Judge urged to approve Chinese drywall settlements (AP/al.com)
By The Associated Press al.com
on November 13, 2012 at 6:59 PM
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Attorneys for thousands of Gulf Coast property owners urged a federal judge Tuesday to give his final approval to a proposed class-action settlement that calls for a Chinese drywall manufacturer to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to repair homes damaged by its product.
U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon in New Orleans held a hearing to help him gauge the fairness of five separate but related settlement agreements between plaintiffs' lawyers and companies that made, supplied or installed Chinese drywall. Fallon didn't immediately rule at the conclusion of the "fairness hearing."
Plaintiffs' attorney Arnold Levin said the settlements are worth an estimated $1.1 billion. Most of that would be paid by Chinese drywall manufacturer Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co.
Knauf "came to the table and did the right thing," Levin said. "They provided us with the ability to get people back to their homes and enjoy the lives all of us want."
Knauf agreed to create an uncapped fund to pay for repairing roughly 5,200 properties, mostly in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. A separate fund capped at $30 million will pay for other types of losses, including those by people who blame drywall for health problems.
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more: http://blog.al.com/wire/2012/11/judge_urged_to_approve_chinese.html#incart_river_default
