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Construction Law

Construction Litigation Law Blog

From the Construction Litigation Group at Stark & Stark

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Last Entry: November 22, 2010 at 16:37:28

Answers to Commonly Asked Questions About Chinese Drywall

Posted on May 01, 2009
I recently found a fellow blogger who posed some interesting questions regarding the on-going developments related to Chinese drywall. Homeowners and condominium associations may be following the recently filed lawsuits alleging class action claims against the manufacturers and distributors of Chinese Drywall and wondering how this helps them get the defective material out of their homes? Assuming class certification is even possible (and that is a subject for another blog), it will take many years for the class actions to be adjudicated...

What Causes the ?Rotten Egg? Smell in Chinese Drywall?

Posted on April 30, 2009
The Florida Department of Health has stated that the main component in Chinese drywall which is responsible for producing the strong rotten egg smell in homes, is caused by strontium sulfide. Strontium sulfide can emit corrosive gases when in the presence of heat and humidity...

Demand, Not Money, Prompted Chinese Drywall Imports

Posted on April 28, 2009
While most people seem to believe money was the motivating factor as to why homes in the United States were built with defective drywall imported from China, it is not. It was simply an issue of demand. Due to the increased demand for building supplies during the housing boom in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Wilma, builders, contractors and developers imported drywall from China in order to rebuild American homes...

Florida Senator Urges Governor to Create Chinese Drywall Task Force

Posted on April 24, 2009
In addition to Florida Congressman, Robert Wexler, introducing legislation establishing an immediate study and federal ban on dangerous Chinese drywall, Florida Senator Dave Aronberg is now asking Governor Crist to create a Chinese Drywall Task Force...

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Virginia Department of Health Offers Answers to Resident's Questions Concerning Defective Chinese Drywall

Posted on April 23, 2009
The Virginia Department of Health recently published a list of frequently asked questions associated with the growing concerns over defective Chinese Drywall. This is in response to the over 100,000 homes currently listed as having been built with defective drywall imported from China over the past several years...

Florida Congressman Robert Wexler Asks Governor Crist to Declare State of Emergency for Homes Affected by Chinese Drywall

Posted on April 22, 2009
Florida Congressman, Robert Wexler, recently introduced legislation establishing an immediate study and federal ban on dangerous Chinese drywall. This legislation comes in response to the thousands of Florida homes affected by the defective product. The reports of serious health risks affecting residents throughout the state due to the defective Chinese drywall found in residential home built by developers during the past few years are staggering...

Homes Initially Thought to Be Chinese Drywall Free, Now Not Able To Guarantee Safety

Posted on April 21, 2009
Homeowner warranties and insurance policies may be of no help to homeowners who have Chinese Drywall due to exclusions in the policies. New Orleans, Louisiana residents, who were initially informed that their homes were built with only United States manufactured materials, are now being informed that the construction company who built their homes is not able to guarantee that Chinese materials were not used in the construction of their homes...

Report Says Chinese Drywall Not Isolated to Florida: Also Found in Maryland, Virginia, Arizona, and Texas

Posted on April 20, 2009
According to a recent report on the Homeowners Consumer Center?s website, the defective Chinese drywall initially thought to have been isolated to Florida, has now been reported in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, Arizona, and Texas...

Chinese Drywall Class Action Suit May Not Help Homeowners For Years If Ever

Posted on April 17, 2009
I was reading Scott Wolfe's (@scottwolfejr) post on whether or not builders are getting a free pass on Chinese Drywall claims and I began to think about how a class action lawsuit will help homeowners remedy the problems with their homes today. Based on the uptick in traffic coming to this blog and my firm's website from defective Chinese Drywall searches it is obvious that homeowners and condominium associations are following the recently filed lawsuits alleging class action claims against the manufacturers and distributors of Chinese Drywall...

