[StBernard] Jury clears New Orleans supplier of faulty Chinese drywall

[Westley Annis]

Jury clears New Orleans supplier of faulty Chinese drywall

on December 04, 2012 at 5:45 PM, updated December 04, 2012 at 11:49 PM Print

A federal jury this week ruled in favor of a New Orleans drywall supplier
that distributed the faulty Knauf-brand imported Chinese drywall in the wake
of Hurricane Katrina. A week-long trial found that the local firm did not
know that the materials purchased from Knauf were defective, according to
Rick Duplantier, the lead trial lawyer for the firm.

The company, Interior/Exterior Building Supply, had purchased the drywall in
the months following Katrina in 2005.

Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin, a major manufacturer of problem drywall from
China, last year agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to repair
4,500 mostly Gulf Coast area homes ruined with its product. That deal is
still awaiting final court approval.


The settlement ended a nightmare for about 1,575 Louisiana families which
began when many rebuilt their homes after the storm or purchased new ones
with corrosive wallboard.

The deal is likely worth $800 million to $1 billion based on the number of
homes, average size and repair cost, plaintiff liaison counsel Russ Herman
said at the time. That means that some $280 million to $350 million could
flow to Louisiana, which is believed to have about 35 percent of all homes
with Knauf-brand drywall.

About 14,000 people nationwide live or lived in properties with Knauf-brand
drywall, Herman said.