under the age of 6 contains a worryingly high amount of lead paint. Lead poisoning at any amount in the body causes permanent damage that medicine cannot reverse.

Successful Lead-Based Paint Lawsuits

Paint companies that have produced lead-based paint include Sherwin-Williams Co., DuPont, and others. No lead-based paint a personal injury lawsuit against a paint company has succeeded. Paint companies band together and argue that they never purposely deceived anyone into using lead-based paint. Paint companies also say that once they realized the hazards of lead-based paint, they stopped selling it.

The best way to approach a New Hampshire lead-based paint lawsuit is to sue landlords. If a plaintiff can prove that his or her landlord did not meet the duty of reasonable care, the tenant may succeed in a lead-paint personal injury lawsuit.

What Does a Plaintiff Need to Prove in a New Hampshire Lead-Based Paint Lawsuit?

If you have suffered lead poisoning due to lead-based paint, you may be able to bring a personal injury lawsuit against your landlord. You will need to prove that your landlord breached his or her duty of reasonable care by not properly dealing with lead-based paint.

The following circumstances are examples of ways that a landlord might breach his or her duty of care:

  • The landlord fails to inspect your apartment, condo, or house for lead-based paint
  • The landlord fails to remove lead-based paint from the property correctly.
  • The landlord fails to cover lead-based paint with a new coat of paint that is lead-free or with wallpaper that will adequately seal the lead-based paint.

Lead-based paint lawsuits are a particular type of personal injury lawsuit called a toxic tort case. To succeed in a toxic tort case, you will need to provide expert witnesses to include physicians and lead-paint experts. It is essential to start the process of gathering evidence in your case as soon as possible to make sure that the statute of limitations does not run out.