2 Women Sue North Middletown Landlord Alleging Lead Paint Poisoning

MIDDLETOWN, NJ ? Two women who lived in North Middletown sued their landlord, alleging that they and their toddler son have lead poisoning from the home, and that their landlord knew about it prior to renting them the house.

The two women were identified in the lawsuit as Megan Cartledge and Laura Cartledge. From 2015 through March of 2021, they were tenants in a home at 483 Center Avenue, in Middletown but with a mailing address of Keansburg. They lived there with an infant boy.

The women said it was in February of 2021 that the baby was "discovered and formally diagnosed to have lead poisoning."

"(His) blood levels were significantly higher than the amount needed to be classified as lead poisoned under the applicable medical guidelines," read their lawsuit. "Plaintiffs Megan and Laura Cartledge were also tested and formally diagnosed with lead poisoning (in their blood)."

The women said they paid to have an inspection done of the home, and on June 7, 2021 lead was determined to be present in the home. The women said the results were reported to the Monmouth County Board of Health.

The women said in their lawsuit it was "severe lead poisoning." One of the women was pregnant with a second child at this time.

The women also claim in their lawsuit that lead was discovered in the home in 2011, before they moved in, and that the landlord never told them.

The women were represented by Greg Gargulinski, a personal injury attorney with the law firm of Rudnick, Addonizio, Pappa and Casazza in Hazlet. When he first filed the lawsuit, Gargulinski also sued the state of New Jersey, the New Jersey Health Department, Monmouth County and the Monmouth County Board of Health, Middletown Township and the Middletown Housing Authority, plus Keansburg borough and the Keansburg Borough Housing Authority.

Since then, Middletown Township has been dismissed from the lawsuit. The home is privately owned. It is not owned or operated by any municipal housing authority.

Gargulinski said the landlord never obtained a clear lead certification for the home.

The lawyer alleged all "knew or should have known of the presence of lead-based paint in the subject dwellings. The defendants knew or should have known that the subject premises were or would be occupied by young children."

The two women filed their lawsuit in January of this year and as of September, it is still proceeding in the courts. A case management conference on the case has been scheduled for October 27 before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Owen McCarthy.

A call to Gargulinski was not returned.