Yourlawyer.com (Construction Defects News)

Thousands of Chinese Drywall Lawsuits Settled

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Thousands of homeowners with Chinese drywall may finally soon have their home remediated, following yesterday's announcement that Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co., a major manufacturer of the defective wallboard, had agreed to settle claims.   About 4,500 Chinese drywall claimants, mostly those from Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, could be eligible for the Knauf settlement.

According to a report from Bloomberg News, plaintiffs' lawyers say the Chinese drywall settlement could cost Knauf between $800 million and $1 billion.   Two funds will be set up, including an uncapped fund to take care of home repairs.   The second fund will be capped at $30 million, and will pay for other types of losses, including those by people who blame drywall for health problems.

The remediation could cost as much as $150,000 for a 2,500-square-foot house, and would include removing and replacing drywall, as well as electrical wiring, smoke alarms, fire alarms and other safety systems, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.   As an alternative, claimants may opt for a cash option, but they will receive a discounted amount.

The total number of claimants ultimately covered by the settlement will depend on how many are able to prove they have Knauf-made drywall in their homes. However, as many 8,000 claimants who have drywall made by units of Taishan Gypsum Co. and Beijing New Building Materials Public Limited Co. aren't covered in the settlement. Those companies have not participated in the Chinese drywall litigation.

To date, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) says it has received 3,924 reports from residents of 43 states and the District of Columbia, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico, who believe their health symptoms or the corrosion of certain metal components in their homes are related to problem drywall.

Federal Chinese Drywall Remediation Guidelines Revised

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New Chinese drywall remediation guidelines issued yesterday by the U.S Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development no longer call for the removal of gas service piping or glass bulb fire sprinkler heads. However, the guidelines continue to recommend that homeowners replace all problem drywall; smoke and carbon monoxide alarms; electrical distribution components, including receptacles; switches and circuit breakers (but not necessarily wiring); and fusible-type fire sprinkler heads.

According to the CPSC, tests just completed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found no corrosion on smoke alarms, fire sprinkler heads, or gas service piping provided no evidence of a substantial product safety hazard, as defined by the Consumer Product Safety Act. Corrosion of gas service piping was uniform and minimal compared to the thickness of pipes. Some smoke alarms and fire sprinkler heads showed small changes in performance due to accelerated corrosion, but these changes were generally within accepted industry standards.

The agencies do, however recommend the replacement of all fusible-type fire sprinkler heads, because one fusible-type sprinkler head sample that had been exposed to accelerate corrosion did not activate when tested.

In addition, CPSC staff continues to recommend that homeowners replace smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms as part of remediation.

The CPSC says it believes these new guidelines will enable homeowners to comprehensively remediate those homes containing defective Chinese drywall with potentially lower costs than by following the previous remediation guidance.

Going forward, the CPSC said its staff continues to work with voluntary standards organizations to develop improved standards for drywall to prevent this type of problem from reemerging. The standard setting body ASTM International Inc. is also moving to require that all drywall sheets are marked with the manufacturer’s name or a unique identification code, the manufacture date, and the source materials, the agency said.

CPSC believes there may be as many as 6,300 U.S. homes with problem drywall. To date, the CPSC says it has received 3,905 reports from residents of 42 states and the District of Columbia, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico, who believe their health symptoms or the corrosion of certain metal components in their homes are related to problem drywall.

Gentek Fails in Bid to Have Defective Siding Class Action Lawsuit Dismissed

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

A lawsuit filed by nine plaintiffs claiming Gentek siding products are defective will be allowed to proceed. In an order dated August 23, U.S. District Judge Benita Y. Pearson of the Northern District of Ohio refused a motion by the defendant to dismiss the Gentek siding lawsuit and strike its class action allegations.

According to the order, the Court will set up a status conference via phone this month to determine an appropriate discovery cut-off date.

The original Gentek lawsuit was filed last November. The complaint charged that Gentek aluminum and steel siding has a manufacturing defect that causes it to chip and peel prematurely. All of the plaintiffs alleged that when they tried to exercise their rights under Gentek's warranty, the company only offered to repaint the affected area or pay the owner a “small amount of compensation.”

All nine homeowners named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit claim the Gentek siding they purchased was covered by a "Lifetime Warranty" that requires Gentek TO repair, refinish or replace the defective siding at no cost to the property owner if the siding fails within three years of installation. The same warranty requires that Gentek assume the cost of material and labor for any warranted work upon Gentek’s receipt of $100 payment by the property owner for each incident covered by the warranty, the lawsuit states.

In moving to have the Gentek siding lawsuit dismissed, Gentek claimed the plaintiffs’ allegations failed to suggest actionable conduct. But in the August 23 order, Judge Pearson writes that, “Plaintiffs have nudged each alleged cause of action across the line from conceivable to plausible by asserting facts that substantiate each claim and suggest actionable conduct.”

