Judge weighs damages in Chinese drywall case

State News

February 24, 2010

Associated Press Associated Press Wed Feb 24, 2010, 09:23 AM CST

NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge heard emotional testimony Monday from a group of Virginia homeowners who blame corrosive Chinese drywall for ruining their homes and finances and are seeking more than $2.5 million in damages.

U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon didn’t immediately rule on the plaintiffs’ bid for a judgment against Chinese drywall manufacturer Taishan Gypsum Co., which hasn’t responded to lawsuits and didn’t have a lawyer representing the company for a two-day hearing that ended Monday.

Jerry Baldwin, 59, of Williamsburg, Va., said he and his wife, Inez, can’t afford to move out of the home they bought in 2006. The couple blames Chinese drywall for ruining appliances, electronics and the home’s air conditioning system.

Baldwin said the problem has cost him his financial security and left him worried for his family’s health.

“A retirement that looked six years away now looks a lot farther away,” he said.

Attorneys for the seven Virginia families said a favorable ruling could benefit hundreds of other plaintiffs whose claims have been consolidated in the New Orleans federal court. Recovering money from Taishan Gypsum could be difficult, since civil judgments in U.S. courts aren’t enforced in China.

Plaintiffs lawyers said they will try to seize the company’s U.S.-bound vessels and shipments if the company continues to ignore the litigation.

“They’re just thumbing their nose at the American judicial system. I don’t think they realize what’s going to happen to them,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Daniel Becnel Jr.

Judge Fallon, who said he will rule “as fast as I reasonably can,” also heard testimony Monday from engineers who have inspected homes with Chinese drywall and estimated the cost of removing and replacing damaged building materials, appliances and belongings. The testimony was designed to help the judge craft formal guidelines for fixing damaged homes.

Fallon’s ruling will be limited to the seven Virginia families, but other plaintiffs are waiting for their day in court. A first trial, which is for a lawsuit a Louisiana family filed against a different Chinese company, is scheduled to start March 15.

The Virginia plaintiffs watched Monday’s proceedings from the courtroom’s jury box, then took turns sharing their stories.

Lisa Orlando, whose family moved from upstate New York to a new home in Williamsburg, Va., last year, noticed a “baby diaper smell” in the house that she attributed to the previous owners. The source of the odor wasn’t clear until a builder told them about their drywall problem a month after they moved into the house.

Orlando’s family has since moved out of the home, but their rent for their new place is higher than their mortgage.

“We’re having to start all over again,” she said. “We’re just happy to be out of our house and hopefully detoxifying.”

William Morgan and his wife, Deborah, moved to Williamsburg after he retired from the Norfolk, Va., police department. They quickly realized something was wrong with their “dream house.” Fixtures and mirrors turned black. Their lights malfunctioned. Their smoke detector system and water heater failed.

The problems drove them from their house into a rental home, leaving them in a financial mess that forced the couple to file for bankruptcy protection last year.

“We put our money into our home,” William Morgan said. “We didn’t have a safety net.”

Text Only

State News

Pardoned killer to fight return to Mississippi
A convicted murderer who left Mississippi after being pardoned by former Gov. Haley Barbour seems poised to fight attempts to force him to return from Wyoming. Joseph Ozment’s attorney, Robert Moxley, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he will defend Ozment’s freedom if he decides to try to stay in Wyoming.

February 3, 2012
Universities say financial aid fund running short
Recipients of state scholarships could see their aid packages trimmed unless the Mississippi Legislature puts more money into financial aid. That includes the more than 20,000 students who receive the Mississippi Tuition Assistance Grant.

February 3, 2012
Bad info infuriated kin of pardoned man’s victims
In another twist in the often confusing aftermath of pardons granted by former Gov. Haley Barbour on his way out of office, Mississippi corrections officials said Tuesday that victims’ relatives were given bad information by the state that fanned their outrage.

February 2, 2012
Bryant’s 1st Miss. budget carries ’lots of cuts’
Gov. Phil Bryant proposed Tuesday to cut state spending by $26 million to $5.49 billion in 2013 while also insisting on building $100 million in state reserves.
The newly inaugurated Republican summarized his first budget as a “lot of cuts,” saying he won’t raise taxes and that state revenues have yet to recover from the recession.

February 2, 2012
Miss. schools request more cash in lean budget
Mississippi’s top education official is asking for an additional $305 million for the coming year — a request he acknowledges is unlikely to be fulfilled. State Superintendent of Education Tom Burnham told House budget writers Tuesday that the biggest part of the request is $255 million to meet requirements of a complex funding formula, the Mississippi Adequate Education Program.

February 1, 2012
Major GOP ‘super PAC’ raised $51 million in 2011
American Crossroads, the Republican “super” political committee that plans to play a major role in this year’s presidential campaign, raised more than $51 million along with its nonprofit arm last year, The Associated Press has learned.

February 1, 2012
Miss. AG: Pardoned killer found in Wyoming
A convicted killer pardoned by former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour was in Wyoming with his fiancee and tried to flee when he was found Sunday by investigators who served him with a court summons, authorities said Monday.

January 31, 2012
Experts: US ill-prepared for oil spill off Cuba
The U.S. is not ready to handle an oil spill if drilling off the Cuban coast goes awry but can be better prepared with monitoring systems and other basic steps, experts told government officials Monday.

January 31, 2012
Bryant salutes racial reconciliation group
Gov. Phil Bryant said he plans to continue activity with a Christian group promoting racial reconciliation.
Mission Mississippi honored Bryant Friday, hosting the Governor’s Prayer Luncheon at the Jackson Convention Center.

January 28, 2012
BP veiled spill rate: emails
On the day the Deepwater Horizon sank in the Gulf of Mexico, BP officials warned in an internal email conversation that if the well was not protected by the blow-out preventer at the drill site, crude oil could burst into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of 3.4 million gallons a day, an amount a million gallons higher than what the U.S. government ultimately estimated spilled daily from the site.

January 28, 2012
More State News Headlines

State News

Search Results

Judge weighs damages in Chinese drywall case

Site Map

Contact Us