Baltimore Jury Awards $2.5M in Lead Paint Case

A Baltimore brother and sister have been awarded $2.5 million in a lead paint case.

Jurors decided Tuesday in favor of 20-year-old Dontae Wallace and 17-year-old Searra Wallace. Attorneys say their cognitive and behavioral disabilities are due in part to lead paint in a house rented from City Homes, Inc., a nonprofit organization.

The children’s mother said she moved to the home because of lead paint in another home and was told by the nonprofit it was safe.

The Baltimore-based Kennedy Krieger Institute was a defendant at first in the case but was later dropped. A study by the institute sought more cost-effective lead-paint removal measures, and a state appeals court found researchers failed to properly warn families about risks of homes in the study.

Latest Comments

• November 23, 2009 at 9:36 am

  william says:

  I work in this industry, and to the person who made the statement about "only black kids" being effected is completely inaccurate and unsubstantiated. I just worked on a case ... read more
• November 11, 2009 at 8:13 am

  Andy says:

  This is a well-known revenue stream in Baltimore; there are several plaintiff's attorneys scouring the neighborhoods for additional claimants. What gets me is the only causal... read more
• November 9, 2009 at 10:22 am

  Amos says:

  Judging by their names and venue, it's pretty apparent they aren't European, Asian, or Hispanic. Blacks have been mining the lead paint issue for decades.