Richard M. Kremen, a Baltimore attorney who represents Nochumowitz, called the settlement a "compromise." He said that Nochumowitz disputes Liebmann's claims. Nochumowitz no longer owns any of the properties involved in the lead paint cases, Kremen said.
The settlement, which is subject to approval by a federal judge, allows Nochumowitz to discharge his debts through bankruptcy without admitting any liability. It also requires him to restate his declaration of assets and liabilities in his bankruptcy petition.
More lawsuits
His creditors now include families in a dozen lead paint lawsuits, one of which won a $600,000 court judgment. In 2007, five additional suits were filed demanding a total of $19 million on behalf of 10 other people who allegedly suffered exposure to lead as infants that has afflicted them later in life.
In one suit filed on behalf of two children, Baltimore lawyer Bruce Powell contends that during the early 1990s a Nochumowitz property on Ashland Avenue was "in such deteriorated condition" that lead paint was "peeling, chipping and flaking from the walls, baseboards, window sills and other areas."
The suit claims that the two babies, who are now teenagers, "ingested and consumed" paint chips and dust and suffered "permanent brain damage resulting in developmental and behavioral injuries." The suit seeks $5 million in damages.
3,500 deeds
In the early 1980s, Nochumowitz bought and sold numerous rental dwellings, which makes him vulnerable to such suits.
Under the law, persons exposed to lead paint as infants can file suit years later should they encounter health problems. The bankruptcy settlement says that Nochumowitz sold the properties before 2000.
The family built large stocks of ground rents, too. Property records show that in as far back as the early 1970s Nochumowitz and his father, Fred, acquired blocks of ground rents at bargain prices from banks, small investors and even a few charities and owned at least 3,500 of the deeds.
The exact number, or how many the family now owns, isn't known because investors won't be required to list ground rents they own in a public registry until 2010.
Nochumowitz managed the ground rent business from the Big Boyz Bail Bonds office, according to the trustee. The bail bonds company is owned by his wife and his business partner's wife, records show.
Nochumowitz is one of dozens of ground rent owners suing the state to overturn reforms of the system enacted by the General Assembly last year in response to The Sun's investigation of the industry.
The legislature, among other things, halted the practice called "ejectment," in which a ground rent owner can seize a property over unpaid rent without returning any equity to the homeowner.
fred.schulte@baltsun.com
