A Chicago woman is suing her landlord after her three children allegedly were found to have excessively high levels of lead from lead-based paint in their blood.
Charlotte Blount and her children, Omari Atkins, Ahmad Atkins and Ahmiya Atkins, filed a lawsuit June 19 in Cook County Circuit Court against Habitat Levin, The Habitat Co. The Habitat Co. of Illinois and LFW Inc., alleging negligence.
According to the complaint from 2010 to 2014, Blount lived in Apartment 1S at 5100 N. Kenmore Ave., Chicago, with the three minor defendants, and Blount eventually learned the apartment contained "a dangerously high level of lead in the paint found throughout the unit," which was extremely hazardous to the defendants' health.
During this period, the lawsuit states, the three minors were continuously exposed to and ingested lead and "suffered elevated lead levels" in their blood. The suit alleges the defendant caused lead paint to remain at the apartment, allowed the paint to chip, peel or flake so it could be ingested by minors, allowed those materials to remain, failed to abate the hazard, and failied to warn the plaintiffs about the hazard.
As a result, all three minors suffered personal and pecuniary damages, the lawsuit states.
Blount and her children seek damages in excess of $150,000, plus costs. They are represented by attorney Sam R. Carl of the Law Offices of Scott B. Wolfman and Associates in Chicago.
Cook County Circuit Court case number 2015L006309.