A suit brought by Community Preservation Corporation (CPC) and other housing groups challenging the validity of the city’s new lead paint laws was dismissed last week. Justice Louis York of the Manhattan Supreme Court found that CPC did not have legal standing to sue. While their economic concerns were “sufficiently concrete,” the ruling states, they were not proper grounds for a lawsuit under the State Environmental Quality Review Act. A nearly identical case brought by Rent Stabilization Association, a private landlords’ group, was also dismissed. The rulings are the latest in a series of legal scuffles that have surrounded lead paint laws in the city for the past two decades. The RSA plans to appeal the decision. No word yet on whether CPC will follow suit. [9/6/04]