NYC Lead Cases

New York City is on a mission to end childhood lead poisoning. To that end, the City has enacted a law placing landlords on the front line of that battle. This law, the New York City Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act of 2003, is also known as Local Law 1. The law requires landlords to follow certain rules to help prevent childhood lead exposure and, when those rules are not followed, places legal responsibility on the landlord for the harm caused.

Prior to Local Law 1, and in homes and apartments outside of New York City, holding a landlord responsible for the damage caused by childhood lead poisoning meant proving that the landlord knew or should have known that lead was present in the home, proving that he or she should have known that a child under 7 lived in the home, and proving that the landlord did not act reasonable in response to that knowledge of the lead hazard. Often, this meant that landlords did not have to remediate any lead hazard until after a child was already poisoned, giving them one free bite of the apple before they were held responsible for the damage done.

Local Law 1 was enacted to end this free bite of the apple. Under the law, a landlord is presumed to know of the presence of lead-based paint if the building was built before 1960 (or built between 1960 and 1978 if he or she knows the building contains lead paint), has three or more apartments in the building, and a child under the age of 7 lives in one of those apartments. The City made it the landlord's duty to find out if a child under the age of 7 is present and inspect those apartments for lead paint hazards such as peeling and flaking paint. Now, if a landlord knows (or should have known) that a child under the age of 7 is present, and the building is old enough, a landlord can no longer claim ignorance of the lead hazard and get that one free bite. He or she becomes responsible for any and all damage that results from the very first exposure - even he or she remediates the hazards immediately after that first exposure.

The purpose of the law is prevention, and landlords are held responsible for not taking the reasonable steps required by Local Law 1 to prevent childhood lead exposure.

If you or your child was exposed to lead, you may be entitled to compensation. Our law firm has represented lead-poisoned children throughout New York City who were exposed to lead in a wide range of properties including public housing, single family homes, and apartment buildings. The experienced lead poisoning attorneys at Levy Konigsberg LLP can help you get the compensation you deserve so that you or your child has the resources to overcome the challenges of lead poisoning.

Find out whether you have a case by speaking to one of our experienced lead poisoning lawyers via phone at 1-800-414-9330 or by submitting an email inquiry (see form to the right). Our attorneys will be quick to respond to you and happy to answer all of your questions.