A heads-up to those who have left their Chinese drywall riddled homes behind because of growing health concerns: make sure security is used. Areas around the country have been facing burglaries in homes left vacant by homeowners after they discovered the faulty wallboard was installed in their homes.
The Fort Myers News-Press reports
Lee Ferguson told Cape Coral police Wednesday that he had to move out of his house on Northeast Juanita Place because of problems with Chinese drywall.
News coming out of Louisiana shows that Attorney General James Caldwell has filed suit in Louisiana court on behalf of government infrastructures looking to collect money lost helping residents remove and replace Chinese drywall. The move is a positive indication that funding will likely continue to be provided and that the state government is taking initiative to help Louisiana residents move forward from this calamity.
The Associated Press reports
Louisiana’s attorney general is seeking compensation for a flood of Chinese drywall imported after Hurricane Katrina that has been linked to corrosion in homes.
Discussing the extensive backstory and saga that has unfolded since millions of pounds of Chinese drywall were imported and used in the building and repair of homes in the United States, the Broward/Palm Beach News published an excellent piece that describes how the faulty wallboard has caused problems for thousands of homeowners.
The article notes
Before ’04, Chinese businesses like Knauf Tianjin had rarely exported drywall to the States. But then a housing bubble inflated the demand of homes and depleted construction supplies. In South Florida, dozens of new condo towers sprouted along every stretch of beach and bay front, and hundreds of new golf-course-centered suburbs sprouted from Florida City to Jupiter.
Filed in late December of 2009, a trust representing a homebuilder that used Chinese drywall in its construction efforts has sued insurers for coverage of homeowners with the faulty wallboard. The company, WCI communities, is looking for financial assistance with the rebuilding effort necessary for those whose homes contain the toxic material. The Bloomberg News reports
A trust for WCI Communities Inc., the Florida homebuilder that emerged from bankruptcy last year, sued 14 insurers to enforce more than $200 million of coverage for settlements over houses with defective Chinese drywall.
Insurers including units of American International Group Inc. and Zurich Financial Services AG must help repay more than 700 WCI customers whose homes were built with defective drywall from China between 2006 and 2008, Robert Horkovich, the trust’s lawyer, said today in a phone interview.
In an effort to bring fairness and acceptable billing practices to Louisiana and beyond, the Berniard Law Firm actively worked in the interest of resident cable subscribers against two cable giants in 2009. Filing in federal court, our firm, in conjunction with attorneys of several other Louisiana firms, took aim at the tying of cable boxes to the use of premium services provided by the cable companies. Because these cable boxes were only available through rental from the cable companies themselves, subscribers were forced to pay twice for what should be limited to the service itself. Facing either unnecessary rental charges or miss out on various channels and opportunities they were already paying for, cable subscribers quickly signed as clients of our firm and took aim through a class action against these companies.
For more information on how to join these class actions against Cox and Charter cable, check out our websites:
http://www.chartercableclassaction.com/
The New Orleans area has been dealing with a cold streak that, according to the National Weather Service, may actually get worse. The NWS in Slidell has issued a warning of extreme cold temperatures in the area from Thursday to Sunday morning. This will mean many residents and citizens in the area and around it will experience a chill to an extreme that rarely is felt.
While some areas of Louisiana and Mississippi may see snow, moisture is not as much of a concern as the chill that follows. Per the NWS report
ALL OF THE MOISTURE WILL MOVE OUT OF THE AREA BY THURSDAY EVENING AND THEN THE GREATER ISSUE ARRIVES…VERY COLD TEMPERATURES. AN
Promising news emerged at the end of 2009 that provides some hope for those homeowners with Chinese drywall in 2010. The United States government, in an effort to provide local assistance for those who have unfortunately been struck with the toxic wallboard, allows for funding to be used to help with the removal and replacement of the drywall. This to say the least, is extremely helpful and an important development on this issue.
The Times-Picayune reports
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development cleared the way Tuesday for the Louisiana Recovery Authority and local governments to use Community Development Block Grant funds to help people with toxic drywall in their homes.
The Berniard Law Firm would like to wish you and yours a Happy Holidays. This blog will not be updated until the New Year and we hope to hear from you then.
Have a great rest of the week and enjoy what remains of 2009.
The Palm Beach Post reports
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will soon issue guidelines on how homeowners with defective drywall can apply for federal money, according to a letter sent to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida.
Department secretary Shaun Donovan had previously suggested during a trip to Florida that homeowners may be able to find funding under the Community Development Block Grant program.
Albeit a small step forward in the pursuit of relief for residents of Louisiana, news emerging out of last week shows that local government is doing what it can to help victims of Chinese drywall. Reducing the costs of repair efforts, the Mandeville City Council has stepped up to provide a small amount of assistance. What’s more, the manner in which the Council is helping is an innovative step that might be replicated across the state.
Suzanne Le Breton of the St. Tammany News reports
The City Council approved a measure Thursday night that would give individuals who make repairs after finding tainted drywall in their homes a break on their permit fees.
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