Dropped Lead Paint Lawsuit a Wake-Up Call to Plaintiffs' Lawyers

By Lisa Rickard
February 11, 2009

The Ohio attorney general's decision to drop this ill-conceived lawsuit thwarts the latest attempt by the plaintiffs' bar to turn lead paint into its next cash cow.

In abandoning the suit, Attorney General Cordray follows the legal pattern set by the Supreme Courts of Missouri, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, each of which repudiated the application of a novel, but improper, use of the centuries old public nuisance theory to establish liability for alleged lead paint injuries.

Hopefully, this latest action will be a wake-up call to plaintiffs' lawyers who hoped to grow their businesses by filing untenable public nuisance lawsuits in jurisdictions across the country.