Insurers Offer $65.5M Settlement in Louisiana Housing Project Lead Claims Case

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Insurance companies are offering $65.5 million to settle claims that lead in New Orleans’ housing projects hurt children who lived or visited there.

Payments would go to people who spent time in the public housing before Feb. 17, 2001 and either sued claiming damage from lead there, or were born on or after Dec. 12, 1987, and can prove their blood had high levels of lead before they turned seven. The cutoff birthdate is seven years before the class action suit was filed.

Lead plaintiffs’ attorney Gary Gambel says hundreds of earlier lawsuits also would be part of the settlement described at HanoLeadSettlements.com.

He says attorneys plan to ask for at most 40 percent of the total. The judge would make the final decision.