A quick little bit of news via the Naples News and the Wall Street Journal
Financially strapped homebuilder WCI Communities Inc. has agreed to create a trust fund to cover Chinese drywall claims.
The agreement is spelled out in a disclosure statement approved by a U.S. bankruptcy judge in Delaware on Friday. The approval paves the way for WCI to proceed with its reorganization plan.
A company located in Canada has connected with a Florida testing facility and has claimed to build a machine that reportedly reduced the dangerous gas levels emitted by Chinese drywall by “up to 85 percent.”
According to Canada.com, a carbon filter unit has been constructed that limits hydrogen sulfide levels in homes built with faulty Chinese drywall. Allen Air president Sam Teitelbaum states “We developed a carbon filter unit specifically to reduce the hydrogen sulfide (that has been found to leach from the drywall… In a 24-hour test, there was an 85-per-cent reduction.”
The article further details the matter involving Chinese drywall and the path being taken to combat it:
Quick blurb on an article The Herald Tribune did on possible tax benefits for those who suffered as a result of Chinese drywall installed in their homes
The Internal Revenue Service says that victims of Chinese drywall might qualify for a casualty loss on their taxes because of the corrosion on pipes, air-conditioning and electrical appliances caused by gases released from the materials.
Section 165 of the IRS Code allows a casualty loss deduction in some circumstances, wrote George J. Blaine, the IRS’s associate chief counsel, in response to a letter from three U.S. senators, including Florida Democrat Bill Nelson, and a Virginia congressman.
In promising developments for the Chinese drywall issue, Lennar Corp., which has had numerous complaints filed against it for the faulty wallboard it had been using in construction efforts, has made steps to fix the problem for its customers. Setting aside money while confirming complaints allows progress to be made. The Wall Street Journal reports
Lennar Corp. has identified about 400 homes in Florida that have confirmed problems with defective Chinese drywall and has set aside $39.8 million to repair the homes, the Miami-based home builder said in a securities filing Friday.
The figures are as of May 31, Lennar said.
The Chinese drywall issue has surely frustrated many in the Gulf Coast region. With rotten egg, sulfuric smells filling many newly built or renovated homes, homeowners are forced to flee or put up with a very problematic issue that no person should have to handle. The lawsuits regarding this issue have been both understandable and uphill as just who is responsible has been a difficult matter. While trying to stay optimistic, the Miami Herald recently outlined the difficulties in which plaintiffs and their clients face trying to pursue damages from overseas manufacturers for their faulty products.
Chinese manufacturers made more than half of the goods that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled last year, but few of them paid any price for producing defective wares.
The long list of faulty products included Chinese-made highchairs whose seat backs failed, steam cleaners that burned their users, bikes whose front-wheel forks broke, saunas that overheated, illuminated exit signs that stopped working when commercial power failed, dune buggies whose seat belts broke on impact and coffee makers that overheated and started fires.
The NOLA.com recently ran a synopsis on Chinese Drywall and the various developments that have come from this very complicated issue, including discussion of a conference held in New Orleans on the issue.
A summary
Amid the welter of questions about tainted Chinese drywall, from the exact source of the product’s defect to how to address it, one thing is clear: the litigation the drywall has spawned is going to be complex, expensive and time-consuming.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the overarching body responsible for product reliability and keeping dangerous products out of the country, is the governmental source to make claims to regarding Chinese drywall. While the CPSC has not been able to find a definitive way in which home or property owners can know if their drywall is the same faulty product imported by China, there are several telltale signs. Physical symptoms of exposure to Chinese drywall include:
As Chinese drywall lawsuits develop and people continue to struggle with the hidden dangers within their walls, developments continue to mount that are relevant for anyone facing these issues. Tampa Bay Online has done a good job summarizing the issues facing homeowners across the United States in regards to Chinese drywall and its corrosive capacity to harm the health and property of homeowners.
The Florida Department of Health has received more than 450 complaints from homeowners. Several federal agencies, including the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, are investigating.
The drywall was used in as many as 100,000 homes across the nation during the housing boom and emits a corrosive gas that damages appliances, gives off a rotten-egg stench and may cause health problems.
A seminar dealing with the Chinese drywall fiasco going on across the Gulf Coast will be held July 31, 2009, in New Orleans, LA. Feating a host of speakers dealing with a wide assortment of issues relating to the Chinese drywall issue, the conference is billed as “a practical, one-day seminar for attorneys, engineers, architects and contractors” looking to explain health effects property damage, exploring claims and litigatory issues, demonstrating strategies for the matter and discussing the various complexities of the cases.
The Berniard Law Firm’s own Jeffrey Berniard will present on the matter of “Exploring Potential Liability for Damages Caused by Chinese Drywall Problems” with fellow attorney Scott Wolfe of the Wolfe Law Group. The lecture will cover matters relating to what parties are facing potential liability exposure, theories of recovery for construction defects, defenses and crossclaims and damages.
As part of the seminar, various different learning credits are available for participating professionals as part of continued learning education requirements. This includes 5.0 approved CLE hours for attorneys from the states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas.
As a show of solidarity with constituents and Gulf Coast residents regarding the Chinese drywall debacle, several members of Congress have stepped up to the plate and petitioned the IRS to buffer the tax expenses of those individuals who have suffered from the faulty wallboard. The effort is a practical step forward to make a very real difference in the lives of those affected while lawsuit matters and legislative measures can take months, if not years, to create change.
Aaron Kessler of the Herald Tribune reports
Three U.S. senators, including Florida Democrat Bill Nelson, and a U.S. 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.
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