[Patrick Lynch]'s staff filed papers last week asking the Rhode Island Supreme Court to review the ruling issued in January by Judge Stephen J. Fortunato Jr. Fortunato found "no rational basis" for language in the law exempting two- and three-unit owner-occupied buildings.

State Rep. Joseph A. Trillo, R-Warwick, who founded a landlords association that filed the initial lawsuit, sits on the Corporations Committee. He sponsored some of the new legislation.

In asking the state Supreme Court to review Fortunato's decision, the attorney general's staff argues that Fortunato erred by accepting "evidence" from the landlords that had no probative value while ignoring evidence offered by seven of eight state witnesses who testified there are more lead poisonings in apartments owned by absentee landlords.