Seven Hampton Roads homes built with tainted Chinese-made drywall will be the focus of the first federal trial involving the building material.
The goal of the first trial, set to go forward in New Orleans on Jan. 25, will be to figure out how much it will cost to fix the homes.
The local homes were built with drywall imported by the now-defunct Norfolk company Venture Supply Inc., which purchased about 150,000 sheets of the wallboard from Taishan Gypsum Co. Ltd., a company controlled by the Chinese government.
Several homeowners in the Hollymeade neighborhood in Newport News are part of a class action lawsuit against the Chinese manufacturer that made defective drywall. In addition, four Williamsburg homeowners and one Virginia Beach homeowner will participate in the trial.
The court order filed Friday in the United States District Court, Eastern Division of Louisiana. Federal Judge Eldon Fallon essentially entered a judgment against Taishan Gypsum, the Chinese drywall manufacturer. The court documents say defendant, Taishan Gypsum “…failed to plead or otherwise defend the action.” Therefore the order was entered against the defendant in favor of the plaintiff. The plaintiff in the case is Germano, which includes all of the homeowners across the country who have joined the class action lawsuit. The seven Hampton Roads homeowners headed to trial will serve as the names, faces and stories of Germano in court. Their homes represent a range of sizes, and some homes are full of the Chinese drywall, while others may have it in just a room or two.
In the next two months, remediation experts for both plaintiffs and defendants will be studying the local homes, which are in Virginia Beach, Williamsburg and Newport News, to determine a protocol and evaluate how much it will cost to remediate homes built with the drywall.
Then U.S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon will rule on how much Taishan is responsible for paying, a determination that could be used in subsequent trials against other Chinese-drywall manufacturers
Other known Hampton Roads communities with Chinese Drywall issues include:
Highland Parish, VA Beach
Wellington, Williamsburg, VA
Kensington Woods -Williamsburg, VA
Some town homes in New Town Williamsburg VA
Some condos at Braemar Creek, Williamsburg VA
Some single family homes in the Orchard Hill section of Stonehouse
Harbor Walk- Wermers Development.
The Hampshires at Greenbrier in Chesapeake- Dragas Companies
Cromwell Park in Virginia Beach- Dragas Companies
Condos in Wyndham West -Williamsburg VA
Please contact me for a full list John@MrWilliamsburg.com
Filed under: hampton roads, williamsburg va
This is a tragic situation for all home owners involved. I am personal friends with one of the Newport News plaintiffs. This article was very informative and factual. I have heard that early estimates for remediation and repair start around $80 per square foot. Is this right?
As a REALTOR, I wonder even if the Chinese drywall is remediated, would we still have to disclose in perpituity the fact that at one time the house contained Chinese dry wall? I mean, we don’t know what the long term effects are and whether the gases can be completely and effectively remediated.
Brad Anderson, REALTOR