Lead can pose a real danger at home. If it is in your plumbing, you may be drinking it. If it is in a nearby industrial smoke stack, you may be breathing it in. It is harmful to all of us, and children in particular.

Children are often exposed to lead in lead paint. The chipping paint can form dust and be inhaled. Also, children tend to eat and bite the lead containing paint. Kids eat anything, even dirt.

Many American towns have spent lots of money dealing with the lead problem. And some want the lead industry to pay their share of these costs.

Milwaukee took a bold step recently when it went after the paint industry in court to recover lead poisoning and cleanup costs. Governments are slow to take large scale legal action, which is what this was. They city was seeking $85 million dollars .

This week, the city's lawsuit was tossed out by a judge who ruled that the city could not prove that the named defendants actually produced any of the offending paint found on the city's 41,000 homes containing lead.

Which of course is no small task, since lead paint has not been used in this country since a 1978 ban. Do you remember what paint you used in 1978? How about five years ago? And even if you do remember, how would you prove such a thing?

So the judge created a standard that, of course, can never be satisfied. That hardly sounds like the underpinnings of justice. The paint industry got away paying nothing and the city must now foot an endless bill.

Milwaukee rightfully claimed that these companies created public nuisances by introducing lead into paint, thereby risking harm to city residents who later became ill from the paint. Lead exposure causes a lot of harm, harm that cannot be fixed.

Obviously this is a public nuisance. Just as an illegal brothel in the middle of a neighborhood is a public nuisance.

So far the lead industry has been winning these cases. Remember cigarette cases were all losers until, after many years, judges and juries saw the light.

It is not a question of if the lead companies will take it on the chin, it is only a question of when that will happen. And as soon as it does, don't be surprised if Congress comes up with a bail out plan. A lot of that kind of thing has been happening in big business friendly Washington lately.

If the lead industry was really smart, it would throw a case right now, while a more than willing to help Congress sits ready to bail out this entire industry. Take a small hit, and then cry to a local lead lobbyist.

Our courts have imposed what is called alternate theories of liability in cases, just like this, when the exact wrongdoing company cannot be identified because people are dead or just don't remember. Under the alternate theory, every possible lead supplier would be sued, and it would be up to the companies to prove that, on an individual basis, they are not liable. The burden shifts to the defendants because fairness dictates such a shift.

Alternate theories of liability are what municipalities need in these lead cases. The industry made a lot of money while it was selling this toxic material. Now it needs to be held accountable for all of the harm that it has caused.

And that will happen, sooner or later.

The information provided in this column is written by Stuart Lieberman,a practicing environmental attorney, and is for general information purposes only. It is not legal advice and should not be used in place of legal advice.

Stuart Lieberman, Esq., and IRED.Com, Inc., will not accept any responsibilty for any reliance on the information in this column or any damages whatsoever resulting from reading this column.