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Louisiana Family Wins Chinese Drywall Lawsuit - Wednesday, April 28, 2010

On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Eldon E. Fallon made his second ruling in a series of defective Chinese drywall cases which he is overseeing. His ruling awarded a Louisiana family $164,000 plus attorneys' fees and court costs to cover the damage their house sustained as a result of the Chinese drywall. The damage award includes approximately $5,400 to cover damaged personal property and $20,000 to cover the cost of a place to live while the house is repaired.

Judge Fallon ruled that the house must be gutted down to the studs so that all drywall can be replaced. Other items in the house that must be replaced include:

Ductwork
Electrical system
All copper and silver components
Heating-and-cooling system
Damaged appliances and consumer electronics

The ruling in this case is fairly consistent with Fallon's previous decision earlier this month when he awarded $2.6 million to seven Virginia homeowners. These two verdicts have set the tone for all future Chinese drywall litigation, making it clear that extensive repairs on the part of the drywall manufacturer should be expected.

The bulk of the trial proceedings focused on the extent of remediation that would be necessary to adequately repair the house. The family's attorney argued that the home would need to be gutted entirely, resulting in approximately $200,000 in costs. The drywall manufacturer disagreed, claiming many components, including wiring, plumbing, and air-conditioning, could remain, lowering the cost of repairs to roughly $58,000. As with his previous ruling, Judge Fallon approved the rather extensive list of plaintiff repair requests.

There was another important component to this ruling. Attorneys' fees were awarded, preventing the homeowner from having to pay for these costs out of the funds earmarked for home repairs.

Currently, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has received more than 3,000 reports of homes damaged by defective Chinese drywall. Many experts believe that these figures do not reflect the true extent of the problem experienced by homeowners across America.

Written by Andrew Martin: professional blogger and guru of misfortune.

Court Rules Wal-Mart Gender Discrimination Case Can Proceed as Class Action - Tuesday, April 27, 2010

A strongly divided federal appeals court narrowly ruled on Monday that a gender discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart could proceed as class action case. With more than one million women listed as plaintiffs, this ranks as the largest employment discrimination lawsuit in American history.

This case has been bogged down in appeals for nearly a decade. Monday's ruling now paves the way for a trial where the plaintiff class is seeking billions of dollars in damages from Wal-Mart.

The lawsuit, which originated in 2001, claims that Wal-Mart systematically paid their female employees less than their male employees, offering them smaller raises and fewer opportunities for advancement. In support of these allegations, the class of plaintiffs argues that women comprise only 33% of the Wal-Mart managerial team, while they make up approximately 65% of the hourly employees.

Wal-Mart is vehemently denying the allegations, claiming that this lawsuit represents allegations brought by a handful of employees and does not reflect their overall treatment of more than one million women on their staff.

One of the central issues at stake was whether the size of the class action would pose an unmanageable situation for the pending litigation. While the federal appeals judges differed on this subject, a narrow majority seemed to believe that the large number of plaintiffs would not be an insurmountable hurdle. As a result, the case will move forward with more than one million women listed as plaintiffs.

However, Monday's ruling may prohibit women who no longer work at Wal-Mart from participating in the lawsuit. If so, this could reduce the size of the class action suit substantially.