South Florida Business Journal: Attorney Plans Town Hall Meeting On Defective Drywall (03-19-09)

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.

C. David Durkee said he set up the meeting because homeowners at Vizcaya, a Delray Beach development, have complaints that are similar to those from other homeowners with defective Chinese drywall.

Coral Springs-based Centerline Homes finished Vizcaya in 2001. Centerline’s attorney, Jeff Kronengold, said Thursday the company has had no complaints about Chinese drywall problems at Vizcaya.

“The information that is available to us is that the Chinese drywall problem relates to the importing of drywall in 2005 and 2006, and the Vizcaya community was finished in 2001,” he said. “Obviously, we would be surprised by the issue of Chinese drywall there.”

The Florida Department of Health is tracking about 150 complaints about defective drywall causing metal corrosion and an odor of sulfur or rotten eggs in homes.

Barbara Tutin, a homeowner in Vizcaya, said she has replaced her air-conditioner coils several times in recent years, and noticed other metal corrosion problems – but added that there was no odor of rotten eggs in the home.

“I don’t know where the problem is coming from. It might not be every wall,” she said. “It just doesn’t seem normal, all these problems with the air conditioner and my heating system. I want some answers.”

Durkee has joined forces with America’s Watchdog, a Washington, D.C.-based consumer advocacy and legal group, to hold the town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m., Friday, at the Delray Beach Marriott, at 10 N. Ocean Blvd.

Durkee filed a class action lawsuit alleging another national homebuilder used contaminated drywall imported from China to build homes in the Coral Lakes development in Cape Coral. That suit alleges the drywall is damaging the victims’ health, homes and belongings.

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