Here's the NYT's take on the lititgation surrounding lead paint in Rhode Island:
But four weeks after the paint companies' lawyers decided not to
mount a defense in this case, six jurors filed into Rhode Island
Superior Court and declared that three of the four companies on trial —
Sherwin-Williams, NL Industries and Millennium Holdings — were indeed liable for Rhode Island's lead-paint problem.
It
was a surprising and devastating verdict for the industry, and the
reaction was swift and severe. The stocks of the paint companies
tumbled, wiping out billions of dollars in market value that afternoon.
Investors worried that the clean-up costs in Rhode Island alone could
total billions of dollars, and that the industry would now face a tidal
wave of torts like those that have swept across the tobacco, asbestos
and pharmaceutical industries.
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