CertainTeed Organic Shingle Settlement has Green Light

June 16th, 2010. By AbiK

Know what gets a lot of traffic at LawyersAndSettlements.com? Anything CertainTeed. CertainTeed lawsuits. CertainTeed settlements. CertainTeed-related comments about the weather. You name it, folks love clicking a CertainTeed link. So, in honor of all of you who’ve clicked away, here’s a CertainTeed story that might pay off for you: the CertainTeed Organic Shingle Settlement was approved at a court hearing last week.

[Little disclosure: as with the Lawn Mower settlement, LawyersAndSettlements.com has absolutely nothing to do with this—we’re not affiliated or connected in any way to the Settlement, not in bed with the law firms involved, not getting any cut of this…we’re just reporting it…]

So this Settlement is the result of a defective product lawsuit claiming that CertainTeed Organic Shingles that were manufactured between July 1, 1987 and December 31, 2005 were defective and failed to perform as promised when installed on homes and/or buildings in the US and Canada.

Now, don’t get all giddy too quickly. I’m telling you upfront, this Settlement—if you’re a part of it—will require a bit of homework on your part. So here we go…

The settlement applies to these folks only (aka, the “Class Members” —and yes, you need to be a member of this little club to receive any settlement monies) AND you also need to meet certain eligibility requirements once you pass the “test” to be considered a Class Member. So first, let’s look at who qualifies as a Class Member…

You are a CLASS MEMBER of the CertainTeed Organic Shingle Class Action Settlement if you:

1. Owned a home or other building in the US or Canada as of December 15, 2009 on which CertainTeed Organic Shingles were or had been installed;

OR

2. Owned such a home or building prior to December 15, 2009 but sold or transferred it—and at the time of the sale or transfer, you retained the right to make a claim for the shingles pursuant to a valid documented assignment;

OR

3. Have settled a warranty claim with CertainTeed regarding Organic Shingles between August 1, 2006 and the effective date of the settlement agreement. (The “effective date” is 30 days from when the Court gave its final approval to the Settlement if there are no appeals.)

Now, if you meet one of the above, here’s the next hurdle you have to clear: Eligibility.

To be ELIGIBLE to file a claim and receive payment from the CertainTeed Settlement, you have to:

1. Be a Class Member.

2. Ensure that the shingles you’re filing a claim for meet the definition of “Damage” according to the Settlement agreement; (This is key, and I urge you to visit the CertainTeed Organic Shingle Settlement Claims Administrator’s website for specific details—the website address and toll-free number are at the end of this post.)

3. Ensure the damage occurred before the end of the shingles’ warranty period.

4. Ensure the damage was caused by a product defect—not by circumstances beyond the control of CertainTeed—such as improper installation or maintenance.

5. (and this one should be a no-brainer, however, not so…) Submit a Claim Form on a timely basis! Seasoned claim form submitter that  you are, you’re probably thinking there is just one date for everyone to postmark there claim form. No. The exact wording from the Claims Administrator on this is:

The deadline for filing a claim form varies depending on your particular circumstances. To determine the deadline for your Claim Form, check below to see if the warranty for your CertainTeed Organic Shingles covers you. If so, you can submit your claim any time allowed under the warranty…. If you are not covered by the warranty or if you settled your warranty claim since August 1, 2006, your claim form must be postmarked or otherwise received by CertainTeed within 12 months after the Settlement Effective Date.

Little reminder: that Settlement Effective Date is 30 days from when the Court gave final approval of the settlement if there are no appeals.

The Claims Administrator’s website (see information below) does a good job of trying to sort out when your claim form is due, based on the year your shingles were manufactured; basically, the limited warranties for each type of CertainTeed Organic Shingle differ by year of manufacture—so there’s a number of variables at play here—but if you’re still under warranty, it looks like you can submit a claim any time during the warranty period; if not, or if you’ve settled your warranty claim since August 1, 2006, then you have until 12 months after the Settlement Effective Date to postmark your claim.

For more information—including what you can expect to receive as a part of the settlement—and to fill out a claim form for this settlement, visit the CertainTeed Shingle Settlement website at:

www.certainteedshinglesettlement.com or call them, toll-free at 1-888-898-4111

 

Tags: Certainteed, CertainTeed Organic Shingles

This was posted on Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 11:12 am and is filed under Class Action, Defective Products, Emerging Issues, Settlement . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.