Insurance Dispute Lawyer Blog

A quick news bit that emerged yesterday regarding the current pre-trial matters being conducted in New Orleans regarding Chinese drywall and liability is worth a read. U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon denied a motion to shift the discovery for litigation involving the faulty wallboard to the international supervision of the Hague.

Rebecca Mowbray of the Times-Picayune reports

U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon denied a motion Thursday by the German company Knauf Gips to conduct discovery in the Chinese drywall litigation under the rules of international litigation in the Hague.

With the market bottomed out on homes with Chinese drywall, some have chosen to invest in the faulty homes hoping to turn a profit. While most homeowners are running from these dwellings built with faulty wallboard, certain investors believe something salvageable remains and are taking the risk while buying homes at 40% (or below) their market value. Approximately 30 homes disclosed to have Chinese drywall have sold in Naples alone.

The Naples News reports

William Floyd, who owns a property management company in Fort Myers, bought one drywall home in Cape Coral after vetting it for building components he thought would make the home salvageable.

The New York Times last week published an interesting piece outlining the Chinese drywall problem and the angles in which it stands as important. What more, the NYT article focuses on the health ailments emerging from those who live in the homes. Profiling one homeowner that fits the profile of many homeowners facing the toxic wallboard plight, the piece, two pages, is a solid read for people who know little, or even know a lot, about the Chinese drywall matter.

“My house is not worth the land it’s built on,” said Mr. Morgan, who could not maintain the mortgage payments on his $383,000 home in a Williamsburg subdivision called Wellington Estates and the costs of a rental property where his family decamped.

Mr. Morgan, like many other American homebuyers who tell similar tales of woe, is blaming the drywall in his new home — specifically, drywall from China, imported during the housing boom to meet heavy demand — that he says is contaminated with various sulfur compounds.

In an effort to shore up support for those who have Chinese drywall in their homes, senators from several states have called for FEMA assistance to be offered to those with the toxic wallboard installed. FEMA, an acronym for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was a bit part of the recovery effort carried out in New Orleans and responds to disasters nationwide.

The involvement of FEMA in the matter would be a huge step towards opening up funding to remove and replace Chinese drywall in homes where the owners might not have enough funds to take action. What’s more, it would be a compelling acknowledgment of the problems the wallboard causes by the government and could prove to be an important step towards changing the situation.

The Chinese drywall crisis has prompted a group of U.S. Senators to call on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help homeowners. The group wants FEMA to provide rental assistance to people who have had to leave their homes because of tainted Chinese drywall.

A couple weeks ago the Louisiana Recovery Authority set aside $5 million dollars for assistance to residents who are suffering through Chinese drywall in their homes. This is an important step in the right direction towards the removal and replacement of the toxic wallboard. The Times-Picayune reports

LRA Executive Director Paul Rainwater said the authority’s staff will now design a program and make it available for public comment. The details of the application process, eligibility requirements and how the program would work are all still being developed, he said.

“You’re not even in the batter’s box, you’re still in the dugout talking about this thing,” Rainwater said in describing the status of the program’s implementation.

A couple weeks ago the Louisiana Recovery Authority set aside $5 million dollars for assistance to residents who are suffering through Chinese drywall in their homes. This is an important step in the right direction towards the removal and replacement of the toxic wallboard. The Times-Picayune reports

LRA Executive Director Paul Rainwater said the authority’s staff will now design a program and make it available for public comment. The details of the application process, eligibility requirements and how the program would work are all still being developed, he said.

“You’re not even in the batter’s box, you’re still in the dugout talking about this thing,” Rainwater said in describing the status of the program’s implementation.

The Bradenton Herald recently ran a piece that outlines just how complex the worries homeowners with Chinese drywall have when looking towards the future. While the health effects of the toxic wallboard are not fully understood, and the money to fix the problematic homes is often not yet available, still other troubles may loom. With the great risk of claims emerging from the faulty homes, insurance companies still might bail when policy holders need them the most.

The Herald reports

Aside from health concerns and displacing homeowners, toxic drywall can cause roadblocks in homeowners’ insurance policies. In most cases, insurance companies are likely to reject claims over Chinese drywall and, in some circumstances, insurers will not renew policies.