Lead-based Paint Manufacturers in Rhode Island Sue to Recover Costs

After Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein ruled, last May, that the state was not required to repay them, companies that sold lead-based paint have appealed the decision.

The paint manufacturers argued that they were due reimbursement because in 2008 the state Supreme Court had ruled in their favor, reversing a landmark verdict that may have cost them billions of dollars.

On Friday, a notice of appeal by the three companies that had won the original case, Millennium Holdings LLC, NL Industries Inc., and Sherwin-Williams Co. Three other companies that had been sued for the same infraction – selling lead based paint – but never went to trial, joined in the appeal.

Charles Moellenberg, the lawyer for Sherwin-Williams, said that Rhode Island rules allow winning sides of a lawsuit to recover costs, and that there should be no difference with this case.