Robert E. Cartwright Products Liability Law Blog on Lawyers.com

About 36 months after a Miami couple first wondered about the bizarre odor in their home, a Miami jury recently awarded them $2.5 million in damages and expenses, blaming odors and corrosion problems on defective Chinese drywall.  Chinese drywall is a major wall component found in many homes throughout the United States. First Chinese Drywall Verdict

The plaintiffs sued the U.S. supplier of the drywall after it corroded copper pipes and fixtures, ruined their air conditioner and other appliances and made their home smell terrible.  Their house was a complete loss and must be torn down and built again.   

The case represents the first jury trial in the country over Chinese drywall and could set a precedent for other lawsuits, and people in California are wondering whether they are going to be affected.  It turns out that many new California homes were made from the defective products.

According to the Homeowners Consumer Center (Home Owners Consumer Center), if your home was built since 2001 in California, if you smell something like rotten eggs or sulfur, if you have charred, black electrical wires, or corroded air conditioning coils, along with health issues, you may be a victim of Chinese drywall.  The entire process can render your home unlivable.

The Homeowners Consumer Center wants the press to write about the problem so that California homeowners will be aware of the problem and know what to do (and where to turn) once the problem becomes fails in our area.  Not many Californians know about the problem or where the product is being used in home construction.

A spokesperson for the Homeowners Consumer Center stated, "we always expected to find very heavy concentrations of the Chinese drywall in California, Arizona, Las Vegas, the Pacific Northwest and the Mountain West, because most of the product was shipped through the ports of Long Beach, Oakland, and/or Seattle/Tacoma."

This product could become the worst environmental disaster to ever face homeowners in our nation’s history.  Therefore, it’s important to educate local homeowners.   

Once again, this is what to look for to determine if you have Chinese drywall in your home:

1.    if you are in a house built since 2001,
2.    if there’s a rotten egg (or sulfur) smell in your home,
3.    if you have charred electrical wires, or corroded air conditioning coils or if your  appliances have stopped working for no apparent reason.

If any of the warnings signs listed above has happened to you, remember that you have legal rights and recourse just as the Miami, FLA couple had, and you should speak to a products liability attorney immediately to protect your rights.  

Robert E. Cartwright