The Rhode Island Supreme Court ruling overturning the verdict against the lead paint defendants Sherwin-Williams, NL Industries, and Millennium Holdings marked the end of an era for a lot of things.
One was THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL's coverage for almost a decade of this litigation. Even in these downsized times in newsrooms it assigned Peter Lord to follow it, including every day during the four-month trial [November 1, 2005 - February 22, 2006] as well as key hearings such as the two-day one on the defendants appeal in August 2006 and the RI SC oral arguments on May 15, 2008. This was a real public service on the part of PROJO.
And, it was probably combat duty for Lord who sat through Lead Paint Public Nuisance Trials I & II. As many have commented the action and pace of those trials was right up there with watching paint dry. Now Lord can pursue full-time environmental reporting at PROJO. During RI Lead Paint II, he was working towards his Master's Degree in that field. Probably his last big story on this litigation was filed today. It runs about four pages - here it is.
Another thing ending might be the aggressive activism of the Attorney General's office in RI. Lord points out in today's article, "It took Attorney General Lynch some six hours before he was ready to talk about the ruling, which he said he disagreed with and found 'enormously disappointing.'" It was with a lot of fanfare that Lynch's predecessor Sheldon Whitehouse, who has since become a U.S. Senator, launched this lawsuit that depended on the novel theory of public nuisance. Even after that lawsuit ended in a mistrial, Lynch chose to resurrect the cause - in an equally high-profile manner.
That could have been, as it was for former AG Whitehouse as well as other state AGs ranging from Bill Clinton to Eliot Spitzer, a career stepping stone. But it doesn't look like it will turn out that way. PROJO has a section next to Lord's coverage in which readers can publish their opinion of the RI SC decision. Over 100 have. A number of those comments are critical of Lynch. Here are some.
- "Good!!" The Attorney General is just trying to make a name for himself bringing these bogus charges. Lead paint was the world norm 40 and 60 years ago. No one knew the risks."
- This guy Lynch has to go. He's nothing but a failure since the Station fire incident. ... All Lynch has done is waste people's time and money."
- "It's time to give businesses a chance to make a profit in Rhode Island. AG Lynch was just looking to hoodwink companies for money for his supporters."
Another ending is the era of magical thinking. That's an American disease, not just one pervasive in the Ocean State. It went like this: We have a problem. If we're clever enough we can solve it fast and free by pulling some rabbits out of hats. What we're finding, whether we're moderate-income people who dreamed about buying a wonderful house or a state desperate to balance its budget, there are no more rabbits in U.S. hats. Maybe the rabbits hightailed it to the EU, UK and the Far East where the legal systems don't injure business.
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