A proposed $248 million settlement has been filed in a decade-old federal court case over defective Chinese drywall blamed for damaging home appliances and sickening residents.
The proposed settlement between property owners and Taishan Gypsum Co. was filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans on Tuesday. It comes nearly eight years after a major settlement in another case involving a different Chinese company, Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co., and in the wake of other settlements with various homebuilders, equipment suppliers and installers who used the material.
All of the litigation arose from the use of defective drywall in thousands of homes between about 2005 and 2008. The product was alleged to have given off sulfur fumes that corroded metal in appliances, air conditioning equipment, wiring and plumbing fixtures. In some cases the fumes were blamed for illnesses.
