California cities including Los Angeles may use private lawyers to sue lead paint manufacturers for the cost of treating lead-induced illness and other actions to protect the public from the toxic product, a California appeals court has ruled.

Manufacturers had argued cities could not hire outside counsel, relying on a State Supreme Court decision which banned municipalities' use of private counsel working on a contingency fee basis, but the Court of Appeal for the 6th Appellate District in San Jose, Calif., found it was permissible under proper circumstances.

In addition to medical treatment costs, cities are seeking to recover costs for inspections, educational programs and other remedies.

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.