Expansion of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act

Posted on April 16, 2009
The New Jersey Supreme Court announced a sweeping expansion of the NJ Consumer Fraud Act, N.J.S.A. 56:8-2 ("CFA"), to include work done by contractors performing interior work on new construction. In Czar Inc. Heath, A-114-07, decided 3/13/09, the Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that new homeowners who act as their own general contractors for interior finish work have a right to assert claims under the CFA against the Czar, Inc ("Czar"), the subcontractor responsible for doing installation of kitchen cabinets, doors, chair railing and other interior finishes...

Louisiana Governor Reaches Out to EPA and CDC for Assistance

Posted on April 15, 2009
Last week, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal asked the Environmental Protection Agency and the Center For Disease Control and Prevention for help in investigating the effects of Chinese drywall. In the letter, Governor Jindal requested assistance from the EPA and the CDC in developing and implementing chemical testing protocols in homes in Louisiana that are experiencing severe copper corrosion associated with Chinese-made drywall...

Defective Chinese Drywall Leads to Health Problems

Posted on April 14, 2009
An article on US News & World Report's website earlier this week reported that a Florida woman has been complaining of burning eyes, sinus headaches, and a general heaviness in her chest since moving into her brand-new, 4,000-square foot house in Florida a few years ago...

A Simple Checklist you can Follow to Determine if You have Chinese Drywall in your Condo

Posted on April 09, 2009
1. Does your drywall smell from rotten eggs? If so, the rotten egg smell is caused by sulphur leaching out of the drywall. It will not go away, although its intensity may vary depending upon environmental factors such as the size of the room; the amount of ventilation available, the proximity of windows and doors, and whether there are multiple cut-outs in the drywall...

Chinese Drywall May Damage Or Corrode HVAC and Electrical Systems In Homes

Posted on March 31, 2009
Builders and homeowners in Florida and other states across the country are becoming more and more concerned about Chinese-manufactured drywall that is suspected of being defective. Specifically, it is believed that the drywall contains chemicals that may corrode HVAC systems and damage electrical components...

Problems With Chinese-manufactured Drywall

Posted on March 17, 2009
Stark & Stark is conducting an investigation into problems with allegedly defective Chinese-manufactured drywall. According to a recent article posted by Newsinferno.com, the allegedly defective Chinese Drywall was, for the most part, produced by Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co...

WCI Communities Bankruptcy and Chinese Drywall

Posted on March 03, 2009

Fourth and Fifth Circuits Reign in ?Business Risk? Doctrine Rulings in Favor of Coverage Under General Contractors? CGL Insurance Policies Add Clarity, Signal Return to ?Plain Language?

Posted on February 26, 2009

Foul Odor In Home A Result of Chinese Drywall

Posted on February 24, 2009
WCI Communities, with developments in New Jersey, Florida, Connecticut, Maryland, New York and Virginia, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Aug. 4 as it faced about $2 billion in debt. There have been reports of complaints about foul odors coming from drywall in homes built by WCI...

Defective Chinese Drywall

Posted on February 18, 2009
Stark & Stark's Construction Litigation Team is investigating possibly defective Chinese drywall (a.k.a. "sheetrock," "plasterboard") that has allegedly ruined many new condominium units in several states. Over the past few months, owners of newer condominium units nationwide have been complaining of drywall that smells like rotten eggs...

Drywall Imported From China Causing Construction Problems

Posted on January 13, 2009
The construction industry appears to be the latest victim of the stream of defectively manufactured goods from China that have poured into our country over the last few years. As if the construction market has not experienced enough hardship in these trying economic times, reports have recently surfaced of defective drywall products that were imported from China as the likely cause of putrid sulfur odor emissions being experienced in newly constructed homes and failure of metal devices typically installed behind sheetrocked walls, such as HVAC systems and metallic wiring...

