FAULTY SIDING LAWSUIT SETTLED
Jan 24, 1998
The Montgomery Advertiser
Faulty Siding Lawsuit Settled
The Associated Press
MOBILE -- A Mobile woman's complaint that the siding on her home buckled
and fell apart led to a lawsuit that will eventually cost Georgia-Pacific
Corp. millions in home repairs.
An Alabama judge approved a settlement in the class-action suit that Carol
Gaines and other homeowners brought against the Atlanta-based manufacturer
in 1995, claiming their homes were damaged by faulty exterior siding.
The Jan. 6 decision by Mobile County Circuit Judge Robert Kendall clears
the way for thousands of homeowners nationally to submit claims for compensation,
said David Guin in Birmingham, one of the homeowners' attorneys.
Georgia-Pacific was the target of a national class-action lawsuit alleging
its exterior hardboard siding deteriorates even when properly installed
and maintained.
"There were parts of it you could see falling apart. It looked like
it was full of moisture. It buckled, separated at the seams," Gaines
said Friday.
Her home was built in 1986 and she sought to recover the cost of repairs
exceeding $ 4,500.
The company said the majority of claims dealt with siding produced at
its Jarratt, Va., plant from 1979 to 1987. Georgia-Pacific said it stopped
making hardboard siding at that plant in 1987 because it didn't meet
expectations. It bought a plant in Catawba, S.C., that the company says
is a quality siding manufacturer.
In the settlement, Georgia-Pacific agreed to establish new procedures
to resolve product warranty claims, including refunds to property owners
for damages and repairs.
The case could cost Georgia-Pacific, which had $ 13 billion in sales last
year, $ 20 million to $ 30 million to pay all qualified claims, said Mobile
attorney Richard Dorman, also representing the plaintiffs. But Dorman
said there are "many variables" that could affect the company's
cost, including the number of homeowners who file claims.