The Daily Herald points out that millions of gypsum sheets imported to the United States during the housing boom appear to have been contaminated with an array of sulfur compounds. 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.

Many hundreds of lawsuits and complaints have been filed and many hundreds more are expected.

We have been writing about a time-sensitive, one-time offer made by Knauf Plasterboard (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. that is expected to do much to streamline the process for suing the major drywall manufacturer. 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 to 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.

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 Alonso 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.

• Elemental and chemical testing revealed the presence of elemental sulfur in Chinese but not in non-Chinese drywall, and it also shows higher concentrations of strontium in Chinese drywall than in non-Chinese drywall. Testing conducted over the summer by federal and state agency radiation laboratories found no radiation safety risk to families in homes built with manufactured drywall. According to the press statement, the strontium found in this drywall does not pose a radiological risk.
• Chamber studies conducted by nationally-respected Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL) show that Chinese drywall emits volatile sulfur compounds at a higher rate than the U.S. made drywall. More tests and analyses are underway at LBL to determine the specific chemical compounds that are being emitted, the CPSC said.
• Indoor air studies of 10 homes in Florida and Louisiana found that sulfur gases were either not present or were present in only limited or occasional concentrations inside the homes, and only when outdoor levels of sulfur compounds in the air were elevated.  The indoor air study did lead to a preliminary finding of detectable concentrations of two known irritant compounds, called acetaldehyde and formaldehyde. These irritant compounds were detected in homes both with and without Chinese drywall, and at concentrations that could worsen conditions such as asthma in sensitive populations, when air conditioners were not working or turned off.

Unfair Chinese Drywall Remediation Agreements/Releases

If you have Chinese drywall in your home, beware of any agreements or releases your builder wants you to sign!   Our Chinese drywall lawyers have recently learned that some unscrupulous builders are attempting to coerce homeowners into signing away all of their legal rights in return for vague promises that the builder will remediate their homes.   In many cases, the repairs done under such remediation agreements are far from adequate.

These unfair agreements benefit only the builder.  By performing what in many cases turns out to be a shoddy remediation, the builder is released from all other legal responsibilities.  These agreements are also written in way that makes it very difficult for a homeowner to find recourse if they are unhappy with the builder's remediation efforts.

We urge you to contact us right away if your builder has approached you with any type of remediation agreement or release, or if you are unhappy with a remediation agreement that you have signed.  There are legal options available to you.  Our Chinese drywall lawyers will not allow unethical builders to victimize you further.

Coercive Tactics Used by Builders

Our Chinese drywall lawyers have recently been contacted by homeowners who were strong-armed into signing one-sided remediation agreements with their builders.  These homeowners have told us that they were continually contacted by their builders - to the point of harassment - about signing these agreements and releases.  In many cases, the builders continued to contact an individual even though the homeowner had retained a lawyer, and requested that contact stop.

To convince homeowners to forfeit their legal rights, builders are outright lying to their customers.  For example, builders are asserting that a homeowner's only legal remedy is to sign one of these agreements, and allow the builder to repair the home.  This is simply not true.

Many homeowners have told us that they didn't really understand the full implications of what they were signing.  Builders are  making a lot of empty promises and other oral representations about the scope and nature of the remediation that are simply not reflected in written agreements homeowners have signed.  Naive homeowners, anxious to have their homes made livable, are relying on verbal promises made by builders that basically mean nothing.  In most cases, builders are refusing to do any type of remediation on Chinese drywall homes unless homeowners agree to their terms.

Chinese Drywall Homeowners Forced to Surrender Legal Rights

Builders are desperate to force these agreements on homeowners for one reason only - they want to limit their own Chinese drywall liability.  These agreements require that homeowners release their builder from all current and future liability relating to Chinese drywall.

These agreements also assign all of the homeowner’s rights to sue other responsible parties – such as drywall manufacturers – to the builder.  That means that if you sign one of these releases, your builder would be entitled to collect any compensation that results from damages you and your family suffered.

Under most of these agreements, homeowners will not be compensated for their losses including damage to personal property, reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses, diminution in market value, inability to refinance, detriment to credit resulting from default and/or foreclosure, and loss of enjoyment. And while homeowners are paid a per diem to cover the cost of alternative housing while work is being done, they are not reimbursed for any mortgage payments, utilities, taxes, insurance and/or Home Owners Association fees, or other expenses that accrue during that time.

Shoddy Repairs

For giving up all of their legal rights, homeowners seem to be getting very little in return.  Unfortunately, the “Scope of Work” in these agreements, if it exists at all, is vague and ambiguous and does not provide for an adequate remediation.

In many cases, builders are reinstalling the same cabinetry, plumbing components and electrical fixtures that were already subjected to the toxic fumes emitted from Chinese drywall. When builders do bother to replace materials and appliances, they are often cheaper, and of inferior quality.

