The issue of whether or not lead pigment is defective be design because it containse lead, or whether it is not defective because, by definition, it contains lead is pending before the Maryland high court.

The issue of design defect as it relates to lead pigment also surfaced in the Thomas case in Wisconsin.

In Maryland, the Maryland Court of Appeals will need to rule on defective design, as well as on whether the trial and intermediate appellate courts committed reversible error.

Complicating matters is the fact that the case, which originally had 7 plaintiffs and multiple defendants, has been severed _ or as the defendants call it  "sliced" in ways which render the appeal moot.

The defendants maintain that in Kennedy v. Lasting Paint, the plaintiffs are attempting to appeal without there being a final, appealable order.