Paint manufacturers that lost a recent court ruling are using scare tactics to convince homeowners they will be held criminally liable if their homes contain lead-based paint, according of the California Association of Realtors. In fact, the recent California court ruling against paint manufacturers will have little to no effect on individual homeowners whose properties contain interior lead-based paint.
According to the state Realtor association, paint companies are attempting to qualify an initiative on the November ballot to absolve themselves of liability by shifting the burden of the expensive remediation costs onto the backs of California taxpayers, when taxpayers, in fact, are the victims.
"This is an appalling abuse of the initiative system to try to avoid reparations," said Steve White, president of the state Realtor group.
The issue stems from the 2013 case People v. ConAgra, where the trial court said lead-based paint found in homes built before 1981 was a public nuisance and ordered ConAgra Grocery Products Co., NL Industries, and Sherwin-Williams Co. to pay $1.15 billion for the costs of inspecting more than 3.5 million California homes and apartments built before 1981. The paint companies appealed, and the California Sixth District Court of Appeals upheld most of the ruling last November, affirming the judgment against the paint companies with regard to homes built before 1951. Last month, the Supreme Court in California declined to review the Appeals Court ruling.
The ruling requires the paint companies to pay the cost of abating lead-based paint in hundreds of thousands of homes located in 10 California counties and cities. The precise amount that the companies will be required to pay is still being calculated, but the companies will likely be liable for hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars of remediation expenses.
The Court found the paint companies, and not individual homeowners, are liable for the creation of the nuisance. "This case doesn't change anything for homeowners or prospective home sellers. Since 1992, federal law has required sellers, landlords, and real estate agents to provide certain disclosures of lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards in a transaction for a sale or lease of housing built prior to 1978," said White. "Current homeowners and home sellers need not remove or remediate lead-based paint prior to sale but should educate themselves if they choose to do so."
The use of lead-based interior paints, which causes neurological damage and other serious health consequences, especially in young children, was banned by the federal Consumer Products and Safety Commission in 1978.
The ruling declared the overall danger created by lead based paint in residential housing to be a public nuisance, but did not designate individual homes containing lead-based paint as public nuisances.
The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR) is a professional trade organization representing over 4,000 REALTORS® and Affiliate members engaged in the real estate business on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. SILVAR promotes the highest ethical standards of real estate practice, serves as an advocate for homeownership and homeowners, and represents the interests of property owners in Silicon Valley.
The term "REALTOR®" is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and who subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.
Variations of this article have appeared in local area newspapers.
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