A federal jury last week ruled in favor of the New
Orleans drywall supplier, Interior/Exterior Supply, that distributed the toxic
and corrosive Knauf-brand imported Chinese drywall. Judge Fallon, the presiding judge over the Chinese
drywall MDL, oversaw the week-long trial and found that the company did not
know that the materials purchased from Knauf were defective.
Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin, a major manufacturer of
problem drywall from China, agreed last year to pay hundreds of millions of
dollars to repair 4,500 homes ruined with its product. That proposed settlement
is still awaiting final court approval from Judge Fallon.
One of the major impacts of this verdict is how it
affects other distributors of Knauf-brand drywall and Taishan-brand drywall in
the MDL and the many other state-filed cases throughout the United States.
