PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has ordered a new trial for two Solon parents who unsuccessfully sued their landlord in 2009, alleging lead paint in the house they rented caused health problems and learning disabilities for their three children.
The court decision issued Tuesday found that the Somerset County Superior Court made mistakes before and during a jury trial in the case, upholding an appeal from parents Paula Bratton and Daniel Hills Sr. of Solon. The couple alleged their landlord Halsey McDonough of Gardiner failed to tell them that levels of lead in the Solon house they rented from him were unsafe.
“I’m thrilled that this family will finally have their day in court with a jury that hears all of the evidence and is instructed appropriately on the law,” said Melissa Hewey, an attorney for the couple, in a phone interview. “I’m confident that when that happens, justice will be done.”
Martica Douglas, McDonough’s attorney, said by phone Tuesday the decision won’t affect her client’s case.
“We’re prepared to go back and try the case again and we’re confident that we’re going to get the same result,” Douglas said. “The evidence simply did not support claims that the children’s learning disabilities were caused by exposure to lead in Mr. McDonough’s rental premises.”
Under state and federal law, a landlord is required to disclose to renters that a property has high lead-based paint levels. The couple’s initial complaint argued that McDonough did not do so.
The decision directs the lower court to put charges on behalf of the couple’s three children before a jury. The lower court in 2012 ruled in favor of McDonough for charges on behalf of the two oldest children and took just one of three charges on behalf of the youngest child before a jury, which ruled in McDonough’s favor.
Hewey and Douglas said they did not know when a new trial will be scheduled.
The ruling issued Tuesday found the lower court erred in excluding testimony from toxicologist Richard Parent and brain injury treatment specialist Ronald Savage about how lead paint in the home affected the three children. The court also erred in ruling that the couple failed to prove lead paint in the house caused their children’s health problems and in failing to properly instruct jurors about the standards for determining causation and damages for charges filed on behalf of the couple’s youngest child, according to the decision.
Bratton and Hills rented a home on South Main Street in September 2004. Four years later, the children’s pediatrician reported high lead levels in the children’s blood to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Penquis agency issued a lead abatement design plan in December 2008 and DHHS notified McDonough that he would need to relocate the family by Dec. 3, 2008. The couple moved in March 2009, according to court documents, and claim McDonough did not compensate them for the move.
The family sued McDonough a year later seeking compensatory and punitive damages, alleging the abatement plan never was implemented and the home was uninhabitable.