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Class-action Lawsuit Starts Vs Drywall Manufacturer

December 11, 2009

New Orleans - A Chinese company was charged Wednesday with class-action lawsuit for selling drywall which was believed to have caused serious respiratory illnesses among thousands of homeowners and corrode household appliances, wires, and metal plumbing.

According to the 591-page suit filed before the US District Court in New Orleans, more than 2,100 homeowners are seeking monetary damages against Knauf Plasterboard Tainjin Co. Ltd., one of the manufacturers of drywall that emits sulfurous gases that corrode metals and cause several health problems.

Lawyer Russ Herman, who represents the complainants, said the class-action lawsuit “aims to determine how much the company will have to pay for each affected consumer to cover the damages.” However, Herman said that more than 600 affected homeowners were not included in the suit for failing to sign their names before Friday, the deadline imposed by the court.

Meanwhile, the lawyer said he will include those who failed to meet the deadline to his next legal action against the company.

After Hurricane Katrina devastated thousands of homes in New Orleans and neighboring states in 2005, housing developers imported more than 7 million boards of drywall from China to construct new homes.

According to media reports, the number of imported drywall was enough to build at least 100,000 homes, prompting some analysts to believe that the 2,100 complaints are “just tip of the iceberg”.

Most of the complaints were from Louisiana and Florida, places which have a humid weather that encourages the drywall to emit gases. With this, experts believe that a huge number of homeowners living from places with cold or dry weather are not yet feeling the effects of the defective drywall.

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