Thousands of Americans claim that their houses were built with defective drywall made in China. This year, they got some relief, thanks to a settlement with a U.S. company that distributed the drywall. The homeowners’ lead lawyers have now set their sights on an elusive Chinese manufacturer.
The drywall, imported into the United States during the housing boom of the mid-2000s, allegedly gives off fumes that corrode internal wiring and cause respiratory problems. A flood of lawsuits were consolidated in a multidistrict litigation in federal district court in New Orleans in 2009.
