OAKLAND, Calif. - (AP) More than 40 major retailers and apparel makers have agreed to limit the use of lead in handbags and other fashion accessories, an environmental group said Wednesday. The companies will set new industry standards for lead use in... Read More

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - (AP) A federal court further limited lawsuits seeking damages from the Tennessee Valley Authority for its huge spill of toxin-laden coal ash, but the judge ruled that claims related to property damages and reduced property values... Read More

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - (AP) Tennessee Valley Authority attorneys are asking a federal judge to dismiss 58 lawsuits over the toxic muck that spilled from a holding pond at one of the public utility's plants in 2008. The filing Friday asks the court to... Read More

OMAHA, Neb. - (AP) A federal judge ordered the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday to stop destroying records Union Pacific requested about lead contamination in Omaha, and an expert was appointed to make sure the agency complies. The judge's... Read More

SANTA ANA, Calif. - (AP) A company that markets hoodia products has agreed to pay $2.65 million over allegations of misleading advertisements and failure to disclose that lead is in its products, a settlement that prosecutors said Tuesday is the largest... Read More

LOS ANGELES - (AP) An environmental group threatened to sue two of the nation's biggest rail owners Tuesday under a novel legal theory that would classify diesel exhaust as hazardous waste. The Natural Resources Defense Council sent letters to Union... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. — (Mealey’s) The U.S. Supreme Court on May 18 denied certiorari in a case in which a former maker of lead-based paint had argued that Wisconsin’s risk-contribution theory violates the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution... Read More

SAN JOSE, Calif. - (Mealey's) The attorneys representing 15 plaintiffs, including various California municipalities, that sued the former makers of lead-based paint in state court announced June 23 that Millennium Holdings LLC will pay $8.7 million... Read More

Over the last 25 years, public agencies across the country have failed at least 50 times to convince courts that paint manufacturers should have to foot the bill for removing lead-based paint from homes built before the federal government banned that... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO - (Mealey's) The California Supreme Court on July 26 found that contingency fee agreements between numerous California municipalities and their counsel as part of a public nuisance suit against the lead paint industry are deficient under... Read More

SANTA JOSE, Calif. — (Mealey’s) A California judge on Jan. 8 ordered three of the defendant companies in the state’s public nuisance action against lead-paint and lead manufacturers to pay, pursuant to joint and several liability, $1... Read More

NEW YORK — (Mealey’s) The federal bankruptcy judge in New York overseeing the Chapter 11 reorganization of Lyondell Chemical Co. — the parent company for Millennium Holdings, which is a defendant in lead paint litigation — confirmed... Read More

JACKSON, Miss. - (Mealey's) The Mississippi Supreme Court, sitting en banc , reversed a $7 million lead-based paint poisoning verdict against the Sherwin-Williams Co. on Sept. 8, ruling that the plaintiff's experts' testimony amounted to "speculation"... Read More