The Miami Herald: Couple details drywall ordeal
Jun 16, 2010
The following article appeared in The Miami Herald on June 16, 2010:
A couple’s suit against Miami-based Banner Supply is the first jury trial in the country over defective drywall made in China.
By Nirvi Shah
When Armin and Lisa Seifart bought a home in Coconut Grove in early 2008, it was a refuge — from a shaky economy, unsteady market and years of moving as Armin Seifart chased one promotion after another.
So the family paid $1.6 million cash for the five-bedroom, five-bathroom house with a lush backyard reminiscent of his wife’s native Jamaica, Armin Seifart told jurors in court Tuesday.
They have spent another $705,000 gutting and rebuilding the home and paying for a rental home at the same time. Defective Chinese drywall installed in their one-time dream home is responsible for corroding pipes, damaging wiring, ruining appliances and making the house smell.
They were so worried about the drywall’s potential health effects on their young sons that they moved out about 24 hours after they found out their house was built with imported drywall.
Their house won’t be ready to live in again until at least next January.
The couple’s suit against Miami-based Banner Supply is the first jury trial in the country over defective drywall made in China.
Banner has conceded the drywall is defective, but the company doesn’t want to pay damages greater than the actual amount the Seifarts have spent fixing their home and paying to live elsewhere in the meantime. They had not spoken publicly about their case until Tuesday.
The Seifarts’ attorney, Ervin Gonzalez, maintains that Banner knew about the problems with the drywall but did nothing to warn people whose homes might have been affected.
More than a year before the Seifarts closed on their home, Banner was working on an arrangement with drywall manufacturer Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin to trade their unused supply of wallboard for American-made product.
The agreement, confidential until earlier this year, was signed after several builders and installers complained to Banner about a powerful smell emanating from the drywall they were supplied by KPT.
Although the house smelled odd before the Seifarts moved in, when they asked about it, they were told it was the smell of new construction or the smell from a broken septic tank.
The smell persisted, and so did the Seifarts in making the house a home, celebrating birthdays, hosting barbecues and in-laws and creating a playroom downstairs for their two young boys.
“We loved being there,” said Armin Seifart, who works as senior counsel for Chevron. “It turned into a nightmare.”
KPT is the only Chinese manufacturer to respond to U.S. court proceedings. Court testimony has shown KPT is linked to a German company, Knauf.
The first complaints from homeowners about drywall didn’t surface until about two years after the agreement between Banner and KPT.
Testing by the federal government has confirmed that emissions from the drywall cause the kinds of corrosion the Seifarts and other families have experienced.
“We know knowledge is power,” Seifart said. “I had no knowledge at all this was happening. Every homeowner in Florida was playing Russian roulette with home buying. This is ridiculous.”
Banner attorney Todd Ehrenreich questioned some of the Seifarts’ spending since they moved out, including the $6,500 they pay in rent for a slightly larger home, also in Coconut Grove, the interest on credit card payments the family has accrued and a loan from Lisa Seifart’s father.
Lisa Seifart was Gonzalez’s last witness.
Seifart, a clinical psychologist, became emotional as photos of her family were projected onto a screen in court.
“This was going to be a good place,” she said, recalling how she was insistent that they couldn’t buy it until they were reassured the smell was harmless and would go away.
“This is where we wanted to raise our children,” she said.
“This has been a horrible experience. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.”
Find this article at: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/16/1682641/couple-details-drywall-ordeal.html