Attorneys offer different soultions to the ongoing class-action legal battle against Banner Supply Co.
The supplier of Knauf Chinese drywall, Banner Supply Co., is facing a class action lawsuit as thousands of Florida homeowners are forced to evacuate their homes, or become severely ill due to the corroded copper, wiring and pipes the drywall has caused. The ongoing legal battle has left attorneys on opposing ends of the court in terms of how to best deal with affected clients. Consequently, Banner is suing Knauf Gips, the company that manufactured the Chinese drywall.
As reported in an earlier Chicago Agent post, Banner had agreed to a class-action lawsuit last June in which $55 million was to be split between the roughly 2,000 victims affected in the state of Florida. However, when divided amongst the recipients, this amounted to only about $33,000 per household — claim estimates had put the damage caused by the high-sulfur, corrosive drywall at about $100,000 per home.
Aside from physical damage done to homes, the properties found in the drywall have contributed to severe health issues, including chronic sinus and upper respiratory problems. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission previously reported that over 3,000 claims had been made by residents in 42 different states on the alleged toxicity of the drywall.
Broward County judge Charles Green entitled victims earlier this year to opt out of the class-action lawsuit in favor of filing individual claims. Affected drywall victims have now been left with three potential decisions to make; to wait and take a portion of the class-action settlement, if there ever is one; to file an individual claim, which could yield higher individual settlements at the cost of having other drywall victims receive nothing; or to allow Banner to rip out the drywall now, at the company’s own expense, with no financial settlement awarded to the victims.
The resulting situation has left Florida lawyers in a heavy debate on how to best resolve the situation.
On one side, you have attorneys like David Durkee who have encouraged drywall victims to file individual claims in lieu of the mass settlement. This way, clients can pursue a private settlement to receive the full compensation they deserve.
On the other side, lawyers such as Boca Raton attorney Allison Grant, who represents thousands of Chinese drywall clients, argue that clients need to hold a united front with the class-action lawsuit, or they all risk losing out. “Will they actually see anything greater by filing individual action? We believe not,” said Grant.
It is unlikely that Banner has enough money to pay for both individual claims as well as a class-action suit. “Those homeowners may wind up getting nothing,” Grant said.
The settlement will take at least another year, and it has yet to be determined how much clients would receive from a class-action lawsuit at this point, said Grant. “While a lot of homeowners are angry, and I certainly understand that, they have to weigh that against whether or not they want their homes fixed now.”
Banner on the other hand is in the process of suing German manufacturing conglomerate Knauf Gips for $100 million. If won, the settlement could potentially provide adequate funds to compensate a class-action lawsuit made against the company. Banner claims that Knauf had made false statements about the drywall, and had been fully aware of the harmful properties the drywall possessed prior to the purchase of over 1.4 million drywall sheets Banner had made.