LEAD PAINT DEFENSE LAW IN MARYLAND BY ATTORNEY CHARLES WARE

www.CharlesJeromeWare.com ("We fight.  You win.")

The national law firm of Charles Jerome Ware, P.A., Attorneys and Counsellors, is one of Maryland's and Washington, D.C.'s premier lead paint defense firms.

Along with its expertise in lead paint defense work, the firm is very highly regarded in the areas of criminal defense and civil litigation, medical malpractice and wrongful death, personal injury and transactional legal matters.

Attorney Charles Jerome Ware is renowned and consistently ranked among the best attorneys and legal counsellors in the United States. [GQ Magazine, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, The Columbia Flier, USA TODAY, The Howard County Sun, The Anniston Star, The New York Times, et al.]

The national law firm of Charles Jerome Ware, P.A., Attorneys and Counsellors is: "Still working. Still committed. Still here to make a difference."

Lead paint lawsuits by tenants against landlords have increased during the past few years as the public has become more aware of the dangers created by lead paint.

A.  Lead Paint Testing for Children in Maryland:

All children residing in “at risk areas” or receiving medical assistance must be tested for lead poisoning at 12 and 24 months. Contact your health provider to find out how and where you can have your child tested. All of Baltimore City is considered an “at risk area,” as well as most of the counties on the Eastern Shore and some of the Western counties. To locate Lead Safe Housing and for general information about lead poisoning, call the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning at (410) 537-6447 or (800) 370-LEAD.
Lead often comes in the form of a very fine, sticky dust. A person can be exposed in various ways, including:

1. breathing or swallowing lead dust,
2. eating chipping lead paint,
3. drinking water from pipes with lead soldering, or
4. eating food grown in contaminated soil.

Children are likely to ingest lead dust when it gets on their hands and then they put their hands or objects in their mouths; for instance, when a child sucks his or her thumb or chews on a toy. It only takes an amount of leaded dust equal to 3 grains of sugar a day to poison a child over time. Pregnant women and their unborn fetuses are also at risk if exposed to lead hazards. Elevated blood levels in pregnant women can lead to an increased risk of miscarriages, stillbirths, or low birth weight babies. Exposure to lead is not healthy for people of any age.

B. Which dwellings are covered by the law?

If you live in or own a rental house built before 1950, the house (if not occupied by the owner) falls under a special Maryland law that protects tenants and imposes certain duties on landlords. The law also limits a landlord’s liability if s/he can meet certain standards. In addition, owners of houses built between 1950-1978 may also participate in the special liability limitation program.

An excellent resource and starting place is the MD Department of the Environment’s "Lead Line" website. The site includes "What Every Parent Should Know About Lead", tips on how to identify lead paint hazards, a special package of material for tenants, owner rights and responsibilities plus resources if you suspect lead is present (including laboratories for testing, lead blood level information and lead paint abatement services and contractors).

C. Comparing State and Federal Laws

Federal and state laws address lead poisoning issues in slightly different ways. A shared feature is that each law requires that specific information be given to current and new tenants. Both Federal and Maryland law require landlords to give to each tenant the pamphlet “Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home”. Maryland law also requires distribution by landlords of an additional pamphlet entitled “Lead Poisoning Prevention - Notice of Tenants’ Rights”.

For detailed information about the federal law and how to obtain copies of the federally mandated pamphlet, call the National Lead Clearinghouse at 1-800-424-LEAD (5323) or the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning at 410-534-6447.
[see, Charles Ware's lead paint defense blogs, supra; www.people-law.org/node442/Lead Paint Law in Maryland]