Amiah McGee Collins (Minor), et al vs. Chicago Housing Authority, et al

Case Background

On January 4, 2022, Plaintiff Shanna Jordan and others filed a lead poisoning lawsuit in the Illinois Circuit Court, Cook County (Case number: 2022-L-000095). The lawsuit accused the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) of gross negligence for failing to address lead-based paint hazards, which led to the poisoning of Shanna Jordan’s children.

Cause

The lawsuit involved the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) and its failure to address lead-based paint hazards at 7715 North Marshfield Avenue, where a family of four lived in a CHA unit. The CHA had known about the presence of lead-based paint since 1979, when it purchased the building. Despite multiple federal and city investigations throughout the 1990s and 2000s that identified the risks of lead poisoning, the CHA took no action to address these hazards. The unit had a documented history of lead exposure, with several children previously poisoned, but the CHA failed to disclose these risks to new tenants. In 2014, Shanna Jordan and her family moved into the apartment, unaware of the dangerous levels of lead they would be exposed to.

Injuries

After moving in, the children began showing signs of developmental regression. Amiah, who was two years old when her family moved in, had previously been able to count, recite the ABCs, and write her name. However, by the age of three, she could no longer perform these tasks. She also experienced severe cognitive and behavioral issues. Jah'mir, a newborn at the time, was also diagnosed with lead poisoning in 2019,