On October 15, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a California Court of Appeal ruling that imposes massive liability in the absence of the fundamental tort element of causation. The decision was a setback for WLF, which filed a brief asking the Court to review the case and undo the California courts’ radical expansion of tort liability. The Court of Appeal ordered three companies to find and abate lead-paint hazards in countless California homes, even though the plaintiffs failed to identify a single specific home containing a hazard caused by the companies. In its brief, WLF argued that the Court of Appeal should have required the plaintiffs to identify which homes, if any, contain lead-paint hazards because of the companies’ conduct.
