Maryland’s Highest Court Rules on Lead Paint Lawsuits

Maryland’s highest court has ruled that a law giving owners of certain rental properties immunity from personal injury lawsuits based on a child’s ingestion of lead-based paint is invalid.

The Court of Appeals issued the 7-0 ruling on Monday, Oct. 24.

The court ruled that provisions of the 1994 Reduction of Lead Risk In Housing Act granting immunity are invalid.

The court says the maximum amount of compensation under the law for a child found to be permanently brain damaged from ingesting lead paint after a landlord’s negligence results in “either no compensation” or “drastically inadequate compensation.”

The ruling was made in a case that began in 2002 in Baltimore when plaintiffs sought damages after a girl suffered brain injuries allegedly resulting from her ingestion of lead-based paint.