Agreed lastbat. This is a ridiculous settlement to a even more ridiculous lawsuit. It should have been thrown out of the Courts before the ink even had time to dry. Pltts are nothing but a bunch of money grubbers in search of a meal ticket.
Sorry Timmy, I’ve got two and they’ve never eaten paint, glue or other noxious substances either. And as noted by other posters you have to ingest a quantity of the stuff before it affects you. Granted this quantity varies with body size, natural immunities, general health and a few other factors, but it’s still more than a one-time deal.
It is easy to test for lead – not home-test easy but not Boston General hard either. Lead has been banned in paint since 1978. Even if the paint was not removed but only painted over that’s still almost 30 years of paint covering the lead. Now granted some would leach through, but that would only increase the amount of paint that has to be ingested to cause lead poisoning. And just sucking on the paint won’t do it as the lead bonds to the paint. You have to eat the paint. That’s place a chip in your mouth and swallow. Many times. Not the landlord’s fault.
It gets even worse than this; they will look at the child, test him, say his IQ is low and you can’t say “compared to what”. Shouldn’t low be compared to parents and siblings, not the general population? Two people who don’t crack 85 in IQ have a child who tests with an IQ of 85 really should not be allowed to hide the genetic reality that it was unlikely the child was going to be much brighter.
LB,
Good for you on the two kids! To your knowledge they’ve never eaten any of those substances. I hope for your sake and theirs, they haven’t. I’m sure the parents of those children didn’t sit there and watch the kids eat the chips. Then again, maybe they did.
I guess I am having a hard time with the landlords responsibility ending with notifying tenants of the hazard. Maybe I am confusing legal responsibility with moral responsibibility.
I never post on here but I feel that I have to. A lot of you are very misinformed about lead poisoning. I happen to know a bit about it as my son recently had a lead test done and it came back elevated. (And no I don’t live in an apt – own my own home but it is a colonial and built prior to 78) Any level over 10 is considered unsafe. Most lead poisoning is NOT from ingesting lead chips it is from lead dust. When lead paint breaks down dust can be released in the air. This is especially a problem in windows that are being opened and closed. (This is how my son was exposed). Furthermore, in MA if you are a tenant it is the responsibility of the landlord to provide a lead compliant environment when there is a child under 6. It is the law and the responsibility of the Landlord and I am sure other states have similiar laws. But you don’t have to believe me – Google it.
What I would want to know is if they brought this to the landlords Attn and asked for deleading.
It’s about time someone with some sense posted here. People are sometimes ignorant as to what their rights are and who is going to think about lead poisoning everyday? Also, for the IQ posters and the racist Mexicanitis stupidity is not indigenous to one race and apparently you fit the bill. For others that do not have children (especially one poster in particular) that’s nice and you don’t understand. For those that do, if you have had eyes implanted in the back of your head then I guess you do know what is going on every second of that child’s day.
Why do you think we have carbon minoxide detectors in homes – most people of all races do not have these in their habitats. There are plenty of hazards in homes and apts alike. Meal ticket or not landlords can be a dirty bunch and if you own something then you need to take care of the “customer” and not take their rent as a “meal ticket” especially if you are exposing them to lead.
Julio – if you read all the posts you’d realize your’re swimming upstream here. Having handled dozens of lead paint claims I can tell you this much. The only way to get contamination from lead paint is to ingest it or breath it. The only way to breath it is if somebody is sanding something down that releases it into the air. Dried lead paint in and of itself doesn’t give off lead vapors or dust. Acceptable remediation is to paint over it with a non-lead paint. The “open window” theory doesn’t wash. Unless these kids had a baseline blood level study prior to living in this apt. there is no objective way to tell if it increased much less be caused by this apt. Lead paint is only one of many sources of elevated blood levels. Drinking water from lead pipes is another common source, or living near buildings undergoing rennovations is another. Too bad the carriers caved in and settled. It would be nice to know what the kids educational records were prior to this alleged problem. Would also be nice to know where they lived previously and whether there was exposure there. The good thing is this lead paint albatross will eventually go away.
I moved into my current home in 1982 when my son was 2. My current house was built in the early 1950’s, so I’m guessing there’s some presence of lead paint, even at this late date. As far as I know my son never sucked on the baseboards. He did, however,graduate from a respected college in VA, served in the military and left as a Captain in the Army and is now working in my agency. YES, two year olds need major supervision, but their big thing is “why, why?”, not sucking on baseboards! But now, my son is living in a rental house I own that was built in 1974…. if you’ve been reading these posts, lead paint wasn’t outlawed until 1978. By Florida law, his lease has a disclosure for the possibility of lead paint, and also for “Radon” gas. I think that’s a naturally occuring substance and am not sure why I must, by law, warn him of it, but I’m convinced an attorney put that disclosure requirement into the statutes! Probably not good for health, if it exists there, BUT what is really funny is my son is now living in the very same house I was living in when he was concieved! You know: sperm + egg! Granted, my family has good genes.
