The New York attorney general is suing the infamous Syracuse landlord for lead poisoning of 18 children

Syracuse, NY – New York attorney general Letitia James is suing one of Syracuse’s most notorious landlords, John Kiggins, for violating the lead paint law, which she said resulted in the poisoning of at least 18 children living on its property.

The children were poisoned for over six years while living in 17 of an estimated 89 properties owned by Kiggins’ Endzone Properties Inc., alleged James in a lawsuit filed Thursday with the Onondaga County Supreme Court.

The lawsuit alleges that from January 1, 2015 through July 31, 2021, at least 32 endzone properties were cited by inspectors from the Onondaga County Health Department and the Syracuse Division of Code Enforcement for chipping, peeling, deteriorating paint, and other conditions conducive to lead poisoning, which is prohibited by county and city laws.

Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs.

James said an investigation, which began her office in late 2020, found that during the six years at least 18 children were poisoned by lead while they were living on the endzone properties. All the poisoned children were colored children, she said.

“Exposure to lead paint is undoubtedly dangerous and has a disproportionate effect on black and brown children,” James said in a statement.

“This company took advantage of low-income families of black color, did not offer them the protection required by law, and knowingly put children at risk. No family should fear for their health in their own home, and my office will continue to hold individuals and businesses accountable for endangering our communities. “

The post standard | syracuse.com was unable to find a Kiggins public phone on Friday.

Kiggins was jailed for mortgage fraud in 1991 and briefly in 2006 for refusing to crack down on code violations on his property. In 2016, a 13-year-old girl died in a fire in an apartment he owned on 722 Pond Street. The fire was caused by candles that her family used to heat the house. Officials from the Syracuse Code said the house had no heat or electricity.

Endzone failed to comply with laws requiring the company to keep its properties in a lead-safe condition and instead allowed the lead color to deteriorate, the lawsuit said. Endzone often allowed the properties of the color to deteriorate to the point of risk of lead, the lawsuit said.

Kiggins and Endzone have also been involved in repeated “illegal and fraudulent acts” by providing either no federally mandated lead disclosures or materially false and fraudulent lead disclosures to tenants and buyers of Endzone real estate, James said.

In the lawsuit, James is seeking an injunction banning Kiggins and Endzone from “illegal conduct and dangerous housing practices” and forcing them to provide lead-safe accommodation and full disclosures to tenants and buyers of Endzone real estate.

The lawsuit also calls on the court to order Kiggins and Endzone to abandon any profits they have made from “their repeated and persistent violations of the law and fraud in the conduct of their property management business” and to order them to pay fines and penalties amount to be determined by the court.

Mayor Ben Walsh commended James for filing the lawsuit, saying the city has a “zero tolerance” approach to lead poisoning.

“This legal measure should serve as a message to all Syracuse landlords that it is unacceptable to allow tenants to live in substandard apartments that contain lead paint hazards,” he said in a statement.

Lead is a toxic metal that can cause serious and irreversible damage to health. According to the Attorney General, children who have been exposed to even very low levels of lead are at risk for neurological and physical problems during critical periods of early development.

James said lead poisoning in Onondaga County occurs primarily in Syracuse, causing disproportionate harm to low-income communities and colored communities. According to her office, 87% of all lead-poisoned children in Onondaga County were from Syracuse as of 2012.

The data also shows that black children are twice as likely as white children to have elevated blood lead levels, James said.

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