The warning shot came in a federal court in Louisiana, and it may signal the beginning of the end of one more costly aspect of the homebuilding boom of 2004-2007. Federal Judge Eldon Fallon in New Orleans ordered Taishan Gypsum Co. Ltd. to pay seven Virginia families a total of $2.6 million to remediate defective Chinese-made drywall in their homes. The case is the first of several class-action lawsuits filed against manufacturers of material that has proven to be a veritable nightmare—and source of odors—for thousands of home-owners.
The case is considered a bellwether for the other suits against the manufacturers of defective Chinese drywall because the same court is hearing all the cases.
“The message Judge Fallon’s ruling sends to thousands of other homeowners who have been victimized is that help is finally coming—they will be made whole after the ravages of inferior Chinese drywall and will not have to bear the substantial costs of repairing their homes to get rid of it,” says Christopher Seeger, a New York lawyer who represented the Virginia homeowners in the Taishan case.
A ruling is expected in the coming weeks in the second case, in which Florida homeowners sued German-owned Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin.
The $2.6-million award is welcome news not just for the Taishan-case homeowners, who typically couldn’t collect under their insurance policies, but for builders who want to get involved in remediation efforts but who have not been able to obtain financing to pay for it. As a result, some builders have had to leave the material in place.
“Looking at the U.S. economy, this could not have happened at a worse time,” says Jenna Hamilton, assistant vice president of government affairs at the National Association of Home Builders. “Builders simply don’t have cash on hand.”
但是，行业消息人士认为，对于为房屋和公寓进行拆除或专业贸易工作的公司而言，大量的补救机会仍然领先。根据美国消费者产品安全委员会（CPSC）的数据，华盛顿特区37个州的居民，美国萨摩亚和波多黎各的居民已提交了大约3,000份房屋中有缺陷的石膏墙的报告。大部分是在2005年至2007年之间在美国东南部的主要飓风之后的新建筑浪潮中安装的，其中大多数案件集中在佛罗里达，弗吉尼亚州和路易斯安那州。
“大多数问题将发生在他们带来[有缺陷的干墙]的港口附近，”威尔明顿一家办公室的索赔顾问Ron E. Wright说，Buric的建筑诊断专家兼首席运营官Ron E. Wright说。北卡罗来纳州赖特（N.C. Wright）在Taishan案中作为专家证人作证。
NAHB的汉密尔顿说，许多房屋建筑商一直在等待CPSC明确的指导，如何用问题干墙为房屋补救。CPSC最近给了他们一些工作，并于4月2日发布了临时指南作为烟雾报警和碳氧化碳警报。该指南不会解决空气处理HVAC系统或泄漏或腐蚀...
