Chinese drywall settlement approved: MyFoxTAMPABAY.com

BY: Tanya Arja
TAMPA – A federal judge has given preliminary approval to a class action lawsuit that could bring relief to hundreds of homeowners stuck with Chinese drywall in their homes.
In his order, the judge wrote that the settlement is “fair, reasonable and adequate.”
It’s an estimated $800 million settlement.
For years, people [...]

Hundreds of Floridians potentially want to opt out of a proposed $55 million federal settlement over faulty Chinese drywall in hopes of pursuing individual lawsuits in state courts, the attorney for two families said Wednesday.

Dissatisfied victims of the Chinese drywall fiasco are asking a Broward County judge to let them continue pursuing Miami-based Banner Supply Co. in lawsuits separate from a $53 million class action settlement.

This article originally appeared in The Miami Herald. To view the original article, please click here.
Some South Florida attorneys are pushing back against a $54.5 million Chinese drywall settlement by Banner Supply Co., arguing that Miami-based distributor has not been transparent.
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Last month’s $54.5 million settlement by a Miami-based Chinese drywall supplier might not [...]

This article originally appeared in the Daily Business Review. To view the original article, please click here.
By John Pacenti
July 5, 2011
South Florida attorneys David Durkee and Victor Diaz are criticizing a proposed $55 million federal settlement with Banner Supply, a Miami-based company that supplied toxic Chinese drywall to builders in Florida and elsewhere.
Please click here [...]

This article originally appeared on Property Casualty 360. To view the original article, please click here.
By Chad Hemenway
July 8, 2011
A proposed $55 million class-action settlement between a building supplier and hundreds of Florida homeowners whose homes were damaged by tainted Chinese drywall may be unfair to victims, says a group of attorneys.
David Durkee of Coral Gables, [...]

This article originally appeared in the Naples Daily News. To view the original article, please click here.
By Laura Layden
NAPLES — Olga Palmer describes herself as the “double whammy.”
Palmer purchased a three-bedroom home in Artesia in East Naples in April 2008. Not only is her community unfinished, her home has Chinese drywall and she can’t live there.
“I’m in [...]

This article originally appeared on CNN. To view the original article, please click here.
David Durkee of Roberts & Durkee P.A. was featured in a CNN article concerning the proposed $55 million Chinese drywall settlement with Banner Supply.

By Chelsea Bailey
June 28, 2011
Attorneys representing families whose homes were built with toxic drywall say they will not advise their [...]

To view an original copy of this article, please click here.
By Dawn Wotapka
Did builders know? That’s the central question at the heart of a Chinese drywall-related court ruling made public Wednesday.
Judge Glenn Kelley of the 15th Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach County, Fla., said that builders and installers can only be held liable [...]

Enough is enough! Florida families continue to suffer the ever-worsening effects of Chinese drywall, and we still don’t have final Remediation Guidance from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Why is this important? Many families are waiting for the CPSC’s complete guidelines for proper repair of their homes rather than relying on the Interim Remediation Guidance [...]

On December 14, 2010, online legal journal Law360 published an update on the recent court proceedings and motion involving the developers and contracting firms inolved in the Chinese Drywall case.  The journal interviewed David Durkee regarding his viewpoint on where this case will head next, and gave key insight on why this case is significant [...]

A Palm Beach County court ruling relieves home builders of some liability in the ongoing dispute over the use of defective Chinese drywall.  In the decision, entered on Nov. 5th,  Judge Glenn Kelley of the 15th Judicial Circuit, said that because home builders did not manufacture the problematic drywall and were not within the chain [...]

Knauf’s newly announced “pilot program” to repair some 300 homes is a first sign that one of the world’s largest makers of contaminated Chinese drywall is beginning to accept some responsibility for the significant damages its defective product have caused. The victims have suffered tremendously – and not only in terms of property damages. They [...]

The Internal Revenue Service has issued guidance for homeowners who want to claim losses as a result of having defective Chinese drywall installed in their homes between 2001 and 2009.
The new procedure allows taxpayers to treat damages from corrosive drywall as a casualty loss and provides a formula for determining the amount of that loss.
Last [...]

To view the original article, click here.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Aug. 12 (UPI) — Chinese drywall cases consolidated in a Florida county may move forward without waiting for rulings in drywall cases filed in federal courts, a judge ruled.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley’s decision rejected arguments by builder Centerline Homes [...]

To view a copy of the original article, please click the link here.
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla.- – A judge ruled Wednesday that all homeowners in Palm Beach County plagued with Chinese drywall will be able to go to trial to try to receive financial compensation.
“It’s like a nightmare,” homeowner Barbara Tutin told WPBF 25 News [...]

To view an original copy of the article, please click here.
By Katie LaGrone
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla – Like so many transplants from the Northeast, Barry & Barbara Tutin built their Delray Beach home to retire in.
But rest and relaxation has been clouded by anger and frustration.
The Bostonians believe their home was built with defective Chinese [...]

A Miami-Dade circuit judge has approved a class action settlement between a Homestead builder, real estate brokerage and 149 homeowners who sought damages for Chinese drywall installed in their houses.
Judge Joseph P. Farina concluded the $6.6 million fund established for the owners was reasonable, given the fact “the settling parties have limited assets and collectibility [...]

To view a copy of the original article, please click here.
By Allison Ross
WEST PALM BEACH — Palm Beach County homeowners affected by tainted drywall are one step closer to making their case on their home turf.
In an order Wednesday, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley ruled that defective drywall cases consolidated in Palm Beach [...]

Chinese drywall, which is causing untold damage to an estimated 60,000 U.S. homes built after 2001, is proving equally toxic for mortgage lenders…
To view full article, please click the link provided here.

One of the largest makers of high-sulfur Chinese drywall has announced a settlement with Atlanta-based homebuilder Beazer Homes.
Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin, a German-owned company based in China, said it has been in discussions with builders in recent weeks, seeking “a reasonable solution to repair homes built with KPT drywall.”
The company’s talks have been [...]

By Cain Burdeau, Associated Press Write. Click here to view the original article.
NEW ORLEANS — Thousands of U.S. homes tainted by Chinese drywall should be completely gutted, according to guidelines released Friday by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The guidelines recommend that electrical wiring, outlets, circuit breakers, fire alarm systems, [...]

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.