Homeowners also tell us that builders have hired unlicensed and/or unqualified contractors to perform the remediation work since they are the lowest bidders. Many builders are taking an unreasonable amount of time to begin and complete the remediation. 

When all is said and done, this shoddy work is usually backed up by only a 1 year Limited Warranty. The warranty is not transferable or assignable to subsequent purchasers and will leave the homeowner without a remedy after the expiration of the 1 year period.

Legal Help for Victims of Unfair Chinese Drywall Remediation Agreements/Releases

It is unconscionable that unscrupulous builders are taking advantage of anyone's desperation to remedy the Chinese drywall problem in their home.    Our Chinese drywall lawyers will do everything legally possible to make sure these homeowners' rights are restored and protected.

Our Chinese drywall lawyers are currently offering free consultations to any homeowner who was coerced by a builder to sign a one-sided, unfair release or agreement to have their home repaired.  Please fill out our online form, or call 1-800 LAW INFO (1-800-529-4636) to discuss your case with one of our Chinese drywall lawyers right away.

It seems Beazer’s mortgage unit inappropriately had buyers pay discount points and did not reduce interest rates when processing federally insured loans, said the Justice Department, according to Bloomberg.com. The Justice Department also stated that Beazer allegedly gave cash gifts to potential homebuyers that were funneled through charities and which better enabled those buyers to meet down payment requirements while also neglecting income requirements, reported Bloomberg.com.

According to the Justice Department, said Bloomberg.com, unqualified homebuyers were able to obtain federally insured mortgages with inflated interest. Because of this, some mortgages defaulted causing the Federal Housing Administration to be “wrongfully required to pay inflated claims” as well as to cover property management and marketing costs. “Mortgage fraud is a top priority for this administration, especially when public dollars are at stake,” Assistant Attorney General Tony West, who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement, quoted Bloomberg.com. “We will aggressively pursue fraud on federal mortgage insurance programs.”

The Justice Department said Beazer is paying $5 million to the government and is creating a $48 million contingency fund for additional restitution, said Bloomberg.com, adding that the Department will hold off on prosecution if Beazer honors the settlement.

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sued Michael Rand, Beazer’s former chief accounting officer over allegations he “fraudulently managed earnings to meet analysts’ expectations and mislead auditors to conceal the activity,” according to Bloomberg.com. Beazer left the mortgage business in 2008.

This May, Beazer agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle an investigation by North Carolina of its home-loan unit in which it was accused of fraudulently selling discount points to borrowers. Also in May, Beazer allegedly agreed to pay $30.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over claims it deceived “shareholders about mortgage-lending practices,” said Bloomberg.

We wrote in April that Beazer said houses it built "may have" Chinese drywall.  At that time, Beazer was preparing to test homes in its Magnolia Lakes at Gateway community in Fort Meyers. Beazer builds in more than 40 markets in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, West, and Central United States, news-press.com said previously. According to news-press.com, Beazer's investigation was prompted by complaints from some Magnolia Lakes homeowners.  The letter said once the complaints were made, Beazer began working with experts hired by the company, and with state.

Chinese drywall has been causing problems in newer homes across the country. The material reportedly emits sulfur fumes that fill homes with a “rotten eggs” odor. The fumes from the drywall have also been linked to corroding metals in many of the homes, and people living with the material have reported sinus and respiratory problems. Many residents have had to leave their homes because the Chinese drywall has made them unlivable, and some builders are scrambling to gut homes and replace the drywall.

Keywords: Drywall Small Rotten Eggs Sulfer Sulfur Chinese Lawyer Lawsuit

The lawyers / attorneys at our firm are offering free consultations to residents of Florida and other states whose homes have been ruined by defective Chinese drywall.  Owners of new homes - mostly in South Florida, but some in Virginia as well - have been complaining of drywall that smells like rotten eggs. Reports indicate that the drywall emits a sulfur compound that corrodes wiring, air conditioning coils and other metals, and may cause health problems from chronic exposure.  It has been determined that the drywall responsible for these problems was imported from China.

 
Our Chinese drywall lawyers are actively investigating these complaints, and we have seen how devastating the  problems caused by defective Chinese drywall can be. Many people have been driven from their homes by the putrid smell. First and foremost, there are concerns that the fumes being emitted by the Chinese drywall could cause respiratory and other health problems. 

 
Many Chinese drywall victims have spent thousands to repair or replace wiring, air conditioning units and other systems destroyed by the fumes.  Many are also concerned that the drywall issues will affect the value of their houses, as well as their ability to sell.  This is especially true in Florida, where home values have already been decimated by the recent real estate collapse.

