Since 1978 · Attorney Advertising
Manhattan Lead Poisoning Lawyer
The Frankel Law Firm has been helping victims of lead poisoning and serious personal injuries for more than 40 years, and we are proud of that legacy. If a child in Manhattan was poisoned by lead — usually from old paint in the apartment — please call for a free consultation. There is no fee to speak to us or for us to evaluate your potential case.
Our Manhattan office
Our principal office is at 305 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10007, in lower Manhattan near City Hall. The same number reaches our Bronx office at 1500 Astor Avenue, 2nd Floor, Bronx, NY 10469. You can come to either address; if you are not sure which is more convenient, call and ask.
We represent families across Manhattan. A free case evaluation starts with a phone call, so there is no need to travel for the first conversation.
Experience makes all the difference
Lead poisoning is most common, and most damaging, in very young children. Exposure to lead-based paint is the primary source. Even a small amount of peeling, chipping, or dusting paint in older housing can be hazardous, and no amount of lead is safe in a child’s body.
This firm was counsel for the plaintiffs in Juarez v. Wavecrest Management Team Ltd., 88 N.Y.2d 628 (1996) — the Court of Appeals decision that set the rules for landlord liability for lead-based paint in New York City. Lead cases are often complex, and an experienced attorney should review yours promptly.
Call The Frankel Law Firm about a private apartment or other housing in Manhattan. There is no fee to speak to us or for us to evaluate your potential case.
What you can do now
Speak with your child’s doctor, and do not scrape or sand paint yourself. If paint is peeling, or repairs are making dust, call 311 — immigration status does not block a housing complaint. Tell the operator if a child under six lives in the apartment or routinely spends ten or more hours a week there.
We cannot order a blood test or a repair. New York State requires health care providers to test children for lead at ages one and two, and after a 311 complaint, a City inspector can visit and order the owner to fix peeling lead paint. Our first-week checklist covers confirmatory testing, photographs, and wet cleaning.
A lawsuit over a child’s lead poisoning is not typically a legal basis to evict a tenant who has a lease. If a landlord threatens that, please say so when you call.
What to bring to a first call
Bring whatever you have. Missing paperwork is common, and much of it can be gathered later. If you would rather write first, use our contact form.
- The building address, the apartment number, and the dates your family lived there.
- Your child’s date of birth, and whether other young children live in the apartment or spend time there.
- Every blood lead result you have, with test dates, including finger-stick screens and venous tests.
- Letters, orders, or inspection reports from the Health Department or HPD, and any 311 complaint numbers.
- Your lease and renewals, any lead notices you signed or returned, and the name of the landlord or managing agent.
- Photos or video of peeling paint, dust, or repair work, with dates if you have them.
- Whether the building is NYCHA or other City-owned housing, if you know.
Please do not send medical records until we have agreed to represent you. We will explain how to share them securely.
Why older Manhattan buildings matter
New York City banned lead paint for residential use in 1960, and the federal government banned consumer uses of lead-based paint in 1978. The old paint did not go away. In many buildings it sits under newer coats, and it becomes a hazard when it peels or chips, or when windows and doors rub it into dust. Lead paint, and the dust it turns into, is the most commonly identified source of childhood lead exposure in New York City. According to the Citizens Housing & Planning Council, more than half of the city’s homes were built before 1947.
City data point to Upper Manhattan in particular. A New York City Council analysis of HPD and Health Department data found that from January 2020 through March 2023, Council District 10, which covers Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill, had the highest rate of lead-based paint violations per 1,000 buildings in the Council’s ranking. District 7, which includes parts of the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, Manhattanville, West Harlem, and Hamilton Heights, ranked third. The same analysis found that the Bronx and Upper Manhattan had the most HPD lead litigation cases from August 2006 through March 2023. Older buildings elsewhere in Manhattan can carry the same hazards.
What Local Law 1 requires of Manhattan landlords
Local Law 1 of 2004 is New York City’s lead paint law. According to HPD, it covers buildings with three or more apartments built before 1960; buildings with three or more apartments built from 1960 through 1977 when the owner knows there is lead-based paint; tenant-occupied units in one- and two-family houses built before 1960; and co-op and condo apartments not occupied by the owner or the owner’s family. In a covered building, the owner must presume the paint is lead-based unless it has tested negative and HPD has granted an exemption.
Many of the law’s duties apply when a child under six lives in an apartment or routinely spends ten or more hours a week there, so a grandparent’s or a babysitter’s apartment can count. Owners of covered buildings must:
- Send tenants an annual notice each January asking whether such a child lives in the apartment or spends that time there.
- Inspect apartments where such a child lives, along with common areas, for lead paint hazards at least once a year.
- Fix lead paint hazards with certified workers who follow safe work practices.
- Finish lead work on doors, windows, floors, and sills before a new tenant moves in, and certify that work at lease signing.
- Keep records of notices, inspections, and repairs for at least ten years.
Four amendments passed in 2023 are now in effect. Under Local Law 111, the one-time test for lead paint with an XRF analyzer now covers common areas as well as apartments. It must be done by a certified inspector who is independent of the owner, and it was due by August 9, 2025, or sooner in some cases, such as a year after a young child moved in. Local Law 123 requires owners of buildings with three or more apartments built before 1960 to abate lead paint on door and window friction surfaces, and finish related repairs, by July 1, 2027, in any apartment where a child under six lived as of January 1, 2025, even if the paint is intact; HPD says a child who moves in later triggers the same work within three years. Local Law 122 requires an owner to hand over its annual-notice and inspection records for the prior year when HPD issues a lead paint violation in a young child’s apartment. Local Law 127 sets how HPD chooses buildings for its yearly audits of owners’ lead records, at least 200 buildings a year, including buildings with past lead violations and buildings in areas where elevated blood lead levels are common, and requires HPD to inspect them. More detail is in our Local Law 1 guide.
