Banner & Banner’s Insurers Settle Chinese Manufactured Drywall Products Liability Class Action Litigation.
A class action settlement has been reached in the Chinese Drywall Products Liability Litigation brought against Chinese drywall distributer Banner Supply Co., Banner Supply Co. Pompano, LLC, Banner Supply Co. Port St. Lucie, LLC, Banner Supply Co. Ft. Myers, LLC, Banner Supply Co. Tampa, LLC, Banner Supply International, LLC (collectively, “Banner”), and Banner’s insurers, Chartis, FCCI, Hanover and Maryland Casualty (collectively, the “Insurers”) (all collectively “Defendants”) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (styled In Re: Chinese-Manufacturerd Drywall Products Liability Litigation, MDL Case No. 2047) on behalf of property owners whose homes or other properties were damaged by allegedly defective Chinese Drywall, according to the Banner Chinese Drywall Products Liability Litigation class action lawsuit settlement agreement.
The Banner Chinese Drywall Products Liability Litigation settlement class reportedly includes the following persons, unless otherwise excluded:
All persons or entities with claims, known and unknown, against the Settling Defendants arising from, or otherwise related to, Chinese Drywall purchased from, supplied, distributed, marketed, used, sold and/or delivered by Banner.
The Banner Chinese Drywall class action settlement reportedly provides for the contribution by Banner’s Insurers, following final approval by the Court, of Settlement Funds in the aggregate amount of $53,081,572.30, representing all of the remaining insurance proceeds available to Banner, in full settlement of all claims of the Class Members against Banner or its Insurers arising from or otherwise related to Chinese Drywall purchased from, supplied, distributed, marketed, used, sold and/or delivered by Banner.
For purposes of the Banner Chinese Drywall settlement, Chinese Drywall is defined as:
any and all drywall products purchased from, supplied, distributed, marketed, used, sold and/or delivered by Banner alleged to be defective and manufactured, in whole or in part, in China, or that include components manufactured, in whole or in part, in China, including, but not limited to, drywall manufactured by Knauf Gips KG; Knauf Plasterboard (Tianjin) Co., Ltd.; Knauf Plasterboard (Wuhu), Co., Ltd.; Gebrueder Knauf Verwaltungsgesellschaft, KG; Guangdong Knauf New Building Materials Products Co., Ltd.; Beijing New Building Materials Public Ltd. Co.; Taishan Gypsum Co., Ltd. f/k/a/ Shandong Taihe Dongxin Co., Ltd.; Taian Taishan Plasterboard Co., Ltd.; Pingyi Zhongxin Paper-Faced Plasterboard Co., Ltd. f/k/a Shandong Chenxiang Building Materials Co., Ltd.; Crescent City Gypsum, Inc.; and any other manufacturer of Chinese drywall.
A hearing will reportedly be held in Courtroom C-456 of the United States Courthouse, 500 Poydras Street, New Orleans, LA 70130, at 9:00 a.m. on February 3, 2012 (the “Fairness Hearing”), for the purpose of determining whether the Banner Chinese Drywall class action settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate and should be approved finally by the Court.
For more information on the Banner Chinese Drywall class action lawsuit settlement, visit the District Court’s Chinese Drywall MDL website at:
www.laed.uscourts.gov/Drywall/Drywall.htm
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