WARNING: If your home was built or renovated between 2004 and 2007, it may contain a defective and dangerous product known as Chinese Drywall.

WHY IT’S DANGEROUS:
Chinese Drywall emits toxins that may pose serious health threats to homeowners, including respiratory problems, headaches, and nose bleeds. The toxins also corrode metal within a home causing severe damage to electronic equipment, wires, pipes and air conditioning systems.

According to an order issued last week, Arnold Levin was appointed to serve as Lead Counsel for the plaintiffs, Russ Herman was appointed as Plaintiffs’ Liaison Counsel and twelve other lawyers were appointed to serve on a Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee.

Thousands of homeowners have experienced problems with defective Chinese drywall that was used to build homes between 2004 and 2007. The drywall was imported from China as a result of a shortage of domestic drywall caused by a housing boom and rebuilding from several hurricanes.

The defective drywall contains sulfur compounds that can emit a “rotten egg” smell, corrode electrical appliances and wiring, and potentially cause health problems for residents. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that complaints have been received from homeowners in 21 states, with most of the complaints coming from Florida, Louisiana and Virginia.

Although individual plaintiffs will continue to be represented by the Chinese drywall lawyers they retained to handle their cases, the attorneys assigned to leadership roles will perform duties during discovery, hearings and meetings that are for the common benefit of all plaintiffs whose cases have been consolidated before Judge Fallon.

The aggressive schedule laid out by Judge Fallon for moving the cases toward trial calls for each side to select 10 cases to begin early discovery, which will later be narrowed down to five cases for trial. The first cases will deal with property damage claims only, because they can be resolved quicker than the Chinese drywall injury lawsuits.

While the litigation is ongoing, lawmakers have been trying to find relief for homeowners affected by the Chinese drywall problems. Last Tuesday, Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) sent a letter to President Brack Obama asking for the White House to mobilize federal resources and asking that the president create a federal Drywall Assistance Center where homeowners can find information on federal resources and the status of drywall investigations.

Nelson also specifically asked Obama to look into homeowner assistance grants and other grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and suggested that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could assist with relocation of homeowners affected by defective Chinese drywall.

http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/chinese-drywall-lawyers-appointed-to-leadership-in-mdl-5201/

The Harrells’ complaint alleges that defective drywall from China contained high amounts of sulfur, which caused breathing problems and headaches, corroded the coils of their air conditioner and filled their home with a chemical smell. The suit indicates that conditions caused by the defective drywall forced them to move out of their new home, which was built only three years ago.

Thousands of homes across the United States have experienced similar problems from Chinese drywall imported into the country between 2004 and 2007. The drywall was made with fly ash residue from the chimneys of coal-fired power plants, and has been found to contain high amounts of sulfur compounds. Some estimates suggest that the drywall may have been used to build as many as 300,000 homes throughout the country.

The high levels of sulfur in the drywall have been found to cause “rotten egg” smells and the gases emitted by the drywall corrode copper wiring and appliances, such as air conditioner units. There have also been concerns that the drywall is causing health problems such as headaches, breathing difficulties, insomnia and nosebleeds.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) ordered that all Chinese drywall lawsuits filed in federal courts throughout the country will be consolidated and centralized in the Eastern District of Louisiana for pretrial litigation. The cases will be handled in a coordinated manner to avoid duplicative discovery and inconsistent pretrial rulings. However, no case management order has been issued for the federal lawsuits and it is not anticipated that the first trial date will be scheduled before the end of next year.

While the Chinese drywall suits are proceeding through the court system, lawmakers are seeking several avenues for home owner relief. House and Senate Democrats are currently investigating whether Chinese drywall problems will qualify home owners for special tax deductions under casualty loss tax code laws, and Senators Bill Nelson and Mary Landrieu have called for a Chinese drywall recall.

http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/chinese-drywall-suit-scheduled-for-trial-4623/

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, which consolidates similar cases filed in different federal courts before a single judge, has assigned the case to U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon, the paper reported.

Attorneys in South Florida argued that Miami would be a better location, because a majority of Chinese drywall problems and lawsuits have occurred there. The problems first cropped up in southwest Florida’s Gulf Coast cities. The drywall was imported following hurricanes Katrina and Wilma in 2005, after the housing boom and rebuilding efforts created a material shortage among domestic suppliers.

http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2009/06/15/daily14.html

Published: April 11, 2009

PARKLAND – At the height of the U.S. housing boom, when building materials were in short supply, American construction companies used millions of pounds of Chinese-made drywall because it was abundant and cheap.

Now that decision is haunting hundreds of homeowners and apartment dwellers who are concerned that the wallboard gives off fumes that can corrode copper pipes, blacken jewelry and silverware, and possibly sicken people.

Shipping records reviewed by The Associated Press indicate that imports of potentially tainted Chinese building materials exceeded 500 million pounds during a four-year period of soaring home prices. The drywall may have been used in more than 100,000 homes, according to some estimates, including houses rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina.

“This is a traumatic problem of extraordinary proportions,” said U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, a Florida Democrat who introduced a bill in the House calling for a temporary ban on the Chinese-made imports until more is known about their chemical makeup. Similar legislation has been proposed in the Senate.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/apr/11/chinese-drywall-poses-risks-florida-homeowners/news-breaking/