Insurance Dispute Lawyer Blog

Forensic experts investigate Chinese Drywall

Published on: April 27, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

Placing a scientific and unbiased opinion on the issues relating to drywall imported from China, forensic experts have begun looking into the effects and problems involved with Chinese drywall. Along with the interesting fact that the crisis has already led to people taking advantage of panic (“One company is already cashing in and selling a Chinese drywall inspection kit,” says Derry. “It is made to test water samples for sulfur levels—to determine if water is drinkable. I talked to the manufacturer and he said it would not work on drywall”), details of how and why the drywall got into the country are discussed:

“Regardless of what people say about US building developers and contractors, for the most part they didn’t buy Chinese drywall to save money but ordered it simply for supply and demand,” says Doug Derry, field services manager, CBI Forensics. And there was a lot of demand after Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma. “Shipping records show that since 2006, 550 million pounds of drywall were imported from China into the US—enough for about 100,000 homes.”

Derry says forensics inspectors started to investigate allegedly toxic drywall in December 2008. Based on what they saw, Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin LTD., which is a subsidiary of German-based Knauf, supplies upwards of 50 countries with drywall and insulation. America ran out of drywall during the building boom, so between 2004 and 2007 Chinese drywall was being used to build American homes. (On March 24, 2009 Florida’s Atttorney General launched a criminal investigation into Knauf and L&W Supply Corp, to investigate whether the companies committed any deceptive sales or marketing practices.)

States Outside of Gulf Coast Eyeing Danger of Hurricanes

Published on: April 24, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

A Maryland based group recently studied the effects of a hurricane hitting the Northeast and found the results would be economically devastating. Using only a category 3 hurricane in their analysis (Gustav and Katrina were both 4’s), the group found that such a storm could cause upwards of $130 billion in insured residential losses.

There’s “definitely the potential for very large events (in the Northeast), but they’re fairly infrequent,” said David Smith, senior vice president of EQECAT, a risk management company in Oakland, Calif.

Some 250 insurance industry professionals, academics and others attended a Willis Research Network summit on Category 3 hurricanes in the Northeast at Princeton University on Thursday. And they heard talks on hurricane and climate science and hurricane, storm surge and flood risks in the Northeast.

China denies responsibility for drywall

Published on: April 23, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

In an interesting little article that may have slipped through the cracks for many, the Wall Street Journal discusses claims by Chinese officials that the drywall issue is, potentially, an American myth of sorts. Xu Luoyi, head of the National Building Materials Industrial Technology Supervisory Research Center, notes that the Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Company provided drywall for a variety of projects across the world and that the only complaints emerging are from the US:

“It’s worth considering why this problem has only emerged in the United States,” said Xu. “The U.S. credit crisis has caused the real estate market to collapse, and as a result domestic drywall manufacturers have seen their sales suffer and their product is relatively expensive compared to the Chinese-made drywall, so we should also consider these issues.”

Take it for what it’s worth but Xu does provide interesting claims, including that Knauf’s drywall was used for a wide assortment of projects. Knauf, per Xu,

Texas Windstorm Insurance facing financial crisis

Published on: April 22, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

Texas’ state-run wind damage insurance program has fallen into financial crisis as a result of settlements and payouts in the face of recent hurricanes. Insurance reform has been pushed to the top of Governor Perry’s priority list in the new legislative session but things are not looking good for the program:

An arduous task is ahead for Texas legislators as they continue to hammer out measures meant to shore up the state’s property insurance market in time for this year’s hurricane season, which begins June 1.

While it continues to pay claims from Hurricane Ike last September, the state-run Texas Windstorm Insurance Association is in a “severe financial crisis,” said Jerry Johns, president of the Southwestern Insurance Information Service and a spokesman for TWIA, which he said has depleted the Catastrophe Reserve Trust Fund. In addition, reinsurance expires May 31, he said.

Florida to begin testing Chinese Drywall homes

Published on: April 21, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

As the Chinese Drywall saga continues, Florida has jumped all over the issue and is pushing for investigations while testing homes for dangerous sulfur levels. These actions come after a timeline of incidences, many of which may be read about on this blog’s section on the drywall, and demonstrate a level of seriousness taken by the government to protect citizens:

The Florida Health Department said last week it would start testing air quality in homes built with defective Chinese drywall to determine if sulfur fumes emitted by the material pose any health hazard. Meanwhile, a state senator has asked Florida’s governor to set up a task force to take up the Chinese drywall issue.

Fumes emitted from Chinese drywall produce a “rotten eggs” odor and cause metals, such as air conditioning coils, to corrode. The fumes have also been associated with respiratory and sinus problems in some residents. In some homes, the drywall problems have been so severe that families have had to move, and some builders have begun gutting and replacing drywall in the buildings.

