"As far as the paint industry is concerned, 2008 will be dedicated to preventing any more hypothetical setbacks from producing a very real loss of money," is the provocative way John O'Brien opens the third and last of LEGAL NEWSLINE's special series on lead paint litigation.
The piece then goes immediately granular. O'Brien reports that Jones Day attorney Chuck Moellenberg, who is part of the defense team representing Sherwin-Williams, observes that four specific cases could be at the forefront of the lead paint saga in 2008. Those will be:
- The defendants' appeal to the Rhode Island Supreme Court. If successful, that could overturn the industry's one loss. Mollenberg opines that according to Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein's instructions to the jury, "The State didn't have to prove the product existed in Rhode Island today and they jury didn't have to think they did anything wrong, the two foundations of any type of tort claims. They ended up trying a hypothetical case."
- In Ohio, there are pending one state suit and one suit by the city of Columbus.
- In California, which all attorneys indicated is the state to "watch," the County of Santa Clara's appeal of the Court's ruling against the use of contingency in public nuisance will be heard in San Jose in February. The original case had been filed by several CA counties in 2000.
- In Mississippi, of the usual defendants, only Sherwin-Williams is the only one on trial in a personal injury case in Jefferson County Circuit Court. The alleged victim, states Moellenberg, is 16, plays varsity football and basketball, and probably is "someone who is not going to be a star academically."
This blog wishes to thank John O'Brien and LEGAL NEWSLINE for this outstanding series.
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