New Jersey?s Consumer Fraud Act Applied to Home Improvement

Posted on December 19, 2008
In a recent unpublished decision under New Jersey?s Consumer Fraud Act, the Appellate Division in D. Wyatt Stone and Stone Foundation, LLC v. Kahr Properties, LLC, December 2008 App. Div. 09-2-2471), decided the appeal of a judgment in the Plaintiff?s favor for damages, attorneys' fees and costs arising from a home improvement project...

Nevada Supreme Court Denies Builder's Request in "Stucco Case"

Posted on October 02, 2008
Last Thursday the Nevada Supreme Court denied attempts from Del Webb (a national builder of active adult communities) and their contractors seeking to limit the number of homeowners within a community from pursuing construction defect claims. The court stated that subsequent buyers of a home (in addition to the original owners) which had been deemed defective have the right to sue under the Nevada State defect law...

What every builder should know about the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act

Posted on September 02, 2008
Every builder operating in New Jersey is most likely aware that our state has plaintiff-friendly laws in the context of construction defect litigation. Even so, the gravity of claims made against builders for alleged defects typically has a direct correlation to relatively known and controllable factors, i...

Claims may exist under Consumer Fraud Act whether or not direct contact occurred between consumer and violator of Act

Posted on July 17, 2008
Matera et. al. v. M.G.C.C. Group, Inc. et. al., Docket No. L-1812-04 Judge Louis Locascio of the New Jersey Superior Court recently ruled in the matter of Matera et. al. v. M.G.C.C. Group, Inc. et. al., Docket No. L-1812-04, that a cause of action under New Jersey?s Consumer Fraud Act exists where there is no direct contact between the parties but there is a connection between the defendants? ?alleged violation of the Consumer Fraud Act and plaintiff?s ascertainable loss...

Municipalities Cannot Require Builders to Provide Common Open Spaces

Posted on July 02, 2008
The New Jersey Appellate Division ruled this month in two companion cases, New Jersey Shore Builders Association v. Township of Jackson, A-5805-06 (June 23, 2008) and Builders? League of South Jersey v. Egg Harbor Township, A-1563-07 (June 23, 2008), that municipalities cannot require as a condition of approval that builders and developers provide on-site recreation areas or facilities, or common open space, outside the context of planned unit developments...

Homeowner's Association Standing To Assert Without Joining the Homeowners

Posted on March 31, 2008
Donald B. Brenner, Shareholder and Chair of Stark & Stark's Construction Litigation group, authored the article Homeowner's Association Standing To Assert Without Joining the Homeowners for the March 24, 2008 edition of the New Jersey Law Journal. You can read the full article here...

$5 Million Verdict In Favor Of New Jersey Residential High-Rise Building

Posted on March 25, 2008
On March 11, 2008, in the matter of Camelot Condominium Association, Inc v. Dryvit Systems, Inc., pending before the Superior Court of New jersey, Docket No. BER-L-012457-04, a jury entered a verdict in favor of the Plaintiff and against Dryvit Systems, Inc ("Dryvit") for violations of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act...

Condo Association Equitably Estopped from Consumer Fraud Act Relief When Its Conduct Resulted in the Violation

Posted on March 04, 2008
After a condominium association president declined a contractor?s request to execute a written change order and directed the contractor to proceed with the additional work, the association was barred from seeking relief under the Consumer Fraud Act (?CFA?) (N...

Property Owner Did Not Waive Arbitration Clause by Participating in Lawsuit

Posted on December 12, 2007
In an unpublished case, the Appellate Division recently affirmed the trial court?s decision that defendant property owner did not waive the arbitration clause of its AIA construction contract with plaintiff construction company by participating in plaintiff lawsuit for a year before invoking the arbitration clause...

Consumers Cannot Waive Regulatory Requirement for Written Home Improvement Contracts

Posted on November 30, 2007
The Appellate Division recently denied a landscaping contractor?s suit to collect amounts due for extra work in addition to that called for in his contract for complete landscaping of the defendants? home. Online Contracting, Inc. v. Tripucka, No. A-2622-06 (App...

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