Lawsuit against Army Corps in court today

Published on: April 20, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

A notable news item for victims of Hurricane Katrina and those who keep an eye on hurricane litigation, today’s civil suit against the federal government for the failure of levees to protect inhabitants will bring national attention to this issue.

NEW ORLEANS — A groundbreaking civil suit begins in federal court here today to consider claims by property owners that the Army Corps of Engineers amplified the destructive effects of Hurricane Katrina by building a poorly designed navigation channel adjacent to the city.

The Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, a 76-mile-long channel known locally as MR-GO and pronounced “Mister Go,” was completed in 1968 and created a straight shot to the Gulf of Mexico from New Orleans. The suit claims that the channel was flawed in its design, construction, and operation, and that those flaws intensified the flood damage to the eastern parts of New Orleans and St. Bernard parish.

Texas Resident Loses Appeal While Representing Self

Published on: April 17, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

In the midst of Hurricane Rita judgements and appeals, the Southeast Texas record recently profiled a woman who, albeit bravely, chose to represent herself in her appeal against her insurance company and paid the price. Mary Harmon, who felt her insurers, National Lloyds and the Kenneth Denby Insurance Agency, acted in bad faith when they denied her claim, went through the primary steps by herself but then chose to go it alone.

A year after filing an appeal over her Hurricane Rita insurance lawsuit, Mary Harmon had never filed a brief, leading justices on Texas’ Ninth Court of Appeals to dismiss her case.

In August 2006, Harmon filed a suit against National Lloyds Insurance and the Kenneth Denby Insurance Agency in Jefferson County District Court, alleging the two insurers stiffed her on her Hurricane Rita policy claim.

NYT article highlights insurance companies reluctance to advance coverage

Published on: April 16, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

A recent New York Times article helps highlight just how far behind insurance companies are to innovations of modernity and innovation. Highlighting the cases of several cancer patients who were forced to go out-of-pocket to receive convenient oral treatments rather than in-house intravenous, etc., care, the NYT highlights how insurance companies rely on redtape and a lack of federal demand to innovate to demonstrate how the average citizen who, until they fall into crisis, believe they are fully covered suddenly are required to provide their own money for reasonable remedy:

Pills and capsules are the new wave in cancer treatment, expected to account for 25 percent of all cancer medicines in a few years, up from less than 10 percent now.

The oral drugs can free patients from frequent trips to a clinic to be hooked to an intravenous line for hours. Fewer visits might save the health system money as well as time. And the pills are a step toward making cancer a manageable chronic condition, like diabetes.

NYT 9/11 Report Shows Lawsuits Can Help Get More Compensation.

Published on: April 15, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

Per The New York Times, “After the 9/11 terror attacks, thousands of people faced a weighty and uncomfortable decision. Congress had created a special fund to compensate survivors and victims’ families, but said that those who received compensation from it could not sue airlines or airport security firms, among other entities.”

While many families who lost a loved on in the attacks “sought compensation from the fund” a “new court report suggests that the small minority who went their own way and sued made out better financially: 93 of the 96 claims have been settled, for an average of $5 million, or more than twice the average payment from the special fund.”

This correlation can be found now in settlement struggles between people still fighting with their insurance companies with Ike and Gustav hurricane claims who did it without legal assistance. Insurance companies very often “lowball” or under-appreciate the value of homes and property damaged in incidences. With legal assistance, experts and courtroom litigants, individuals run a much better chance of receiving higher compensation. While, in this case, it was the government pressuring settlement, insurance companies have a proven trackrecord of manipulating and exerting pressure on their clients to accept their offers rather than pursue legal assistance. However, in the event your property or home is damaged under insured events, seek a legal expert who can get you the financial settlement you deserve.

Chinese Drywall discovered in homes post-Katrina

Published on: April 14, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

The inevitable results of the importation of faulty Chinese drywall into a state that required heavy construction at the result of Hurricane Katrina has officially emerged. As reported widely by the Associate Press and other media outlets, Louisiana officials feared that Katrina’s devastation had severely raised the odds that Chinese drywall would be a painful reality for individuals who had rebuilt since 2005. Now personal accounts are emerging that show this drywall issue is not limited to Florida but, rather, is officially here:

Hurricane Katrina victims who used cheap Chinese-made dry wall to rebuild their homes may have to rebuild all over again to correct severe problems.

Wallboard from China that contains sulfur is wreaking havoc in homes, charring electrical wires, eating away at jewelry and possibly even sickening families.