$410,000 Settlement for Lead Poisoning

Richard Villanova represented a young girl and her family residing in Hudson County, New Jersey for a premises liability claim regarding the ingestion of lead paint chips. Richard litigated the case and was able to obtain health department records supporting the contention that the apartment where the child resided contained chipping paint which contained lead. As a result of the lead poisoning, the child suffers from learning disabilities and has been classified as a special needs student. Richard was also able to subpoena and obtain documentation from Social Security Disability which declared the child to be disabled as a result of her exposure to the lead base paint. The defense in this case attempted to argue that since the child had suffered from a seizure disorder at a very young age that the problems the child experiences today are related to the seizure disorder as opposed to the high levels of lead found in her blood. The defense had attempted to obtain medical records from the child’s parents to argue that their medical issues caused their child’s problems. Richard was able to defeat a motion filed by the attorneys for the defendants when they tried to obtain the parents private medical records. Despite the defense’s arguments of causation and liability, Richard was able to resolve this case at a mediation for $410,000.