Baltimore City Circuit Court jury awards $1.75M in lead paint case

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Apr 9, 2008 by Danny Jacobs

A jury Tuesday awarded $1.75 million to a 7-year-old girl who was exposed to lead paint in her home from birth through her third birthday.

The Baltimore City Circuit Court jury took six hours over two days to find in favor of Tyaih Dodd and against Stanley Rochkind, JAM #18 Corp. and Dear Management & Construction Co. The defendants owned, operated and managed the home in the 2200 block of East Lanvale Street.

The verdict probably will be reduced to less than $600,000 once Maryland's cap on non-economic injuries is applied, said Bruce H. Powell, who along with Scott E. Nevin represented Tyaih and her mother. Both lawyers are with The Law Offices of Peter T. Nicholl in Baltimore.

"It was a strong case" on liability, Powell said.

Robert Fulton Dashiell, a Baltimore solo practitioner who represented the defendants along with co-counsel Aaron I. Lubling, said he planned to file an appeal based on various rulings during the five-day trial presided over by Judge M. Brooke Murdock.

Tyaih and her mother, Danielle Finch, lived at the home from June 2000 until August 2003, according to a complaint filed in July 2004. Medical experts at the trial testified Tyaih had 21 micrograms of lead per deciliter in her blood at age 2, Powell said, more than twice the monitoring threshold set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Medical experts also testified Tyaih suffered permanent brain damage and lost up to eight IQ points because of her exposure to lead, Powell said.

Powell and Nevin originally asked for $5 million in their complaint, raising three counts of negligence and three counts of unfair trade practices. Nevin subsequently asked for $3 million in his closing argument, Powell said.

The defense maintained that Tyaih had not suffered damage from lead poisoning, backing it with testimony from a neurologist and a psychologist, Powell noted.

The four women and two men on the jury submitted multiple questions while deliberating, lawyers for both sides said.

"I think the jury came to a compromise," Powell said.

Dashiell, while disagreeing with the verdict, found the length of the jury's deliberation "refreshing" because he said insurance companies and defense attorneys in lead paint cases typically expect quick decisions in the plaintiff's favor. He also noted the amount awarded to Tyaih is less than half of what was originally asked for in the complaint, even before the cap is applied.

"I'm glad to see that if a case is prosecuted adequately, you can get a fair deliberation by a Baltimore City jury, even in a lead paint case," he said.

The jurors also agreed to talk to the lawyers following the case, allowing Dashiell to understand their thought processes.

"I think they were open and frank, and we know where in our presentation we could have done things differently," Dashiell said.