In conclusion: 1) if you buy an older house and decide to “sand blast” out all the lead paint or change the windows, or whatever, please, please, rent a motel room while the work is being done. Sucking in any kind of dust…lead laced or otherwise…is a bad idea! DUH! 2) Get a grip: in general, insurance policies don’t pay for deliberate acts or for “stupidity” claims.
Three: in general, I’m in favor of immigration. But I do object to the spurious claims that seem to be arising. This is not “the law of large numbers” but attorneys making huge bucks on what I consider a “very thin line”.
With all of the settlements due to asbestos, lead and other toxic exposures (ie. the Dupont story), there are many variables that can or just will not be verified. Sometimes the testing takes too long and the average person does not always know what levels of anything resides in their bodies at any given time. Look at how they are telling pregnant women now how much fish they should eat.
Whether I am swimming upstream or not I don’t really care because that’s my opinion and am therefore entitled to it. I don’t have to go with the majority of posters and that’s called free speech / free thinking. Claims experience or not, no matter where the root problem or cause was, this particular landlord / insurance company had to pay. If they find the lead there then this lawsuit exposes the problem, is rectified and someone else moves in. If they test and it’s not there then there shouldn’t have a judgment. Depending on how it eventually plays out the insurance company could have fought this at many different angles but threw in the towel and should have appealed. That’s their fault and someone is now a millionaire. So sorry, so sad.
Claims Guy…although you may have handled your fair share of claims you are only looking at the issue from one side and do not entirely understand lead poisining…I just went to one lead informational site and this is the first excerpt:
Lead paint can be a real danger to both children and adults living in houses built before 1978. Contrary to what most people think, a toddler doesn’t have to eat paint chips to get lead poisoning. Microscopic dust can be created by merely raising and lowering a window painted with lead paint. The friction between the painted window sash (the part that goes up and down) and the painted window frame grinds the paint and generates toxic lead-containing dust
So the the ‘open window’ theory is not so stupid. Like I said before I know I alot about this topic because this has affected me personally (not professionally).
You simply can not ‘paint over’ lead paint to rememdy the situation. First you must follow the deleading laws of the state, which for my state meant scraping to bare wood or using a special encapsulating product. All this needs to be done by a licensed deleader. Just my two cents
We have updated our privacy policy to be more clear and meet the new requirements of the GDPR. By continuing to use our site, you accept our revised Privacy Policy.
Agreed lastbat. This is a ridiculous settlement to a even more ridiculous lawsuit. It should have been thrown out of the Courts before the ink even had time to dry. Pltts are nothing but a bunch of money grubbers in search of a meal ticket.
Sorry Timmy, I’ve got two and they’ve never eaten paint, glue or other noxious substances either. And as noted by other posters you have to ingest a quantity of the stuff before it affects you. Granted this quantity varies with body size, natural immunities, general health and a few other factors, but it’s still more than a one-time deal.
It is easy to test for lead – not home-test easy but not Boston General hard either. Lead has been banned in paint since 1978. Even if the paint was not removed but only painted over that’s still almost 30 years of paint covering the lead. Now granted some would leach through, but that would only increase the amount of paint that has to be ingested to cause lead poisoning. And just sucking on the paint won’t do it as the lead bonds to the paint. You have to eat the paint. That’s place a chip in your mouth and swallow. Many times. Not the landlord’s fault.
It gets even worse than this; they will look at the child, test him, say his IQ is low and you can’t say “compared to what”. Shouldn’t low be compared to parents and siblings, not the general population? Two people who don’t crack 85 in IQ have a child who tests with an IQ of 85 really should not be allowed to hide the genetic reality that it was unlikely the child was going to be much brighter.
It appears I am in the minority here.
LB,
Good for you on the two kids! To your knowledge they’ve never eaten any of those substances. I hope for your sake and theirs, they haven’t. I’m sure the parents of those children didn’t sit there and watch the kids eat the chips. Then again, maybe they did.
I guess I am having a hard time with the landlords responsibility ending with notifying tenants of the hazard. Maybe I am confusing legal responsibility with moral responsibibility.
I never post on here but I feel that I have to. A lot of you are very misinformed about lead poisoning. I happen to know a bit about it as my son recently had a lead test done and it came back elevated. (And no I don’t live in an apt – own my own home but it is a colonial and built prior to 78) Any level over 10 is considered unsafe. Most lead poisoning is NOT from ingesting lead chips it is from lead dust. When lead paint breaks down dust can be released in the air. This is especially a problem in windows that are being opened and closed. (This is how my son was exposed). Furthermore, in MA if you are a tenant it is the responsibility of the landlord to provide a lead compliant environment when there is a child under 6. It is the law and the responsibility of the Landlord and I am sure other states have similiar laws. But you don’t have to believe me – Google it.
