Russ Herman Secures $248 Million Settlement for 3,600 Homeowners in Decade-Long Chinese Drywall MDL

Starting around 2005 and continuing through 2008, builders and contractors throughout the Gulf Coast, Florida, and the broader Southeast drew on a surge of Chinese-manufactured drywall to meet post-hurricane reconstruction demand. The material was cheap and abundant, but homeowners who moved into homes built with it quickly discovered a serious problem: the drywall emitted sulfur compounds that corroded copper wiring, air conditioning coils, plumbing fixtures, and household appliances. Residents also reported persistent odors and, in many cases, health complaints they linked to the fumes.

The wave of lawsuits that followed was consolidated before U.S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon in the Eastern District of Louisiana as In re: Chinese-Manufactured Drywall Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2047. The docket eventually gathered claims from thousands of property owners spread across multiple states, making it one of the more complex product-liability MDLs of that era. The litigation named multiple Chinese manufacturers and their affiliated entities as defendants, with Taishan Gypsum Co. and its related companies at the center of the Taishan track.

Judge Fallon appointed Russ Herman of Herman Herman and Katz as Plaintiffs' Liaison Counsel, placing him in the role of coordinating all communication between the plaintiffs' leadership and the court. His son Stephen Herman served as Settlement Class Counsel for the Taishan track. The litigation stretched across more than a decade and hit significant procedural obstacles, including a period beginning in 2014 when Taishan refused to appear in court and faced a contempt judgment before eventually re-engaging with the proceedings.

In August 2019, the parties announced a proposed $248 million settlement covering claims against the Taishan entities. The agreement was designed to resolve all outstanding Taishan-track claims on a class basis, providing payments to more than 3,600 homeowners who had documented their damages. After a fairness hearing that drew objections from some class members who argued the allocation formula undervalued certain remediation claims, Judge Fallon issued an order on January 10, 2020 granting final approval. The court reduced the plaintiffs' attorney-fee request to preserve more funds for the class.

The Taishan settlement closed out the last major defendant track in an MDL that had already produced earlier agreements with other manufacturers, including Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. Together those resolutions brought compensation to homeowners who had spent years living with corroding systems and deferred repairs while the litigation wound through the courts.