Legal aid attorneys have requested to amend their class action lawsuit against the city to include allegations that the city is still failing to enforce local lead poisoning protections for one of the case’s primary plaintiffs, over a month-and-a-half after a state judge ordered the city to intervene.
New Haven Legal Assistance Association (NHLAA) Director of Litigation Shelley White and legal aid housing attorney Amy Marx submitted that motion to file an amended class action complaint Thursday afternoon in the case Nyriel Smith v. City of New Haven.
The amended complaint argues that the city failed to follow in full Superior Court Judge John Cordani’s temporary injunction order from June 17.
That initial order, coming months before Cordani certified a class of upwards of 300 lead-poisoned children overlooked by the city’s Health Department, ordered the city to inspect, enforce abatement, and develop a lead management plan for the apartments of two lead-poisoned primary child plaintiffs.
White and Marx are now arguing that the city failed to live up to much of that order, leaving the Lombard Street apartment of one of the child plaintiffs, Nyriel Smith, in the exact same condition as it was in at the beginning of the lawsuit.
“Such additional claims arise from Defedants’ policy and practice of conducting certain lead hazards inspections pursuant to the Court’s temporary injunction order,” White wrote in the new motion, “but then failing to ensure the timely abatement of lead paint hazards in Nyriel Smith’s home and in the homes of children with EBLs [elevated blood lead levels] in excess of 5 μg/dL [micrograms per deciliter].”
“We’re back to where we were when we filed the complaint,” White added in a phone interview with the Independent Thursday. “The whole thing has been so frustrating.”
Click here to read the full amended complaint.
The city’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment by the publication time of this article.
The amended complaint states that the city issued an abatement order to the owners of Nyriel Smith’s apartment building, 103 – 105 Lombard St., and that a certified lead inspector did indeed visit and identify lead hazards on June 26. The Health Department then sent a letter and abatement orderon July 2 following up on the initial inspection.
This letter, which followed the Health Department’s standard lead hazard abatement order format, White wrote, failed to live up to city and state legal requirements.
“The abatement order does not specify the precise locations requiring abatement,” the amended complaint reads. “Under city and state law, owners are required to abate all defective lead-based surfaces, all lead-based surfaces accessible to children (“chewable surfaces”) whether or not that surface is defective, and all lead-based movable parts of windows and surfaces that rub against movable parts of windows.”
“The abatement order simply lists places where toxic levels of lead paint (intact and defective) were found by the certified lead inspector,” the complaint continues, “without describing whether a particular area is defective or chewable, or otherwise requires abatement under city and state law.”
The amended complaint then goes on to state that the abatement order “misstates the legal basis for the Health Department’s order of abatement.
And that the city has failed to enforce the requirement that the landlord submit a written lead abatement plan (LAP) to the Health Department within five days of receiving the abatement order.
And that the city has failed to enforce the requirement that the landlord commence and complete the abatement in a timely manner.
And that the city has failed to enforce the requirement that the landlord and the Health Department develop a lead management plan (LMP) within 60 days of receiving the abatement order.
The amended complaint also raises concerns about the city’s capacity to follow through on enforcing local lead poisoning laws for the recently certified class of upwards of 300 local children.
“Defendants have no policies or practices for proper lead poisoning hazards protections for the plaintiff class,” White wrote, “as required by city and state law, to: (a) ensure timely lead hazards inspections of the homes of members of the plaintiff class; (b) issue proper abatement orders; (c) ensure the posting of written notice on premises of residential units determined to have lead based paint hazards; (d) identify and inspect homes of children under six years of age located in a building in which another unit has been determined to have lead-based paint hazards; (e) ensure the timely submission and approval of a lead abatement plan for the mandated lead hazards abatement; (f) ensure abatement of the premises of class members whose homes are determined to have lead-based paint hazards; and (g) ensure implementation of a lead management plan to identify and monitor intact lead based surfaces to ensure that they do not become defective.”
Previous lead coverage:
• Lead Paint Legal Tab Tops $118K
• City Plan Passes On Lead Law
• City Loses Again On Lead
• Judge Denies City’s Motion To Dismiss Lead Suit
• City, Legal Aid Clash In Court On Lead
• New Lead Proposal “Eviscerates” Mandate
• Lead Cleanup Pricetag: $91M?
• Lead Panel’s Advice Rejected
• Lead Paint Chief Retires
• Lead Paint Fight Rejoined
• Harp Switches Gears On Lead
• Motion Accuses City Of Contempt
• City Loses Again On Lead
• Briefs Debate “Lead Poisoning”
• New Haven: Another Flint?
• City Admits Relaxing Lead Rule
• Class-Action Suit Slams City On Lead
• City, Legal Aid Clash On Lead Paint
• Legal Aid To City: Get Moving On Lead Paint Law
• 100+ Tenants Caught In Lead Limbo
• 2 Agencies, 2 Tacks On Lead Paint
• Chapel Apartments Get 3rd Lead Order
• Lead Sends Family Packing
• Health Officials Grilled On Lead Plans
• Judge Threatens To Find City In Contempt
• Same Mandy House Cited Twice For Lead Paint
• Lead $ Search Advances
• 3 Landlords Hit With New Lead Orders
• Another Judge Rips City On Lead
• Judge To City: Get Moving On Lead
• Health Department Seeks Another $4.1M For Lead Abatement
• City-OK’d Lead Fixes Fail Independent Inspection
• Judge: City Dragged Feet On Lead
• 2nd Kid Poisoned After City Ordered Repairs
• Judge: City Must Pay
• City Sued Over Handling Of Lead Poisonings
• City’s Lead Inspection Goes On Trial
• Eviction Withdrawn On Technicality
• 2nd Child Poisoned; Where’s The City?
• Carpenter With Poisoned Kid Tries A Fix
• High Lead Levels Stall Eviction
• 460 Kids Poisoned By Lead In 2 Years
• Bid-Rigging Claimed In Lead Cleanup
• Judge Orders Total Lead Paint Clean-Up
• Legal Aid Takes City To Task On Lead