Baltimore Jury Awards $5.7M in Lead Paint Case

February 29, 2008

A Baltimore jury has awarded $5.7 million to a man who was exposed to lead paint while he was child living in public housing.

The award was announced Wednesday at the end of a seven-day trial. The Housing Authority of Baltimore City must pay 24-year-old Markeath Justice $5.1 million in non-economic damages and $600,000 in economic damages.

Maryland adopted a cap on non-economic damages in 1986, but Justice’s attorney Brian Brown says the cap did not apply in the case because it became law after Justice’s injuries.

The Housing Authority argued there was no lead paint where Justice lived.
Brown says Justice reads and spells at a first-grade level.

Justice now lives in St. Louis.
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Information from: The (Baltimore) Daily Record