How much does family deserve for Chinese drywall damage? June 11, 2010

A Miami-Dade jury is in the process of hearing (and deciding) how much a family should receive in the way of monetary figures, dollars, money – for the devastation that Chinese drywall inflicted upon the place they once called home.  The source article is available here, from the Miami Herald.

According to the article, some of the first known occasions of something being “wrong” with the drywall at issue in the trial transpired back in 2006, when some sheets of drywall were being delivered to a home in the Coconut Grove community.  Questions were raised as to the foul smelling odor the product was seemingly giving off.  Days passed, and finally Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin notified Banner Supply, a Miami company, not to sell the product.  Unfortunately, that notice came too late.

The drywall was installed in the home that the article references, as being located in Coconut Grove.  The attorney for the couple that purchased the home told the jury this week that there was indeed adequate time to stop installing the drywall, and to halt the process.  The bottom line is that the drywall did end up in the home.

This case is significant in that it is the first jury trial in the nation regarding drywall that is allegedly defective, and was sourced from China.   During opening statements, the Miami Herald reported that the attorney for the couple stated, “Banner [the supply company] had the knowledge.  They had the power.  Instead they used it to protect themselves.”  A brief video was then shown to demonstrate broadly, and to give jurors an overview, of how the emissions from the drywall devastated and ravished the family’s home.  The plaintiffs in this case suffered damages that included the refrigerator, air conditioner, wire damages and more.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has been up to its ears with complaints – over 3,300 thus far – regarding Chinese drywall.  Thousands of cases have been filed.  If you or someone you know believes the home they live in was constructed with Chinese drywall, they ought to ascertain whether it was built with it in fact.  Consulting an attorney is one way to check, as well-versed lawyers such as Richard J. Serpe, in Norfolk Virginia for example,  have devoted hours upon hours of research into the issue specifically.