Baltimore joins ‘TV Hill’ broadcast tower lead paint suit

Baltimore joined a lawsuit against companies accused of contaminating the city with lead paint chips during a repainting of a broadcast transmission tower.

The amended complaint in Baltimore City Circuit Court seeks class-action representation of property owners in the area within a 4,000-foot radius of the approximately 1,000-foot-tall broadcast tower located at 723 Malden Ave. in the Woodberry neighborhood.

“We entered this suit to ensure that the Defendants clean up the hazardous materials that they spread not only on City-owned properties but in our neighborhoods,” Baltimore City Solicitor Ebony M. Thompson said in a statement Thursday, the day the city joined.

The ongoing suit is being waged by area property owners against Television Tower, Inc. and Skyline Tower Painting, Inc. seeking damages and injunctive relief for the 2022 power washing and repainting of the “TV Hill” transmission tower, alleging that lead paint chips and dust were spread during the process. 

Defendants in the class action lawsuit also include CBS Television Licenses LLC, Hearst Television Inc. and Scripps Broadcasting Holdings LLC, which transmit programing from the tower under via the news stations WJZ-TV, WBAL-TV, and WMAR-TV.

None of the plaintiffs immediately returned requests for comment. The law firm Murphy, Falcon & Murphy is representing the city in the case.

Lead paint is poisonous and can cause permanent brain damage, organ failure, learning delays and high blood pressure if ingested or breathed in.

In 2022, Skyline Tower Painting and its owner, Christopher Mecklem, pleaded guilty to violating Maryland environmental law as it relates to the illegal dispersal and disposal of lead-containing paint in Baltimore. 

The state separately filed a lawsuit against both Television Tower] and Skyline Tower Painting.

In May 2023, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, a Democrat, filed a civil complaint alleging that Television Tower knew that the transmission tower was coated with lead-based paint when it hired Skyline Tower Painting, Inc. to power wash and repaint it. Skyline Tower Painting was not accredited to provide lead paint abatement services in Maryland.

According to an April news release from Brown’s office, the state was awarded a $2.2 million settlement and consent decree. Following the ruling, Television Tower removed Skyline Tower Painting from the project.

Under the consent decree, Television Tower agreed to complete the repainting of the structure with accredited contractors by June 30 of this year, complete a final cleanup inspection when the tower is repainted and perform a soil sampling study to confirm that there is no increase in lead soil levels attributed to paint flakes.

Additionally, Skyline Tower Painting was prohibited from offering services in the state.

“Baltimore has a long history with lead paint, and we know firsthand how dangerous it can be, especially for our youngest residents,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement. “Anyone taking on a remediation effort must do so carefully, without spreading harmful waste in our neighborhoods.”