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Supreme Court No. 2004-63-M.P. (PC 99-5226)

State of Rhode Island v. Lead Industries Association, Inc., et al.

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Present: Williams, C.J., Flaherty, Suttell, and Robinson, JJ. OPINION Chief Justice Williams, for the Court. We issued a writ of certiorari to address the limit, if any, on the power of the Attorney General of the State of Rhode Island to engage private counsel under a contingent fee agreement to prosecute public nuisances on behalf of the state. This is the first matter to reach this Court concerning the landmark litigation initiated by the State of Rhode Island (plaintiff) against various lead pigment manufacturers and their trade association, Lead Industries Association, Inc. (collectively defendants).1 To help shoulder the enormous cost of this unprecedented lawsuit, the Attorney General engaged two private law firms to provide legal representation under a contingent fee agreement. It is the propriety of this agreement that is the subject of the present controversy. Because we conclude the matter is not presently justiciable, we deny and quash the writ without prejudice.
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The other named defendants in the original complaint were American Cyanamid Company, Atlantic Richfield Company, E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Company, The O'Brien Company, the Glidden Company, NL Industries, Inc., SCM Chemicals, The Sherwin-Williams Company, and John Doe Corporations, some of which are successors in interest to other entities. -1-

I Facts and Travel Despite the enactment of the Lead Poisoning Prevention Act (LPPA), P.L. 1991, ch. 355,

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Rhode Island Law