What a lead poisoning case involves
Every case is different, and we will not promise a timetable or a result on the first call. These cases are measured in months and often years, and most move through the same stages.
- We start with a free call: we listen, ask about the apartment and your child, and tell you whether we can help.
- With your permission, we gather records: blood lead results, pediatric records, Health Department and HPD inspection and violation records, the lease, and your photos.
- If NYCHA or a City agency may be responsible, a Notice of Claim usually has to be served before a lawsuit, on a short deadline.
- Once a lawsuit is filed, both sides exchange records and take sworn testimony.
- Your child’s doctors and other clinicians assess how lead has affected health, learning, and behavior, and that assessment takes time.
- Cases resolve through settlement, mediation, or trial, and some go through appeals. A settlement for a child generally needs a court’s approval.
Past lead recoveries
These are dated announcements of past results in the Bronx and Brooklyn. They are not Manhattan cases and are not a prediction for any other case.
Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
- $3,000,000 — November 17, 2025 · Bronx · blood lead level 46 µg/dL · pre-1960 apartment
- $2.35 million — January 13, 2026 · Bronx · blood lead level 34 µg/dL · resolved before trial
- $1.75 million — May 11, 2026 · two Bronx sisters · blood lead levels 21 and 6 µg/dL · private mediation
- $1 million — May 12, 2026 · Bronx · child under two · blood lead level 11 µg/dL · two appeals
- $750,000 and $500,000 — May 2026 · two settlements · Brooklyn (Kings County)
Every case is different. The amount recovered depends on the facts, the medical proof, the condition of the housing, the defendants, and the law that applies.
Questions Manhattan families ask
Is a Manhattan landlord responsible for a child’s lead poisoning?
It depends on what the landlord knew. Under the Court of Appeals decision in Juarez v. Wavecrest Management Team Ltd., a New York City landlord can be held liable when it had actual or constructive notice of both the lead hazard and the fact that a young child lived in the apartment. Local Law 1 of 2004 now requires owners of covered buildings to ask every year whether a child under six lives in each apartment or routinely spends ten or more hours a week there, and to inspect those apartments for lead hazards at least once a year. Whether a particular landlord is liable depends on the facts.
We rent an apartment in a Manhattan co-op or condo. Does Local Law 1 apply?
It can. HPD states that Local Law 1 applies to co-op and condo apartments that are not occupied by the owner or a member of the owner’s family, so a family renting the unit is not inside that exclusion. The building must still meet the law’s other conditions, such as its age. Responsibility may fall on the unit owner, the managing agent, or the co-op or condo itself, so an attorney should review who controlled the apartment and its repairs.
What does the CDC 3.5 µg/dL reference value mean for a lead case?
Since October 28, 2021, the CDC has used a blood lead reference value of 3.5 µg/dL to identify children with more lead in their blood than most children. The CDC says it is not a health-based standard or a toxicity threshold, and that no safe blood lead level in children has been identified. It is not a lawsuit threshold either. Whether a claim should be evaluated depends on the housing, the timeline, and the medical records, not on one number.
My child’s second blood test came back lower. Is there still a case?
Possibly. Blood lead levels reflect recent or ongoing exposure and can change fairly quickly, so an earlier result may have been higher. A lower number is good news for your child’s care, but it does not by itself answer whether a housing claim should be evaluated. Keep every lab report, and call The Frankel Law Firm with the full set of results.
Can our landlord evict us for complaining about lead paint?
New York Real Property Law § 223-b bars a landlord from serving a notice to quit or starting an eviction case in retaliation for a tenant’s good-faith complaint about a health or safety violation, whether the complaint went to the landlord, the landlord’s agent, or a government agency. If the landlord acts within one year after the complaint, the law presumes retaliation unless the landlord rebuts it. The section does not cover owner-occupied buildings with fewer than four units, and rent is still owed. Tell us right away about any notice or court papers.
How long do we have, and what changes if it is NYCHA or City housing?
Against a private landlord, New York law generally extends a child’s time to sue until after the child turns 18 (CPLR 208). That is not a reason to wait: apartments get repainted, records are lost, and witnesses move. A parent’s own claims are not extended the same way. Claims against the City, NYCHA, and certain other public entities usually require a Notice of Claim under General Municipal Law § 50-e, on a short deadline. If the housing is public, or you are not sure who owns the building, call us right away, and do not try to work out the deadline yourself.
What does it cost to talk to The Frankel Law Firm?
Nothing. There is no fee to speak to us or for us to evaluate your potential case. If we take the case, childhood lead cases are typically handled on a contingent fee, explained in writing before anything is signed, so you do not pay attorney fees up front. A settlement for a child generally needs a court’s approval, and the court also approves the attorney’s fee.
Lead poisoning information
Lead poisoning lawyers in other boroughs
A telephone call or online inquiry does not create an attorney-client relationship. The firm represents a client only if it agrees to do so. Please do not send medical records until representation has been agreed. Attorney Advertising.