Defective Products Archive

Chinese Drywall & Sean Payton: take ’em to court baby

August 7th, 2009. By AbiK

We’ve been tracking Sean Payton’s Chinese drywall fiasco—he’s one of the few celebs who’s been notably hit by the defective drywall; We also just posted on Larry Kosakowski’s desperation call to President Obama—what else do you do when you don’t feel you’re getting any help?

This week, neworleans.com reporter Dave Lawrence conducted a post-morning practice interview with Sean Payton. Given that it’s local media—Payton’s the head coach of the New Orleans Saints—the interview questions ran the gamut from football to Chinese drywall and beyond. The most interesting aspect of Payton’s responses on the topic were his own feeling of helplessness—that he’s moved his family out of his house, removed all the defective drywall at his own expense, has been renting at another location (at his expense), and he’s still waiting like everyone else for some resolution on the situation.

Most telling quote from Payton on the Chinese drywall debacle?

“Your only recourse really is litigation.”

Hey, don’t take it from me, take it from Sean Payton—he’s living it. And if you’re considering contacting a lawyer for a consultation, the sooner the better.

Tags: chinese drywall, chinese sheetrock
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Chinese Drywall: Hey Obama, finish your beer & call me

August 7th, 2009. By AbiK

If you’ve ever wondered why we live in a so-called litigious society, here’s why: Chinese Drywall. Unfortunately, it’s usually the more outlandish personal injury claims that get the attention of the press—things like that case years ago when someone with hot coffee from McDonald’s sued (uh, wasn’t coffee supposed to be hot? never mind…) But in the case of Chinese Drywall, it’s apparent inaction. So here’s Larry Kosakowski. And he’s ticked off. About Chinese drywall.

Seems according to wpbf.com, Larry’s already been to local and state lawmakers down in his home state of FL. But, he’s not seeing any action. So hey, Larry’s got some you-know-what’s, so he doesn’t mess around—he goes straight to the top. He calls the President. Of the US.

Now, on the day Kosakowski phoned the president, the president was meeting—uh, chugging back a beer—at his “Beer Summit”. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: chinese drywall
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Louisiana look out – Virginia’s on your Chinese Drywall tail

August 4th, 2009. By AbiK

And a few other states.

Seems Chinese drywall “creep” has expanded to a few more states since my last update (7/10/09) on this front. Now, the picture—which has that “separated at birth” look with a CNN election day map—shows a bit more blue. New states reporting incidents of Chinese drywall, according to the CPSC, include Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

And yes, Virginia, you’re hot on Louisiana’s tail on this front—not that you want to be. Virginia now has 23 reports in to trail Louisiana’s 96. Florida is still in the lead with 510 cases reported.

Tags: chinese drywall
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Chinese Drywall: Rad-i-o, Rad-i-o, Radioactive?

July 30th, 2009. By AbiK

Radioactive.

I’m betting that word conjures up 1 of 3 things:

• the movie Silkwood
• Three Mile Island (et al)
• “I’m not uptight, not unattracted, turn me on tonight, ’cause I’m radioactive…”

Not Chinese drywall.

A report in the LA Times (7/4/09) that potentially connected Chinese drywall with a radioactive substance got a lot of folks attention—with good reason. In referencing the challenges investigators have been faced with to get to the root of the problem, the Times article stated that “some Chinese experts, however, suspect that the culprit is a radioactive phosphorus substance—phosphogypsum—that is banned for construction use in the U.S. but has been used by Chinese manufacturers for almost a decade.”

Before anyone goes crazy (as if there isn’t enough to make a homeowner with Chinese drywall crazy already), officials so far have not found any evidence of this. But the Times goes on to report that copies of Chinese customs reports (obtained by the Times), along with interviews, “indicate that drywall made with phosphogypsum was shipped to the U.S. in 2006 by at least 4 Chinese-based manufacturers and trading firms.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: chinese drywall
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Hydroxycut Diet Pill vs Cigarettes

July 16th, 2009. By janem

If I want to lose weight, I figure that smoking would get the same result as Hydroxycut. Cigarettes and Hydroxycut have a few things in common: they speed up your metabolism, they are appetite suppressants and they are extremely dangerous to your health.

When I quit smoking years ago, I gained 15 pounds. It took some time, but I got rid of the excess weight by exercise and good eating habits. Many people choose a “quick fix” to shed pounds even though it’s common knowledge that diet pills don’t work. In fact they are downright dangerous; remember Fen-phen? It was recalled for contributing to fatal heart valve damage.

 But diet pills are extremely popular and no wonder; according to the FDA, about 120 million Americans are overweight and 54 million are obese. And getting back to ciggies, while smoking is on the decline, overweight and obesity statistics are rapidly rising and obesity is the second most devastating avoidable cause of premature death in the US after tobacco. So can diet drugs save lives by curbing obesity? Doubtful.

Not only can diet pills deprive the body of essential nutrients, some pills can do irreversible damage such as Hydroxycut, which is known to cause liver damage and more. And more often than not, people just gain weight back—if the diet pills haven’t caused serious damage otherwise beforehand. Ask your doctor; the only way to lose weight is good old exercise and eating healthy foods.

Tags: Hydroxycut
Posted in Defective Products, Emerging Issues | 3 Comments »