 
Our firm will work hard to make sure the builders, suppliers and manufacturers responsible for this defective Chinese drywall are held accountable.  If you have experienced foul odors in your home, corroding air conditioning coils and wiring, or any other problem related to Chinese drywall, you may be entitled to compensation.  Please call our Chinese drywall lawyers right away to protect your legal rights. 

LATEST UPDATE:

 
Chinese Drywall Problems

Drywall is the board used to make interior walls. Usually, it is manufactured in the United States, but a shortage between 2004 and 2006 prompted many builders to buy drywall from China.  Our firm's investigation has confirmed that most of the reported problems stem from drywall imported from China during Florida’s construction boom years of 2004-2005.  One official with a large building supply company recently told a Florida newspaper that more than 10-million square feet of the Chinese drywall was imported to southwest Florida during that time.

 
In some Florida developments, the drywall issue emerged after months of failures in heating and cooling systems.  Air-conditioning evaporator coils, which are supposed to last a decade or more, are corroding and failing in homes only a couple of years old. Pipes and wiring may also be deteriorating because of the Chinese drywall fumes.

 
Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. Ltd. of China, a  subsidiary of German-based manufacturer Knauf, is the company at the center of Florida’s drywall problems.  Reports have indicated that some of the drywall may have been kept on barges at sea for months awaiting permission for importation to the United States.  There is speculation that the humidity the material was exposed to while at sea may have something to do with the drywall's fume problems.

 
Knauf has issued a statement insisting that the sulfur-like smell coming out of its drywall poses no dangers.  The company maintains  that the damage done to air conditioning and electrical wiring is the result of drywall made by some other company - though it has been unable to name which one. Knauf has also insisted that the drywall problems are confined to Florida, but  our firm has become aware of similar reports coming out of Virginia Beach, Virginia.

 
Many of the Florida homes that are the subject of Chinese drywall complaints were built by Lennar Corp., the nation’s second-largest builder by volume.  According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Lennar is testing, and continues to test, a dozen of its Florida developments and has shared results with the state health department.  The company has relocated several families in order to rip out and replace the drywall in their homes.

 
Our firm is actively working to uncover what other companies, builders and suppliers might share responsibility for the Chinese drywall problem.  If you are experiencing similar problems with you home, or have other information about other parties that may have had a hand in this disaster, our Chinese drywall lawyers want to hear from you.

 
Chinese Drywall Health Problems

There are concerns that the horrible smell coming from Chinese drywall is an indication that the material is emitting toxins that could be dangerous to the health of residents.  According to a report on Environmental Expert.com, the drywall is made from gypsum, a natural material.  The problems appear to be related to the presence of iron disulfide (FeS2 pyrite). Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), carbonyl sulfide, sulfur dioxide (SO2), and carbon isulfide (CS2) are also suspected as culprits, the Web site said.

Health officials are still trying to determine what  health problems these fumes might cause.  A toxicologist for the state of Florida recently told one newspaper that the odor causes people to experience mild and moderate respiratory irritation that clears up when they leave the homes.  Other residents have reported that they are experiencing headaches that also go away when they leave their houses. Other symptoms being reported included irritated eyes, coughing, sneezing, difficulty breathing, and symptoms similar to bronchitis and asthma.

Especially worrisome is the possibility that the Chinese drywall is emitting hydrogen sulfide fumes.  Exposure to 50 parts per million of hydrogen sulfide for more than ten minutes can cause extreme irritation. Inhalation of 500 to 1,000 parts per million can cause unconsciousness and death through respiratory paralysis and asphyxiation, according to environmental experts.

Health officials are most concerned that the Chinese drywall fumes could be especially dangerous  for sensitive populations.  These include the very young and the elderly.  People with asthma and chemical sensitivities would be at greatest risk.  These worries have caused many people to flee their homes in an effort to preserve their health.

Chinese Drywall In Canada

Canadian homeowners in British Columbia's Lower Mainland have also complained of problems with Chinese drywall.  In May 2009, various Canadian media outlets reported that about a dozen homeowners in Metro Vancouver had experienced health problems caused by the drywall.  The complaints were reportedly coming from Surrey, Richmond, Burnaby and West Vancouver.

Published estimates said as much as 929,000 square meters of Chinese drywall arrived in Canada through Vancouver between 2001 and 2007.  In addition to lower British Columbia, some Chinese drywall may have been shipped to Canada's Prairie Provinces and as far east as Toronto.

Legal Help for Victims of Chinese Drywall

If you or someone you know is experiencing foul odors in your home, frequent problems with air conditioning and other systems, or any of the health problems linked to Chinese drywall, you have valuable legal rights.  Please fill out our online form, or call 1-800 LAW INFO (1-800-529-4636) to discuss your case with one of the Chinese drywall lawyers at our firm.