Thomas Breen photo
Legal aid attorneys Shelley White and Amy Marx with city attorney Roderick Williams in court last week.
A state judge has ruled that a class of 300 lead-poisoned children can sue the city as a group, thereby delivering the latest, and largest, blow to date to the city regarding its alleged lax enforcement of existing law.
Superior Court Judge John Cordani issued that ruling Monday afternoon in his decision to approve class certification in the case Nyriel Smith v. City of New Haven, which New Haven Legal Assistant Association (NHLAA) attorneys filed in May.
Click here to read Cordani’s full decision.
Cordani handed down his ruling less than a week after legal aid and city-hired attorneys made their final oral arguments in housing court regarding the class certification case. The judge sided with legal aid in grouping together children who live in New Haven, who are under six years old, and who test as having an elevated blood lead level above 5 micograms per deciliter (μg/dL). Cordani’s ruling carves out an exception for children who live in federally-subsidized housing authority residences.
These 300 children meet all of the legal thresholds for being recognized as a class, Cordani wrote, such as numerosity, commonality, typicality, and having attorneys interested in and capable of litigating a class action complaint.
Therefore, he wrote, they deserve to press their claims against the city as one common plaintiff in the legal aid lawsuit, which accuses the city of skirting existing local law and only conducting inspections and issuing lead hazard abatement orders for children who test above the state threshold of 20 μg/dL, rather than the local threshold of 5.
“Since only injunctive relief is requested,” Cordani wrote, “and since the defendants are notified of and distinctly aware of the identity of the class through statutorily mandated reporting of blood tests, a class action is the most practical, efficient, and appropriate means of proceeding.”
The decision itself does not at this point come with a new order specifically instructing the city to distribute new educational materials, conduct new inspections, and issue new abatement orders, per existing city law.
However, Cordani does cite the preliminary injunction he issued earlier in July on behalf of the two primary child plaintiffs in this case, where he did require the city to hand out new educational materials, conduct new inspections, and enforce lead hazard abatements when necessary at two specific residences.
“Thus, if a class is certified,” he wrote, “the defendants may, if appropriate, be required to (1) provide mandated information to members of the class and (2) conduct inspections of the premises of members of the class and order abatements. All of this is already required by state statute and local ordinance.”
Class action plaintiff Sara with her father in their Wolcott Street apartment.
Cordani expressed bafflement at why the city fought so hard against class certification. These 300 children were clearly affected in similar ways by the city’s decision in November 2018 to stop enforcing existing lead poisoning protections for children testing at between 5 and 20 μg/dL, he wrote. And dealing with them all as a group he said, would clearly present the most efficient and economical method of proceeding with this suit.
“It seems somewhat surprising to the court that the defendants disagree with this conclusion because it seems fairly apparent that addressing these issues as a class action will be substantially more efficient for the plaintiffs, the defendants, and the court,” he wrote, “particularly given the injunctive nature of the relief requested. Here, if appropriate, a single injunction can be used to provide relief to the entire class thereby ensuring efficient resolution of the issues and uniform treatment of similarly situated persons.”
“In fact,” he continued, “the foregoing conclusion is so clear to the court, that the defendants’ resistance does not appear to be based upon the efficiency of litigation and determination of these issues.”
Cordani closed out his decision by requesting that the city and legal aid schedule a conference with the court to discuss “a scheduling order and timing for any implementation necessary.”
Cordani is one of four state judges to rule against the city in the past two years regarding the city’s enforcement of existing child lead poisoning protection laws.
Previous lead coverage:
• 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?
• Harp Administration Admits Relaxing Lead Standard To Save $$
• 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