Please find below transcripts to the most recent hearing on Chinese Drywall in West Palm, Florida
Click here to view: Transcript #1
Click here to view: Transcript #2

For additional context for this television story, please see an article from the Associated Press below.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s public insurance company reversed course this week and said it will cover a couple’s Gulf Coast retirement home, after previously telling the homeowners their policy wouldn’t be renewed because of the home’s [...]

By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer Brian Skoloff, Associated Press Writer - Fri Oct 23, 1:52 pm ET
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Florida’s public insurance company reversed course this week and said it will cover a couple’s Gulf Coast retirement home, after previously telling the homeowners [...]

By BRIAN SKOLOFF (AP) - Click here to see the original article
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - James and Maria Ivory’s dreams of a relaxing retirement on Florida’s Gulf Coast were put on hold when they discovered their new home had been built with Chinese drywall that emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes pipes. It got worse [...]

Some Homeowner Policies Canceled After Claims Involving Defective Chinese Product
By M.P. MCQUEEN. Click here to see the original article.
At least two home insurers in Florida have begun dropping policyholders who filed claims for property damage linked to drywall imported from China.
Disputes with insurance companies are increasing as a growing number of homeowners file claims for [...]

To see the original article, click here.
MIAMI — Homeowners living in houses with suspect Chinese drywall are already in a bind: Their air conditioners stop working, a rotten-egg smell permeates their homes, they suffer a litany of health problems including troubled breathing, nosebleeds and headaches.
Now, some of them could lose their property insurance coverage.
Many homeowners [...]

BY C. DAVID DURKEE
Special to The Miami Herald
Scientific tests have shown that toxic China-made drywall installed in homes beginning in 2001
emits harmful gases that corrode copper wiring and other parts of people’s homes. In addition, these gases harm people’s health, making many homes uninhabitable. Homeowners must not be left to shoulder this burden alone.
Democratic Sen. [...]

Firm, others face liability limits
By MARY WOZNIAK
mwozniak@news-press.com
After what homeowners say is a nine-month wait, Ananda Homes Inc. of Cape Coral is responding to complaints of defective Chinese drywall, but it’s unclear whether the homebuilder has enough liability insurance to cover claims.
State Farm, Aranda’s insurer, has sent at least 40 letters to Aranda homeowners, saying the [...]

One local builder gutted his own home, which might keep him from winning a lawsuit.
BY NIRVI SHAH
nshah@MiamiHerald.com

Across South Florida and the country, distraught homeowners feel stuck in their stinky, corroding homes that are breaking down bit by bit from something leaching from defective Chinese drywall.
For most, moving out, paying rent somewhere else and keeping up [...]

View David Durkee’s interview with ABC regarding Florida lawmaker’s taking action on Chinese drywall.

View David Durkee’s interview with Telemundo regarding families affected by Chinese drywall.

PALM COAST — About 18 months after Joseph and Sandra White moved into their new home here, they began to notice a strong odor in a corner of their master bathroom.
In time, Sandra White also noticed her asthma intensified, and she felt better once she left the house.
Five years later, the couple are convinced they may be among the growing numbers of homeowners whose houses have defective drywall from China.

MCKENZIE CASSIDY, Breeze Newspapers
Posted July 11, 2009 at 11:14 a.m
Florida homeowners who suffered property damage from drywall imported from China are eligible to receive thousands of dollars on their tax return, according to an announcement by the Internal Revenue Service.
Faulty drywall, reportedly imported from a German-owned manufacturing company in China, was found in homes throughout [...]

Soon after Danie Beck and her husband bought their two-story town house west of
Miami in the summer of 2006, she thought an animal had died somewhere behind the walls. The strong sulfurous odor lingered, she says, and she began having dizzy spells that would keep her in bed for days. She began suffering from insomnia and sore, swollen joints. The house, too, appeared to be ailing: lights began blinking on and off, and Beck noticed discoloration of her wood furniture. The air conditioner, an indispensable appliance in South Florida, kept conking out.

TREASURE COAST — For Kathy Slusser, owner of RE/MAX Masterpiece Realty in Port St. Lucie, Chinese drywall is corroding her bottom line.
“Over the past four to six weeks, our office alone has lost more than $500,000 in sales because of Chinese drywall,” Slusser estimates.
Even though Slusser’s office is sizable, with 36 agents, Chinese drywall is having an impact on real estate operations large and small on the Treasure Coast from Sebastian to Stuart.

Chinese regulators have sent representatives to the United States to investigate the growing problem of the tainted Chinese drywall that is wreaking havoc in homes in Florida and other states.

BRADENTON — First, it was the microwave oven.
It stopped working three days after Andres and Sofia Macchiavello and their three daughters moved into their new house in Palma Sola Trace in April 2007.
The air-conditioning system faltered next. Black spots began appearing on mirrors and metal jewelry. The family’s high-definition television set, which was brand new, began showing snowy reception.

Three U.S. senators, including Florida Democrat Bill Nelson, and a Virginia congressman have written to the Internal Revenue Service asking that costs incurred by homeowners who have fallen victim to Chinese drywall should be deductible for federal tax purposes.

Chinese drywall used in Orlando area for new homes, hurricane repairs is
corroding copper pipes, triggering allergies — Lake County town hall meeting
June 10 will address drywall concerns

RIVERVIEW - Shortly after Frances Gari-Colon moved into her Riverview town home, she started to get itchy eyes and headaches. Then the air conditioner stopped working - the copper coils turned black. The builder replaced them, but it happened three more times.

By MARY WOZNIAK
mwozniak@news-press.com
Participants at a two-day conference opening today in Orlando will try to navigate the legal maze facing attorneys representing homeowners, builders, suppliers and manufacturers in lawsuits over Chinese drywall.
HarrisMartin’s conference will cover legal, scientific and insurance-related issues.
There will be a session on the history of the Chinese drywall problem, presented by Fort Myers [...]

In reference to the May 20 article by Nirvi Shah, ”EPA: Chinese drywall has high levels of chemicals:” Although it is now officially confirmed that drywall imported from China as far back as 2001 contains high levels of strontium, sulfur and other elements not found in American drywall, Florida homeowners still await EPA’s determination of the correlation between these compounds and the adverse health effects and appliance failures they are experiencing in their homes.

Homeowners in Florida and other states are mounting a charge against defective Chinese drywall, saying it’s making them sick and damaging their homes built during the housing boom.

The legal industry is wrangling over which court will be the venue for class action lawsuits about defective high-sulfur drywall, also referred to as Chinese drywall.

The likely court locations are Florida’s federal courthouses in the Middle District, including Tampa and Fort Myers, and in the Southern District, based in Miami.

A Coral Gables attorney who has filed a class action lawsuit over defective high-sulfur drywall made in China is holding a town hall meeting about the growing product liability crisis on Friday in Delray Beach.