OBAMA: "We Can't Nuke The CommieChinks, So We'll Drop A DRYWALL BOMB On 'Em."
Youwang Wang
lawsuit ... it's quite another to COLLECT!
As we Yellah-Horders say, "Rots o' ruck!"
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The Miami Herald
Posted on Fri, Apr. 09, 2010
"Drywall victims win suit"
BY NIRVI SHAH
A FEDERAL JUDGE in Louisiana has ruled that a Chinese drywall
manufacturer must pay seven Virginia families about $2.6 million in
damages because the company's product corroded metals in their homes,
caused a sulfuric stench and led to breathing problems.
Thursday's ruling could pave the way for similar rulings for thousands
of cases -- many involving Florida homeowners -- now before the same
judge.
It was the first federal ruling for damages in a drywall case.
Thousands of homeowners nationwide, most of whom live in Florida and
Louisiana, have filed complaints about situations similar to those in
Virginia. Many of the lawsuits against drywall manufacturers have been
filed in federal court and all of the cases were consolidated in
Louisiana. U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon also issued rules about
how homes with the toxic product must be repaired.
The manufacturer named in this suit, Taishan Gypsum Co., has not
responded to U.S. court proceedings, however.
``This is a legal determination of who's at fault in the drywall
mess,'' said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who helped start an
investigation of imported drywall. ``Now homeowners have somebody to
put in their sights. Meantime, I'm going to keep pushing our
government hard to step up the pressure on the Chinese to get the
companies over there to pay up.''
Fallon said in his ruling that Taishan asked the American company that
ordered the drywall to remove a clause from its contract requiring
that it meet American standards for the product.
The ruling also included guidelines on what must be done to fix a home
built with problem wallboard.
The judge ruled that all of the drywall from these homes, even if some
of it was not manufactured in China, along with electrical components,
sprinklers and gas lines, air conditioners, carpeting, wood flooring,
cabinets, countertops, moldings, bathroom fixtures and insulation,
among other items, must be replaced.
Homes would have to be aired out for up to a month, cleaned with HEPA
vacuum or power washed. And families are entitled to payment for the
four to six months they have to leave their houses while repairs are
made, the ruling said.
His recommendations are similar to those issued by the Consumer
Product Safety Commission and Department of Housing and Urban
Development last week but go a bit further.
``While the ruling is not binding on anyone other than the parties to
the Germano case, it is certainly persuasive to other judges and
presumably Judge Fallon will rule similarly in other cases,'' said
Allison Grant, a Boca Raton attorney representing many affected
homeowners.
[Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/09/v-print/1570260/drywall-victims-win-suit.html#ixzz0khswzocS]