Insurance Dispute Lawyer Blog

Coming out of the news last week are reports that the special fund set aside by Louisiana legislatures may be incredibly inadequate and more money may be necessary.

A Louisiana fund set up to help the victims of defective Chinese drywall may not be adequate, according to a report in The Advocate. Considering the number of affected homes in the state, the $5 million recently set aside by the Louisiana legislature won’t be enough to repair every home with Chinese drywall.

Consumers in 24 states have filed a total of 1046 Chinese drywall complaints with the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC). Gases emitted from the drywall are being blamed for significant property damage, including damage to HVAC systems, smoke detectors, electrical wiring, metal plumbing components, and other household appliances. These gases also produce a sulfurous odor, similar to fireworks or rotten eggs, that permeates homes, and cause metals, including air conditioning coils and even jewelry, to corrode.

A recent news piece reveals that Chinese drywall may have gotten as far as Las Vegas when it was imported and installed into new homes nationwide. Homeowners have cited the now standard signs of it having been used for the development of their dwellings and inspectors have begun investigating

A Chinese drywall class action lawsuit has been filed in Las Vegas, Nevada. According to the Las Vegas Sun, the lawsuit alleges that Chinese drywall is causing health problems for occupants of homes in two Las Vegas neighborhoods

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of four homeowners, the Sun said. Three of the homes are located in a neighborhood near Jones Boulevard and Grand Teton Drive; and the fourth is near Hollywood Boulevard and Desert Inn Road. The lawsuit, which seeks class action status for all residents of the state suffering health problems because of Chinese drywall, names subsidiaries of Miami-based homebuilder Lennar Corp. and drywall manufacturer Georgia-Pacific Corp. of Atlanta as defendants.

While many members of the state and federal government have been discussing tax rebates for those who have Chinese drywall in their homes, it is not an open and shut situation for those wishing to make claims. Instead, it can be a long and tedious uphill battle with mixed results. WPBF of Florida recently featured a couple facing this challenge

Larry Kosakowski and his fiancée, Kelly Wonderlick, can fill their living room table with their Chinese drywall battle. They’ve already found that the imported wall boards corroded electrical wiring and ate up appliances. The telltale Knauf stamp can be seen all over the attic.

“The value of the property is important to us,” said Kosakowski. “It’s your biggest investment.”

Tests have confirmed that while the faulty Chinese wallboard may be toxic and harmful to the health of those people whose homes are lined with the stuff, Chinese drywall is not radioactive. As a precaution, the government carried out tests to insure that the material is not even more dangerous than it already is and the tests came back negative.

The Herald Tribune reports

Tainted Chinese drywall is known to smell and corrode metal, and is suspected of making people sick. But state and federal investigators have determined one thing the wallboard is not: radioactive.