Today, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a ruling which affirmed the Court of Appeals's decision that the circuit court correctly dismissed the plaintiff's claim in "Godoy ex rel. v E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co." This represents a major victory for the lead paint companies and a setback for plaintiff attorneys pursuing personal injury lawsuits against them, at least in WI.
Essentially, the WI SC argues that "A claim for defective design cannot be maintained here where the presence of lead is the alleged defect in design, and its very presence is a characteristic of the product itself. Without lead there could be no white lead carbonate pigment. We therefore conclude that the complaint fails to allege a design feature that makes the design of white lead carbonate pigment defective. Accordingly, albeit with some clarification of the rationale, we affirm the court of appeals."
This is what the defendants have been contending. Therefore, they won on their own grounds.
Much of the rest of the opinion, states the WI SC, "is a review of the circuit court's dismissal of design defect claims." There is also a discussion how that other high-profile personal injury case, which came to trial based on the risk-contribution theory, i.e. "Thomas," differs fromt his case. The five defendants won a jury verdict. The request for a review by the plaintiff has been stayed because one of the defendants - Millennium Holdings - has a parent company in bankruptcy.
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