NPR reports:
Years before it was made public, manufacturers, distributors and builders knew there was a big problem with imported drywall from China, according to documents introduced at a Miami trial. The problem with the drywall has affected thousands of homeowners. ….
According to Gonzales, who’s on the national plaintiffs’ steering committee for Chinese drywall, the case is important in another way as well.
There’s clear evidence in the record that they knew in 2006 about this problem, and they didn’t become the hero of the homeowners by preventing them from buying homes with Chinese drywall.
– Attorney Ervin Gonzalez speaking of Banner Supply, which provided contaminated drywall to hundreds of homes
“This is the first inkling that we have that Knauf had real knowledge of the problem,” he says.Knauf is a German-based multinational and the largest manufacturer of Chinese drywall used in the U.S. The company is the defendant in a series of lawsuits being heard in federal court in New Orleans.
In a statement, Knauf confirms that it investigated customer complaints of odor in 2006 and conducted tests, but it found that the drywall “had no adverse impact on homeowners’ health.”
As to why it didn’t issue a recall of its product, Knauf says it “can only act on complaints filed by its customers.”
Attorney Victor Diaz, who represents about 150 South Florida homeowners in a class-action lawsuit, says Knauf and Banner Supply weren’t the only companies that knew early on there was a problem with Chinese drywall.
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