In the News

DeWitt family sues over lead poisoning

from the Quad City Times, January 29, 2004
by Todd Ruger

A family who purchased a DeWitt, Iowa, house in 2001 has sued Ruhl & Ruhl Realtors, several real estate agents and the former owners of the house, alleging violations during the sale of a law regarding lead-based paint hazards.

Steven and Melinda Grau and their four children and stepchildren are seeking damages for health and welfare problems created by elevated levels of lead found in their blood, which were discovered in January 2002, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in the Quad-Cities.

One child, who was 1 year old at the time, had to undergo immediate therapy during January 2002 at University Hospitals in Iowa City for a blood-lead level of 74 micrograms per deciliter, while Melinda Grau, who was then in her first trimester of pregnancy, was found to have a level of 38 micrograms per deciliter, the lawsuit states.

She was advised by hospital physicians to terminate her pregnancy but decided to carry the child to term, when it was born with a blood-lead level of 20 micrograms per deciliter, the lawsuit states.

For children 5 years and younger, lead levels of 10 micrograms or more in a deciliter of blood can damage their ability to learn, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, or CDC.

At levels higher than 10 micrograms per deciliter, lead can damage a person's kidneys and reproductive system, the CDC says. At very high levels, lead poisoning can cause mental retardation, coma, convulsions and death, according to the CDC. A microgram is one-millionth of a gram. A deciliter is about half a cup of liquid.

The Graus received an estimate of $135,000 to abate all lead hazards in the property, located at 300 9th St., DeWitt, their lawsuit states.

The lawsuit claims the defendants - Ruhl & Ruhl Real Estate Investments Inc., real estate agents Kurt Meier, Mary Maher and Jan Nelson, and sellers Jerry and Suzanne Winkler - violated the Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act in various ways.

The act requires real estate agents and the owners of a house to: provide the buyer with a disclosure of lead-based paint hazards at the property, attach a copy of that disclosure to the purchase agreement, allow the buyer 10 days to have the property inspected or secure a waiver of that right and provide a lead hazard information pamphlet, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit lays out seven counts against various combinations of defendants and includes allegations of failing to adequately disclose the presence of lead-based paint or make a reasonable effort to ascertain whether lead paint was present in the home before indicating on forms that there was no lead present in the structure.

On one of those forms, the Seller Disclosure of Property Condition, which is included in the lawsuit, a question was marked to indicate that there was no lead-based paint in the house when Jerry Winkler had the option to answer "unknown" instead.

Caroline Ruhl, the president of Ruhl & Ruhl, said she had heard about the situation involving the Graus, but declined comment on the lawsuit because the company had not been served with it as of Thursday.

"Based on what I do know, we deny any wrongdoing," she said, adding that the company will vigorously defend the lawsuit in court.

"There's no way my Realtors would know" of any lead paint in the house, she said.

Jerry Winkler declined comment on the lawsuit Thursday, as did Brad Brady, the Cedar Rapids attorney representing the Graus.

The Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Act was passed by Congress in 1992 to require disclosure of known information on lead-based paint and associated hazards before the sale or lease of most houses built before 1978.