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DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Gore v. People's Savings Bank, 235 Conn. 360 (1995)

Citation
Gore v. People's Savings Bank, 235 Conn. 360 (1995)
Parent Document
Gore v. People's Savings Bank, 235 Conn. 360 (1995)
Jurisdiction
Connecticut (state)
Effective Date
1995-10-10

Other Sections in This Document (94)

Full Text

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*390We acknowledge the weighty public policy arguments that may be advanced both in favor of and in opposition to holding landlords strictly liable for injuries sustained by children due to the presence of lead-based paint in their homes. Many of these arguments were raised by the parties and in the various briefs of the amici curiae.23 For example, some suggest that holding landlords strictly hable would best motivate them to eliminate the presence of lead-based paint in their rental properties and, therefore, would most effectively protect children from the often tragic consequences of lead ingestion.24 Moreover, the Appellate Court reasoned that the notice requirement “would not fulfill the pur*391pose of the statutes, namely, to curb the evils resulting from lead-based paint. In many cases, a landlord would not be notified of the danger until a child has already ingested the paint, become ill, and undergone medical tests, the results of which indicate an abnormal presence of lead in the body. There is no indication that the legislature intended that §§ 47a-8 and 47a-54f (b) be construed in a manner that would allow the potential harms caused by the presence of lead-based paint to proliferate.” Gore v. People’s Savings Bank, supra, 35 Conn. App. 135. On the other hand, the defendants have suggested that a system of strict liability would motivate landlords, in fear of the substantial costs of lead abatement and limitless liability, to abandon their properties, which would stifle abatement and further cause children to be exposed to lead-based paint. See generally M. Gilligan & D. Ford, “Investor Response to Lead-Based Paint Abatement Laws: Legal and Economic Considerations,” 12 Colum. J. Envtl. L. 243, 278-82 (1987) (discussing relationship between potential liability of landlords for injuries caused by lead-based paint and an investor’s decision to invest or disinvest in urban rental housing).