Blog Post

Two days ago, a Federal Court in New Orleans approved what has been regarded as the largestsettlement ever for Chinese drywall cases in the United States. That case involves approximately 4500 homeowners located in the Southeast. The settlement has both property damage and personal injury components in it. Knauf Tian Jin, the supplier/ manufacturer for the defective Chinese drywalls has agreed to provide uncapped funds - estimated to be hundreds of millions to remedy the phsical damages caused by Chinese drywalls and capped funds in the amount of $30 million to compensate the victms for personal injuries attributable to Chinese drywalls.

It is believed that similar Chinese drywalls had been shipped to and installed in Western states such as California and Arizona between 2002 and 2007 during the construction boom and after Katrina which created a shortage of drywalls that prompted US suppliers and manufacturers to import the gypsum from China that was used to make these drywalls hence the name "Chinese drywalls" had been used to refer to and distinguish them from other drywalls.

At first glance, the settlement seems large. But this is a class action that involves about 4500 homeowners. Do the math and you'll see that the average amount to be paid to each homeowner to compensate them for personal injury is less than $10,000 - nonetheless still a rather attractive figure for an average wage earner.

What does this settlement mean to Californians?

So far, Chinese drywall problem has not become a phenomenon in California which is more arid and less humid than the Southeastern states like Louisiana and Florida which reported the most cases of Chinese drywall problems in the United States. It is believed that the culprits can be traced to either the chemicals or bacteria that came with the materials that were used to construct these drywalls either due to reactions with moisture in the air by certain chemicals or metabolism by the bacteria that lives in these drywalls. Whatever the theory may be, defective drywalls make a construction defect case for which the victims may claim compensation for property damage and personal injury if you're homeowner or tenant.

These Chinese drywalls may or may not manifest themselves as being defective for a long time if humidity is not a concern. But if there's a significant increase in the humidity in your household, you might notice some changes around the house that cause concerns. If you start smelling rotten eggs which can't be traced to bad eggs in your home and seeing your copper pipes corrode for unexplainable reasons or experiencing certain mold-like symptioms like watery or itchy eys, skin rashes, headaches and not able to trace them to mold around the house, and it your house was built around 2002 to 2007, you might be having Chinese drywall problems.

California has a 10-year statute of limitations for construction defects cases. We are now in 2012 so if Chinese drywalls had been used for the construction of your home in 2002, your claim may be barred by the statute of limitations if you have not discovered the problem early.

For now, however, it is not a huge problem in California.