Judge Pearson called Gentek’s motion to strike class certification premature. “Whether the commonality requirement has been demonstrated cannot be determined until discovery has taken place and choice of law provisions applied,” the order states.

New Jersey Man Files Maibec Wood Shingle Class Action Lawsuit

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

A class action lawsuit filed in New Jersey federal court is seeking to represent anyone who owns a building that had wood shingles made by Maibec Inc. installed since 1986. The lawsuit claims that the Maibec wood shingles fail before their warranty expires, and accuses Maibec of failing to fully honor its warranty agreements.

The lead plaintiff in the Maibec wood shingle class action lawsuit is the former owner of a New Jersey home improvement company, James Vander Veer, who claims Maibec wood shingles failed on a home just four years after a subcontractor had installed them. Vander Veer alleges he was forced into a settlement with the homeowners after Maibec refused to fix the problem.

The lawsuit claims Maibec wood shingles are plagued by design flaws that result in warping, peeling, cracking, buckling and curling. It further alleges that representations Maibec made about the shingles and their warranties are false.

Vander Veer's eight-count complaint alleges breach of warranty, unjust enrichment, strict products liability and violations of New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act.

Maibec is a Canadian company that sells wood shingle siding in a dozen states. According to Vander Veer's lawsuit, the shingles are marketed as high-quality, durable and resistant to rot and insect damage. The Maibec shingles were also guaranteed for 50 years against wood decay, offering a 30-year warranty on two coats of solid stain and a five-year warranty on labor.

Is Chinese Drywall Settlement Coming?

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

A settlement could be near for those thousands of homeowners embroiled in defective Chinese drywall lawsuits, said NewsPress.com. Federal Judge Eldon Fallon scheduled the mediation—which will include some key plaintiffs and defendants—for tomorrow, NewsPress.com added.

Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. Ltd. (KPT), one of the defective drywall manufacturers and some homebuilders, suppliers, and insurers are also expected to be present, said NewsPress.com. Names of other involved parties are not expected to be released.

Fallon, who presides over some 10,000 federal and state cases consolidated in multidistrict litigation in New Orleans stressed at his August litigation update that he is expecting the involved parties to make significant settlement headway, wrote NewsPress.com.

Judge Fallon has already ruled for homeowners in two prior test cases, ordering KPT and another manufacturer to remediate the homes, which involves a gutting of the structures and a rebuild of the interiors, said Bradenton.com previously.

Finalizing a deal would be long-awaited and welcome relief to those homeowners who have been forced to deal with the drywall debacle for two years, said NewsPress.com, which noted that many of these homeowners have been forced to live in homes they feel are unlivable because they simply cannot afford to finance more housing. Sadly, some homeowners have been forced into foreclosure.

Since late 2008, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) has received more than 3,000 reports from residents in 37 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico regarding defective Chinese drywall. Gases emitted from Chinese drywall are being blamed for significant property damage, including damage to HVAC systems, smoke detectors, electrical wiring, metal plumbing components, and other household appliances.

These gases also produce a sulfurous odor that permeates homes, and cause metals, including air conditioning coils and even jewelry, to corrode. People living with Chinese drywall have also suffered eye, respiratory, and sinus problems that may be linked to the gases.

The CPSC says the only way to fix Chinese drywall homes is to remove both the wallboard and the electrical wiring and other components, which typically involves essentially gutting the homes.

The drywall was mostly brought into this country between 2004 and 2008, noted NewsPress.com.

We recently wrote that even more companies than previously thought knew about tainted Chinese drywall as early as 2006, but kept quiet about its problems. According to a prior ProPublica report, these firms didn’t even make their knowledge public in 2008, when homeowners first began complaining about the smelly wallboard.

Chinese Drywall Symposium Set

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Following an announcement this week regarding Chinese drywall litigation, the Miami Herald just announced that Florida State is sponsoring The Technical Symposium on Corrosive Imported Drywall to discuss the problem. The Symposium is scheduled in Tampa for Thursday and Friday.

The prior announcement—a one-time offer made by Knauf Plasterboard (Tianjin) Co., Ltd.—is expected to do much to streamline the process for suing the major drywall manufacturer. As we wrote, to take advantage of this one time offer, Chinese drywall claimants must sign on to an omnibus class action lawsuit by December 2, 2009.

According to an earlier New Orleans Times-Picayune article, Knauf Plasterboard has agreed not to demand plaintiffs included in that lawsuit abide by international rules in serving legal papers. Under the agreement, the omnibus lawsuit must be filed by December 9. The Times-Picayune pointed out that the December 2 deadline for filing is a hard deadline; there will be no second chances and the omnibus complaint will not be amended at a later date to add more people. Claimants will also face a second deadline–December 14–by which time they must have filled out a profile form.

