The Maryland Department of the Environment accused a Salisbury attorney and landlord yesterday of evading state laws protecting children against lead poisoning for more than two years.

The agency filed a lawsuit in Wicomico County Circuit Court seeking a $100,000 fine from attorney Bruce W. Ruark, who refused to take a phone call from The Sun. MDE also wants a judge to order Ruark to clean up lead-paint hazards in at least half of about 60 rental properties the state believes he owns.

Also named in the suit are two corporations, Meridian Co. and PLP Enterprises LLC, and Arthur Webster, identified by MDE spokesman John Verrico as a partner of Ruark in rental properties.

MDE officials said Ruark was notified March 2000 that a child had been exposed to dangerously high levels of toxic lead in a rental house in Salisbury owned by one of Ruark's corporations. Under state law the landlord had 30 days to make the property safe, but no work has been done, and a child is still living in the house, said Dean Bullis, chief of MDE's lead enforcement division.

Lead poisoning can impair a child's development, causing behavioral problems, learning disabilities and difficulties with coordination.