Suits Filed on Behalf of Several Ohio Cities Allege Lead Manufacturers Created a Public Nuisance.  Jon L. Gelman, a prominent attorney representing plaintiffs as a result of toxic exposures, along with Motley Rice LLC, one of the nation's largest plaintiffs' litigation firms, today announced that it has filed two lawsuits against members of the lead paint industry on behalf East Cleveland, Ohio and Toledo, Ohio. The suits allege that lead pigment manufacturers, including Atlantic Ritchfield, Sherwin Williams, Millennium Holdings, DuPont, ConAgra, and others, helped to create an environmental hazard and significant public health crisis in the state of Ohio by manufacturing, distributing and promoting lead-based paint products long after they were aware of the significant health dangers associated with these products. 

PUTTING "FAULT" BACK INTO WORKERS' COMPENSATION. A bill has been introduced into the NJ Legislature in an attempt to legislatively reverse the recent NJ Supreme Court ruling in Tlumac v. High Bridge Stone which reaffirmed the long standing rule that intoxication must be the "sole cause" of an accident in order to deprive an employee of workers' compensation benefits. The proposed legislation, S2166, amends the workers' compensation law to provide that it in employee was intoxicated when the injury or death occurred, it is presumed that the injury or death was caused by the intoxication and the employee will be barred from receiving workers' compensation.