Family awarded damages for Chinese-made drywall

NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge yesterday awarded more than $164,000 to a Louisiana family whose home was ruined by Chinese-made drywall and said the tainted material must be removed.

U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon’s latest ruling comes less than a month after he awarded $2.6 million to seven Virginia families. His earlier decision was the first of its kind for a batch of federal lawsuits over drywall-tainted homes.

Fallon, who presided over a trial without a jury, ruled that the Hernandez family’s home needs to gutted. He also agreed with the family’s lawyers that all electrical wiring, plumbing components, the heating and air conditioning system and appliances have to be removed and replaced at the expense of drywall manufacturer Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co.

The family was seeking more than $200,000 to fix their home, but plaintiffs’ attorney Steve Herman said they were still pleased.

“I think Judge Fallon’s ruling is a very good indication that people who have Chinese drywall will receive the remediation they’re entitled to,” Herman said.

Knauf had argued that the family’s home can be repaired for less than $59,000.

Knauf attorney Don Hayden said the company may appeal the judge’s ruling because the scientific evidence showed a home with the material could be repaired at a more reasonable cost than what was awarded.

Hayden noted that guidelines issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission didn’t call for completely gutting homes.

He said in a statement that the company was prepared to work with homeowners to repair the problem.

Fallon’s award to the Hernandez family includes $136,940 for fixing the home and $5,357 for replacing personal property.

“The award he gave is going to be more than sufficient to remedy the Hernandez home,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Christopher Seeger.

Knauf had participated in this trial. Taishan Gypsum Co., the company named as a defendant in the Virginia families’ trial, did not participate and has not responded to lawsuits.

Fallon’s rulings only have covered property damage and haven’t considered possible health problems. The first cases with medical claims won’t be considered by the court until late 2010 or early 2011.

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2 Responses to “Family awarded damages for Chinese-made drywall”

1. Sherry Reid Says:
   April 28th, 2010 at 11:38 am

   Applause for American homeowners…we should never have been exposed or been presented with Chinese dry wall in the first place….I understand that the states ran out of dry wall due to the Hurricanes in the gulf damaging so many homes. But we should have been able to search somewhere like Canada or even our northern states for american made drywall…..geez……Everything the chinese manufacture..including the clothing you buy in walmart is inferior….the clothes are made for short armmed shorter people ….like the chinese, vietnamese and taiwaneese people
   When will our government learn not to outsource our manufacturing jobs to foreign plants…taking jobs away from americans who want and need the work!!! Really???

2. brenda crumbley Says:
   April 28th, 2010 at 1:55 pm

   WAKE UP AMERICA STOP BUYING THINGS FROM CHINA THEY ARE KILLING US HOW MANY FAULTY ITEMS HAVE BEEN SENT TO AMERICA AND WE CONTINUE TO BUY FROM THEM AT WHOSE EXPENSE???????????????????????????? I READ LABELS IF IT IS CHINA MADE I DON’T BUY IT I WILL DO WITHOUT FIRST IF IT MEANS STAYING COMPLETELY OUT OF WALMART THEN I WILL WHEN MR WALTON DIED WALMART WHEN TO HELL IN A HAND BASKET READ HIS BOOK WALMART AND MANY MORE STORES HAVE SOLD US OUT FOR CHEAP LABOR GOD HELP US ALL