Sarasota-Bradenton property owners pray class action lawsuit resolves years-long legal battle to rid their homes of potentially dangerous Chinese drywall.

Sarasota area housing boom (circa 2001-2005) forced imports of Chinese drywall.

Chinese drywall damages copper wiring & coils, coating wire with black residue & killing AC systems w/in 2 years!

Personal & Property Dangers Force Class Action Lawsuit

According to University of New Orleans toxicologist Dr. Patricia Williams, the drywall appears to release three types of dangerous gasses: sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and carbon sulfide.  The inhalation of these gases can cause an individual personal injury by adversely affecting heart, lung and neurological functions.

In addition to the personal injury health issues, Chinese drywall may also cause severe damage to a home because of its corrosive properties.  As a corroder, Chinese drywall can destroy the copper wiring in a home (coating copper wiring with a black residue), and may require sheet rock replacement throughout the home.

Damaged copper wiring (experts claim) gives off a very distinctive smell, which resembles burnt matches.  Reports claim that Chinese drywall, when exposed to humid air, may leave a rotten egg smell resonating in the home.  But at this point, not much is clear as to exactly how to identify Chinese drywall and its potentially devastating effects.

Corroded HVAC (air conditioning system) – Your air conditioning system pulls the gases released by the Chinese Drywall into your air handler where it attaches itself to the copper lines. The sulfur gas attacks the copper lines and begins to severely corrode those copper lines. The corrosion weakens the lines and causes failure in the system. No matter how many times the air conditioning system is replaced, the system will continue to fail until the Chinese drywall is removed from the structure. This black residue has caused new AC units to fail within 2 years.

Finally, settlement reached in Chinese drywall suit. A Chinese drywall manufacturer has agreed to pay $100s of millions of dollars to settle court claims by thousands of Gulf Coast property owners who blame the product for damaging their homes.

The settlement calls for Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. to create an uncapped fund to pay for repairs for an estimated in 4,500 homes mostly in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Russ Herman, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said the estimated value of the settlement is between $800 million and $1 billion. Herman said 55 percent of the people who would benefit from the settlement live in Florida and 35 percent in Louisiana.

Naturally, buyers today are very concerned about Chinese drywall. Many buyers appear more informed than I about symptoms of this damaged drywall.

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