PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The state in 2008 lost its legal battle to make lead paint companies responsible for lead poisoning in Rhode Island, but the case resurfaced in Supreme Court Tuesday as lawyers for the paint company sought to force the state to reimburse their costs from the litigation.
The Supreme Court heard an appeal by several paint manufacturers of a 2010 decision by Judge Michael A. Silverstein that the companies were not entitled to compensation because the lawsuit was "neither frivolous nor made in bad faith." Those costs were estimated by a paint company lawyer at no less than $1 million and possibly upwards of $1.8 million.
The state, meanwhile, appealed a previous ruling that Rhode Island must reimburse the paint companies for approximately $250,000 spent establishing a lead remediation program before a verdict for the state was overturned.