Chinese Drywall Litigation
 

Federal Judge To Assess Damages In Chinese Drywall Lawsuit : NPR

U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon will consider in attempting to calculate more than $1 billion in damages being sought in the massive international case that covers multiple federal court jurisdictions. About 4,000 property owners in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia are seeking remedy for the building material that damaged their homes and, in several cases, affected their health.

Hey man, great story. I do drywall on a small basis, never been a whole house drywall kinda guy. Would drive me batty. Removing and replacing all drywall is a big job. One hopes some relief filters down to all who deserve it.

Some years ago a Chinese firm made and distributed cough syrup with anti-freeze for sweetner. Glycol or whatever. Many deaths in South America IIRC, the Chinese company out of reach.

The lesson learned is if China wants to market products here they should have to abide by the same standards and be subject to the same inspections our home companies do.

That is one way to look at it. Maybe whomever is peddling the stuff needs to be held responsible too. So if Home Depot sells it, they need to make damn sure that it DOES meet the specs.

If my mechanic repairs the car with the parts he provides and it goes sideways, I hold him totally responsible. OTOH, if I bring the parts, now there is a debate between him and the supplier.

Whoever is peddling the stuff is supposed to make sure they are not selling something that's illegal, right?

Which is why you can't sell coca cola with cocaine in it anymore

There's my point. Make sure that the supplier is also responsible.

A European company that sold the Chinese drywall has already settled. It was in the link.

A German company named Knauf that sourced plasterboard from China agreed to an $800 million settlement.

Don't buy Chinese crap. Simple enough.

yeah right.i would bet that every day you buy something made in china or with parts made there.

If you tell them you want the lowest price, or questions asked, make it anywhere you want and you Shall get crap
I can sell you radioactive waste but you need to check before returning it.

I was sitting here wondering how you identify Chinese sheetrock? I never remember sitting down and reading any printing on a sheet of it. Or having any reason to do so.

I always assumed since we had two large plants a couple of hundred miles away. All the drywall was local. I wonder if a time is approaching where you will almost have to check everything.

In far too many cases like this one a product may be used well before any common knowledge exists that there are problems with it. What happened when I first saw the article was I just hoped I have never installed some of that product.

I recall a few years ago, when some Chinese baby-food turned out to be toxic and killed a bunch of Chinese kids, they convicted and executed the CEO of the company.
I remember awhile back there was a special toxic Chinese ingredient being added to some pet foods. I dodged a bullet there as my cats didn't like one of the contaminated brands. But the toxin was in all these different brands, from cheap Wal-Mart to some expensive 'boutique' cat-foods. I remember some idiot TV talking-head saying "Consumers need to educate themselves about the food they give their pets" As if the pet food was actually labeled "Made in China" or the public would be able to have a lab analyze every can they bought!
And even if you know a product is made in China, there are some things that simply aren't made in the US anymore. These days, I consider it a small consolation if I can find some product made in any country other than China.

Happy Motoring, Mark

How much money we talking here? I haven't even made a purchase of anything since Friday, and that was only gas, fresh food, and booze, all of it USA.

All the sheet rock I have ever purchased had made in USA printed on it. Many projects over decades. I think transportation costs are key here and the China stuff is shipped to certain ports were it can compete with distant USA manufactures.