What I would want to know is if they brought this to the landlords Attn and asked for deleading.
It’s about time someone with some sense posted here. People are sometimes ignorant as to what their rights are and who is going to think about lead poisoning everyday? Also, for the IQ posters and the racist Mexicanitis stupidity is not indigenous to one race and apparently you fit the bill. For others that do not have children (especially one poster in particular) that’s nice and you don’t understand. For those that do, if you have had eyes implanted in the back of your head then I guess you do know what is going on every second of that child’s day.
Why do you think we have carbon minoxide detectors in homes – most people of all races do not have these in their habitats. There are plenty of hazards in homes and apts alike. Meal ticket or not landlords can be a dirty bunch and if you own something then you need to take care of the “customer” and not take their rent as a “meal ticket” especially if you are exposing them to lead.
Julio – if you read all the posts you’d realize your’re swimming upstream here. Having handled dozens of lead paint claims I can tell you this much. The only way to get contamination from lead paint is to ingest it or breath it. The only way to breath it is if somebody is sanding something down that releases it into the air. Dried lead paint in and of itself doesn’t give off lead vapors or dust. Acceptable remediation is to paint over it with a non-lead paint. The “open window” theory doesn’t wash. Unless these kids had a baseline blood level study prior to living in this apt. there is no objective way to tell if it increased much less be caused by this apt. Lead paint is only one of many sources of elevated blood levels. Drinking water from lead pipes is another common source, or living near buildings undergoing rennovations is another. Too bad the carriers caved in and settled. It would be nice to know what the kids educational records were prior to this alleged problem. Would also be nice to know where they lived previously and whether there was exposure there. The good thing is this lead paint albatross will eventually go away.
I moved into my current home in 1982 when my son was 2. My current house was built in the early 1950’s, so I’m guessing there’s some presence of lead paint, even at this late date. As far as I know my son never sucked on the baseboards. He did, however,graduate from a respected college in VA, served in the military and left as a Captain in the Army and is now working in my agency. YES, two year olds need major supervision, but their big thing is “why, why?”, not sucking on baseboards! But now, my son is living in a rental house I own that was built in 1974…. if you’ve been reading these posts, lead paint wasn’t outlawed until 1978. By Florida law, his lease has a disclosure for the possibility of lead paint, and also for “Radon” gas. I think that’s a naturally occuring substance and am not sure why I must, by law, warn him of it, but I’m convinced an attorney put that disclosure requirement into the statutes! Probably not good for health, if it exists there, BUT what is really funny is my son is now living in the very same house I was living in when he was concieved! You know: sperm + egg! Granted, my family has good genes.
In conclusion: 1) if you buy an older house and decide to “sand blast” out all the lead paint or change the windows, or whatever, please, please, rent a motel room while the work is being done. Sucking in any kind of dust…lead laced or otherwise…is a bad idea! DUH! 2) Get a grip: in general, insurance policies don’t pay for deliberate acts or for “stupidity” claims.
Three: in general, I’m in favor of immigration. But I do object to the spurious claims that seem to be arising. This is not “the law of large numbers” but attorneys making huge bucks on what I consider a “very thin line”.
With all of the settlements due to asbestos, lead and other toxic exposures (ie. the Dupont story), there are many variables that can or just will not be verified. Sometimes the testing takes too long and the average person does not always know what levels of anything resides in their bodies at any given time. Look at how they are telling pregnant women now how much fish they should eat.
Whether I am swimming upstream or not I don’t really care because that’s my opinion and am therefore entitled to it. I don’t have to go with the majority of posters and that’s called free speech / free thinking. Claims experience or not, no matter where the root problem or cause was, this particular landlord / insurance company had to pay. If they find the lead there then this lawsuit exposes the problem, is rectified and someone else moves in. If they test and it’s not there then there shouldn’t have a judgment. Depending on how it eventually plays out the insurance company could have fought this at many different angles but threw in the towel and should have appealed. That’s their fault and someone is now a millionaire. So sorry, so sad.
Claims Guy…although you may have handled your fair share of claims you are only looking at the issue from one side and do not entirely understand lead poisining…I just went to one lead informational site and this is the first excerpt:
Lead paint can be a real danger to both children and adults living in houses built before 1978. Contrary to what most people think, a toddler doesn’t have to eat paint chips to get lead poisoning. Microscopic dust can be created by merely raising and lowering a window painted with lead paint. The friction between the painted window sash (the part that goes up and down) and the painted window frame grinds the paint and generates toxic lead-containing dust
So the the ‘open window’ theory is not so stupid. Like I said before I know I alot about this topic because this has affected me personally (not professionally).
You simply can not ‘paint over’ lead paint to rememdy the situation. First you must follow the deleading laws of the state, which for my state meant scraping to bare wood or using a special encapsulating product. All this needs to be done by a licensed deleader. Just my two cents