Mom of girl with high blood-lead level thrilled NYCHA hit with $57M penalty for not inspecting her Bronx home

Public housing tenant Tiesha Jones was heartbroken after learning 4-year-old daughter Dakota — life-long resident of a lead-tainted NYCHA apartment — registered an alarmingly dangerous level of lead in her blood.

On Friday, she received a measure of retribution: A Bronx jury handed down a $57 million verdict against the Housing Authority for its failure to inspect her apartment for lead paint as required.

“I was overjoyed. I was crying nonstop," said Jones, 38, ripping NYCHA officials as “liars” for insisting despite the evidence that her apartment was lead-free.

“The tenants don't have any hope here. It's like we're an afterthought. They're ruining our quality of life. They're ruining our hopes and dreams.”

The huge verdict comes as the Housing Authority and Mayor de Blasio struggle to address revelations that the authority had for years neglected to perform thousands of required lead paint checks in its aging apartments.

Even worse, NYCHA then falsely claimed the work had been performed.

Jones moved into the apartment in the Fort Independence development in the Bronx in 1999. By 2010, she was living there with her six children.

Blood-lead tests of daughter Dakota Taylor initially came back as negative. But in January 2010, the little girl registered a level of 45 micrograms per deciliter of lead in her blood. The acceptable level is 5.

Lead in children is believed to cause developmental delays. Dakota was given an individual education plan (IEP) and put in special education classes in the city public schools.

"The damage had already been done," Jones said. "She didn't have a chance to go to regular school ... She got held over in special ed in second grade."

She says she felt "betrayed. I was mortified. They sent me letters every year stating that there's no lead in the apartment. Here I was thinking I was safe, taking care of my children."

Jones says she always had to bring up the high blood-lead results with school officials to explain her daughter's disability because they never asked.

Records show two prior inspections of the apartment in 2006 and 2008 were marked as "completed" but with no notation in the inspection record reporting that it was checked for lead.

After Dakota's lead level was detected, city Department of Health inspectors with an X-ray device showed up and began testing.

At the time, the little girl was splitting her days between her apartment, a babysitter's apartment also within Fort Independence, and her grandmother's apartment that was not in a NYCHA development.

DOH tested all three and found lead paint in both of the Fort Independence units, but not in the grandmother's place.

As they often do, NYCHA performed its own lab tests and insisted there was no lead present in Jones' apartment. With the conflicting results, an administrative judge ordered them to abate the apartment anyway.

The vendor who did the job in February 2010 had no record of EPA certification as required, records show. The Daily News revealed last month that NYCHA had for years relied on untrained, uncertified workers to perform inspections and cleanup of lead-tainted apartments.

Jones sued and NYCHA — citing its lab test with its negative lead finding — moved to dismiss the suit. Ultimately an appeals court ruled the issue of conflicting test results was something a jury should decide, so the case went forward.

The trial began in mid-January and on Friday the jury took one hour to reach a verdict, whacking NYCHA with a huge $57 million penalty.

Jones got a bachelor’s degree and is now working toward a law degree. She also became a tenant leader at Fort Independence, and when she moved to NYCHA's Bailey Houses a few blocks away, she became a leader there.

She notes that her apartment never received the annual lead paint inspections as required.

"They are supposed to be done annually. That was not done," she said. "Imagine how many other residents have gone through this."

Jones' attorney, Thomas Giuffra of the law firm Rheingold Giuffra Ruffo & Plotkin, called the verdict “totally a message” to the NYCHA leadership.

“They've known since 1960 there shouldn't be lead in these apartments,” he said. “Shouldn't they have taken care of it by now?"

On Friday, NYCHA spokeswoman Jasmine Blake said the authority is in talks with Jones' lawyers about a settlement.

“NYCHA is clearly disappointed with the jury's verdict but looks forward to the final settlement of this matter upon terms agreed to by the plaintiffs,” she said.