01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, January 4, 2006

The state's trial against four paint companies accused of creating a public nuisance when they sold lead-based paint has been postponed until tomorrow morning.

In court yesterday, Superior Court Justice Joseph F. Rodgers Jr. told a packed courtroom that Judge Michael A. Silverstein, who had been presiding over the lead-paint trial, drove himself to Miriam Hospital that morning because of an undisclosed health problem.

Silverstein was in court last Friday, Rodgers said. "He was looking well," and was "anxious to return to the trial," which had been in recess since Dec. 16.

The state, in a lawsuit initially brought by former Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse, has accused four paint companies of creating a public nuisance when they manufactured and sold lead-based paints. Although the use of lead paint in homes was federally banned in 1978, it continues to poison children in Rhode Island's old housing stock.

The first trial ended in 2002 with a hung jury; 4-2 for the defense.