Massillon joins with other cities in lead paint case

This was tucked away in the Cleveland Plain Dealer Business section today, straight out of Associated Press, without any local perspective - yawn, how boring is this subject. Well, over the next few months expect to see it is not so boring!

Massillon joins with other cities in lead paint case [1]
2/21/2007, 12:57 p.m. ET - The Associated Press        

MASSILLON, Ohio (AP) — Massillon is joining several other Ohio cities in suing former makers of lead-based paint.

By a 7-2 vote Tuesday, City Council took on Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams and other companies, accusing them of violating public nuisance laws by failing to remove lead from paint despite knowing of its dangers as early as 1900.

Paint makers also are being sued by Canton, Toledo, East Cleveland, Cincinnati, Lancaster and Columbus.
   
Lead paint was banned in the United States in 1978, but can be found in some older homes and buildings. Sherwin-Williams faces mounting lead-paint lawsuits across the country.

The paint companies have said they should not be held responsible for practices that were legal at the time.

Last year, a Rhode Island jury found Sherwin-Williams and some other companies liable for creating a public nuisance by manufacturing and selling a toxic product. Ohio lawmakers in December passed a bill that in part says manufacturers can't be sued under public nuisance laws.