7th Circuit Reinstates White Lead Carbonate Pigment Exposure Claims; Allows Risk-Contribution Causation Theory

CHICAGO –– A federal appeals court has reinstated white lead carbonate pigment exposure claims, finding that a lower court erred when it found that the risk-contribution theory of causation upon which the plaintiffs relied violated the defendants’ due process rights.

In the July 24 opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit additionally ruled that recent legislation enacted in Wisconsin to extinguish the risk-contribution theory could not be retroactively applied to the plaintiffs’ claims.

Plaintiff Ernest Gibson filed his lawsuit against manufacturers of white lead carbonate pigments, saying that the pigment, used in paints before it was banned …