US court rules against Taishan Gypsum over drywall defects
A United States judge has ruled against Taishan Gypsum in a default judgment over its export of an allegedly defective building material called drywall, because the mainland company had failed to respond to the US lawsuit.
On Thursday, US District Court Judge Eldon Fallon held Taishan Gypsum in default for failing to respond to a class-action lawsuit by builders that used the company's drywall in US homes, according to a press release by the American Association for Justice (AAJ), which supports injury cases.
Mitchell Co, a US homebuilder, had filed a motion asking the court to rule against Taishan Gypsum because the company had not responded to the lawsuit. Documents indicated Taishan Gypsum received notice of the suit in May.
A default judgment is a ruling in favour of the plaintiff if the defendant fails to respond to a summons.
'Taishan Gypsum profited from a product they sold in the US that has now proven to be defective, costing millions of dollars in damage, decreased property values and countless health problems. The ruling shows the company has turned their back, hoping US consumers, homebuilders and insurance companies will pick up their tab,' said AAJ president Anthony Tarricone.
Taishan Gypsum is a subsidiary of Shenzhen-listed building material firm BNBM, which in turn is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed China National Building Material, the country's biggest building material producer. It is estimated that as much as 500million pounds of Chinese drywall has been imported into the US, with Taishan Gypsum responsible for more than 10 million pounds.
A CNBM spokesman named Wang said Taishan Gypsum was undergoing legal procedures over this matter and its drywall products had passed US and Chinese standards, as well as ISO9001 and ISO1400 international standards. He said the gypsum board that Taishan Gypsum produces was only an ingredient in drywall, and there was no explicit claim the board itself was behind the alleged problems with the drywall.