Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 18 Sec. 1761

  • Child care facility: means a child care facility or family child care home as defined in 33 V. See
  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Facility: means any institutional, commercial, public, private, or industrial structure, installation, or building or private residence and its grounds. See
  • following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Lead-based paint: means paint or other surface coatings that contain lead in an amount:

  • Lead-based paint inspector-risk assessor: means an individual who has satisfactorily completed an accredited training program approved by the Commissioner and has a current license issued by the Department to conduct lead-based paint inspections and risk assessments. See
  • Maintenance: means work intended to maintain and preserve target housing, a child-occupied facility, a pre-1978 facility, a commercial facility, bridge, or other superstructure. See
  • Owner: means any person who, alone or jointly or severally with others:

  • Person: means any individual, company, corporation, association, partnership, the U. See
  • Renovation: includes the performance of activities for the purpose of converting a building or part of a building into target housing or a child-occupied facility when it results in the disturbance of a painted surface. See
  • Rental target housing: means target housing offered for lease or rental under a rental agreement as defined in 9 V. See
  • Repair: means the restoration of paint or other coatings that have been damaged, including the repair of permanent containment around lead-based paint materials in a facility. See
  • Risk assessment: means an on-site investigation by a lead-based paint inspector-risk assessor to determine and report the existence, nature, severity, and location of lead hazards, including information gathering about the age and history of the property and occupancy by children six years of age or younger, visual inspection, limited wipe sampling, or other environmental sampling techniques, other appropriate risk assessment activities, and a report on the results of the investigation. See
  • RRPM: means the Renovation, Repair, Painting, and Maintenance Program that pertains to projects that disturb lead-based paint on target housing and child-occupied facilities. See
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
  • Target housing: means any dwelling constructed prior to 1978, except any 0-bedroom dwelling or any dwelling located in multiple-unit buildings or projects reserved for the exclusive use of elders or persons with disabilities, unless a child six years of age or younger resides in or is expected to reside in that dwelling. See

§ 1761. Duty of reasonable care; negligence; liability

(a) An owner of rental target housing or a child care facility or an owner’s representative shall take reasonable care to prevent exposure to, and the creation of, lead hazards. In an action brought under this section, evidence of actions taken or not taken to satisfy the requirements of this chapter, including performing RRPM activities, may be admissible evidence of reasonable care or negligence.

(b) Any person who suffers an injury proximately caused by an owner’s breach of this duty of reasonable care shall have a cause of action to recover damages and for all other appropriate relief.

(c) The owner of rental target housing or a child care facility or the owner’s representative shall not be liable to a tenant of the housing or facility in an individual action for habitability under common law or pursuant to 9 Vt. Stat. Ann. chapter 63 or chapter 137, 10 Vt. Stat. Ann. chapter 153, or 12 Vt. Stat. Ann. chapter 169 for injury or other relief claimed to be caused by exposure to lead if, during the relevant time period, the owner is in compliance with section 1759 of this chapter and any of the following, should they exist:

(1) the specific recommendations of a lead-based paint risk assessment report provided by a lead-based paint inspector-risk assessor;

(2) any plan issued pursuant to section 1757 of this chapter; or

(3) any assurance of discontinuance, order of the Commissioner, or court order regarding lead hazards.

(d) The immunity under subsection (c) of this section shall not be available if:

(1) there was fraud in the RRPM compliance statement under section 1759 of this chapter; or

(2) the owner or owner’s representative did not follow the recommendations of a lead-based paint risk assessment report provided by a licensed lead-based paint inspector-risk assessor; or

(3) the owner or owner’s representative created or allowed for the creation of lead hazards during renovation, remodeling, maintenance, or repair; or

(4) the owner or the owner’s representative failed to respond in a timely fashion to notification that lead hazards may have recurred on the premises.

(e) A defendant in an action brought under this section or at common law has a right to seek contribution from any other person who may be responsible, in whole or in part, for the child’s blood lead level.

(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the right of the Commissioner or any agency or instrumentality of the State of Vermont to seek remedies available under any other provision of Vermont statutory law. (Added 1995, No. 165 (Adj. Sess.), § 8; amended 2007, No. 176 (Adj. Sess.), § 33; 2017, No. 149 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. October 21, 2022.)