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Pending Settlements
Category : Chinese Drywall
Lauderhill home first in nation to get drywall fix as part of pilot program
Her home is the first of an estimated 300 to be repaired in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana as part of a pilot program announced last year by Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin, one of the largest makers of Chinese drywall.
About 30 of the homes scheduled for repairs are in Broward and Palm Beach counties. More are expected to be added shortly as the program expands.
Did Lowe’s Sell Chinese Drywall?
Despite Lowe’s assurances that it sold only American drywall, the proposed settlement in that case has touched a nerve with attorneys in the multi-district litigation in New Orleans federal court, which is focused strictly on Chinese drywall. The case involves thousands of homeowners, builders and suppliers.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys involved in the federal case asked U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon to block the original Lowe’s settlement, arguing that it “interferes with and erodes” the federal litigation and Fallon’s authority to deal with the wide scope of the drywall problem. Fallon has scheduled a hearing on the matter for next week.
Russ Herman, lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the federal case, told ProPublica and the Herald-Tribune his clients will oppose the Lowe’s agreement as long as it appears to include Chinese drywall.
“There’s one way to cure this situation: Just take the word ‘Chinese’ drywall out of that settlement,” Herman said. “If Lowe’s is going to contend under oath that they sold no Chinese drywall, then there’s no reason they should be forcing Chinese drywall homeowners to release their claims against the company.”
Herman said his clients aren’t convinced that Lowe’s didn’t sell Chinese drywall. He said his team of attorneys is investigating whether Lowe’s bought drywall from Interior-Exterior Building Supply, one of the Louisiana-based suppliers at the center of the Chinese drywall case.
“As far as I’m concerned, either they (Lowe’s) are telling the truth or they’re not. If they’re telling the truth, then eliminate Chinese drywall from your settlement,” Herman said.
Chinese Drywall Maker, Others to Fix 300 Homes
From the Associated Press:
A Chinese drywall manufacturer facing thousands of homeowners’ court claims and several other companies have agreed to pay to repair 300 homes in four states in a pilot program, an attorney involved in the deal said Wednesday.
Homeowners in Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi whose homes had drywall manufactured by Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. will be eligible to participate in the program and get their homes fixed, said Richard Duplantier Jr., an attorney for a Louisiana-based drywall supplier.
Duplantier said his client, Interior Exterior Building Supply, and several other homebuilders and insurance companies will help pay for the repairs.
…
The pilot program could pave the way for a larger settlement of more than 3,000 claims against Knauf.
Seeger Weiss negotiates a breakthrough settlement in Chinese Drywall Litigation
Seeger Weiss LLP announces that founding member Christopher A. Seeger, as a part of a negotiating team that included Lead Counsel Arnold Levin of Levin Fishbein Sedran & Berman, and Liaison Counsel Russ M. Herman of Herman, Herman, Katz & Cotlar, LLP, has obtained a breakthrough settlement to remediate homes affected by Chinese drywall. The agreement was reached with several key defendants including Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin (KPT), builders, drywall suppliers and their insurers including Interior/Exterior Building Supply, Banner Supply Co., the Louisiana Homebuilders Indemnity Trust, QBE Insurance Group, Chartis and State Farm Insurance, and other Knauf entities. Knauf in partnership with builders, suppliers and insurers, will fund a demonstration remediation program, which will facilitate the removal of KPT drywall from up to 300 homes in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida. If successful, it is expected that this pilot program will be expanded to remediate thousands of homes with KPT drywall.
Learn more by reading our press release, or visiting our Chinese Drywall Legal Resource Center.
Scope widens in Chinese drywall case
Drywall produced by Knauf Tianjin Plasterboard Co. Ltd. — one of the problematic manufacturers identified so far — made it to the inland town of Sebring, about 90 miles east of Sarasota in Highlands County, the Herald-Tribune has confirmed.
Meanwhile, a national consumer advocacy group is claiming that the scope is much broader. The Washington, D.C.-based America’s Watchdog, which is partnering with high-powered attorneys across the country, says that its own investigation has found defective Chinese drywall in Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North and South Carolina, Virginia and Texas.
“We think this could literally turn out to be the worst case of sick houses in U.S. history,” said Thomas Martin, the organization’s president.
Seeger Weiss LLP recently filed a new Chinese drywall case in Bergen County, NJ. For more information on Chinese drywall, visit our Legal Resource Center.
First Chinese Drywall Trial
The first trial against manufacturers of toxic, Chinese-manufactured drywall begins in New Orleans this week, coming before Judge Eldon Fallon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Founding partner Christopher A. Seeger was named to the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee (PSC) in the Chinese-Manufactured Drywall Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2047) by Judge Fallon in September.
Louisiana sues companies over tainted Chinese drywall
AP via Miami Herald: Louisiana’s attorney general on Wednesday sued building supply manufacturers and developers over imported Chinese drywall that homeowners claim has damaged their homes and made them sick.
Attorney General James D. “Buddy” Caldwell said he filed a lawsuit in state court on Wednesday to help state and local governments recoup the cost of dealing with contaminated drywall. The suit names a slew of companies – from Chinese drywall manufacturers to home developers – as defendants.
AmLaw Litigation Daily: Insurance companies new target of Chinese drywall lawsuits
AmLaw Litigation Daily: On December 23, a trust for the Carl Icahn-controlled Florida homebuilder WCI Communities filed a 14-page complaint in New Orleans federal district court–home of the Chinese drywall MDL–against 14 insurance companies. The suit seeks to compel the insurers to pony up coverage for more than $200 million in settlements in the drywall litigation.
Florida couple’s Chinese drywall case heads to court
Miami Herald: One of the first lawsuits filed over faulty Chinese drywall is headed to trial in federal court.
Melissa and Jason Harrell of Homestead, Florida filed a lawsuit against South Kendall Construction, Palm Holdings, Keys Gate Realty and Banner Supply in March 2009.
Chinese-Manufactured Drywall News Roundup
Media coverage of Chinese-manufactured drywall has really heated up in the past few days. It’s no surprise that the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Miami Herald have been on this story for months, but since the New York Times’s article yesterday, which shot up into the top 10 most emailed news items for several hours, the word has spread farther than the affected states:
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