F&F# A08120
Lead Poisoning, Brain Damage, Hyperactivity, Aggressive Behavior
Settlement: $150,000
Injuries: Lead Poisoning, Brain Damage, Hyperactivity, Aggressive Behavior
Facts and Claim of Liability:
Infant plaintiff was born on September 2, 2003. For about two years, infant plaintiff and his family lived in New Jersey. At the end of 2005, he and his family moved to New York, and into the subject premises in the Bronx. Plaintiff mother recalls that when she and her children first looked at the apartment, it appeared to be freshly painted; however, plaintiff mother noticed that there were bubbles in the paint, and that the wood underneath the paint was very old. She also noticed that there was peeling paint throughout the apartment, in every room.
Soon after, plaintiff mother began taking infant plaintiff to a new pediatrician for checkups. Around the beginning of 2006, plaintiff mother noticed that infant plaintiff seemed to be drooling a lot, and crawling much more than he used to (as he had ceased crawling once he learned how to walk). Plaintiff mother took him back to the pediatrician, who decided that he needed to have blood work done. A couple of days later, the pediatrician’s office called plaintiff mother and asked her to bring infant plaintiff back in to be re-tested. The second round of tests revealed that infant plaintiff had a blood lead level of 15 ug/dL.
Two weeks later, another blood lead level test revealed that infant plaintiff’s blood lead level had jumped to 30 ug/dL. The pediatrician advised plaintiff mother to take infant plaintiff to a specialist as soon as possible. Shortly thereafter, plaintiff mother took infant plaintiff to a specialist at Montefiore Hospital.
Ultimately, the New York Department of Health visited the subject premises and found a number of lead hazard violations, which went largely uncorrected. Infant plaintiff and his family eventually moved out of the subject premises in 2009.
Fitzgerald & Fitzgerald filed suit in Bronx County Supreme Court, arguing that defendant realty corporation and its agents, employees, and servants were reckless, negligent, and careless in the ownership, management, maintenance, and control of the subject premises in failing to remove the hazardous peeling and flaking paint in the subject premises, and in failing to warn infant plaintiff’s family of the high lead content of the paint and of the danger involved, and that these failures resulted in serious and permanent injury to infant plaintiff, including brain damage, hyperactivity, decreased attention span, and aggressive behavior. Ultimately, Fitzgerald & Fitzgerald settled with defendant for a total of $150,000.00.