It seems that the gypsum in drywall, which typically comes from mines, has recently come from a chemical process involving lime or limestone and gas from coal-fired power plants. Contaminants and sulfur found in power plant smokestacks are supposed to be removed in the process. Failure of proper removal is the cause of foul odors, respiratory complaints, and corrosion, according to some Chinese experts in building supplies. Others say phosphogypsum (calcium sulfate), a radioactive phosphorus substance, is to blame. Banned for use in U.S. construction in 1989, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says prolonged exposure to this radium-contained element can lead to a higher risk of lung cancer.

To be eligible for the lawsuit, claimants must submit pictures or other proof that they have wallboard made by Knauf Plasterboard in their homes. Any Chinese drywall homeowner interested in becoming a party to this lawsuit must start now by contacting an attorney and arranging to have their home inspected.

Parker Waichman LLP, the first law firm to file a federal Chinese drywall lawsuit, is offering assistance to any homeowner interested in joining the Knauf Plasterboard lawsuit. Free consultations are available through the firm’s website at www.yourlawyer.com, or by calling 1-800-LAW-INFO (1-800-529-4636).

Previously, Knauf Plasterboard required that service of process of any lawsuit be made through the Hague Convention, which sets forth the method for the service of process abroad. This had been a major obstacle to many Chinese drywall plaintiffs because The Hague Convention for the Service of Process Abroad requires claimants to pay approximately $15,000 per lawsuit, which allows for the translation of legal documents into Chinese and to have them presented to the appropriate authorities in China to obtain service on the Chinese drywall manufacturers.

An attorney representing Knauf Plasterboard told the Times-Picayune that the firm decided to waive the international rules in order to get a handle on the scope of the Chinese drywall claims it is facing. The company also hopes its action will spur other drywall manufacturers to take similar steps.
Federal litigation involving defective drywall products has been consolidated in the multidistrict litigation, MDL 2047, pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, before Judge Eldon E. Fallon. The offer applies to the consolidated federal litigation, not individual cases.

Experts from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and others, will be in attendance at the Tampa Symposium to discuss drywall research and possible remedies, said the Miami Herald.

Chinese Drywall Victims Could Get Help from Senate Bill Targeting Foreign Manufacturers

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Chinese drywall debacle has prompted some U.S. Senators to introduce legislation that would make it easier for American consumers to sue foreign manufacturers. According to The Palm Beach Post, the bill - known as the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2009 - was sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and co-sponsored by Sens. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill.

The Consumer Products Safety Commission has received 810 Chinese drywall complaints from 23 states since last December, with most coming from Florida (621). The state with the second highest count is Louisiana (105). Others have come from consumers in Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia. However, it is likely that far more homes are affected. According to The Wall Street Journal, some 500 million pounds of Chinese drywall was imported to the U.S. during the housing boom. That means as many as 100,000 homes throughout the country could have been built with the material.

According to The Palm Beach Post, the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act was prompted by a Senate hearing last May where the difficulties of holding overseas manufacturers accountable for defective products was discussed. At the hearing, one builder told Senators how he had spent months and thousands of dollars trying meet all the stipulations under the Hague Convention, but was never able to serve notice of a lawsuit to overseas manufacturers of Chinese drywall. The Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2009 would eliminate those hurdles, ensuring that Americans can serve necessary legal papers on foreign manufacturers and that those companies do not evade the jurisdiction of American courts.

"American consumers ought to know that they have legal protections from harmful products on store shelves - regardless of where that product was made. Loopholes in current law allow many foreign manufacturers to escape accountability when their products injure Americans." Sen. Durbin said in a statement. "This bill will close those loopholes and ensure that all companies will be held to account for defective or harmful products."

According to The Palm Beach Post, the bill has several provisions that would reduce red tape for consumers wishing to sue foreign manufacturers. These include:

A manufacturer who imports products into the United States would have to have a business representative in at least one state where it does business who could be served on any claims.
Foreign manufacturers would agree to be held accountable by U.S. courts if sued.

The bill is supported by the Consumers Union, the American Association for Justice and the Consumer Federation of America, The Palm Beach Post said.

Got Injured Due to Construction Defects? Our Construction Attorneys / Lawyers will help you through Construction Defect Litigation.

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Construction Defect Injuries Lawsuit Lawyer

While the vast majority of contractors and building product manufacturers are reputable and produce high-quality products, mistakes in the workmanship and manufacturing process are, unfortunately, a fact of life. These construction defects can put you, your family and your business at great risk, which makes it vital that anyone experiencing this type of problem consult a reputable construction defects attorney.

At Parker Waichman LLP, our construction attorneys have handled a wide range of construction defect litigation, including cases involving faulty manufacturing processes with Chinese drywall to cases involving contractors who didn't deliver what they promised to clients. Our construction lawyers are fully aware of the latest building codes and manufacturing processes and will do everything possible to bring your case to conclusion in the quickest time possible.

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As anyone who's experiencing this issue knows that construction defects cost you not only time, but money. This makes it imperative that you deal with attorneys who can handle your case accurately and efficiently. We invite you to fill out our intake form to give us more details on your case and promise we'll follow up quickly to schedule a free, no obligation consultation on your case.