Sherwin-Williams, DuPont, Armstrong Topple Lead Paint Verdict

A $6 million jury verdict against paint manufacturers E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Sherwin-Williams Co., and Armstrong Containers Inc. in a bellwether Wisconsin lead paint exposure suit was nixed after the Seventh Circuit found the trial court made multiple errors.

The court granted Sherwin-Williams’ motion for judgment as a matter of law on both counts—negligence and strict liability failure to warn—and granted Armstrong’s JMOL motion on the strict liability count.

The lower court erred in finding that a jury could find negligence in the absence of a product defect, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ...