Chinese Drywall Class Action

Boca Raton, FL – The law firm of Kogan & DiSalvo, P.A., with offices in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Lakeland, Palm Bay, St. Petersburg, Stuart, Tampa, Vero Beach, and West Palm Beach, Florida, filed suit on Monday July 27, 2009 in Broward County Circuit Court on behalf of hundreds of Florida families victimized by defective “Chinese Drywall” in their WCI Communities, Inc. homes. The suit seeks 200 million dollars in damages from eight WCI homeowner associations throughout Florida for breach of fiduciary duty and negligence.

The lawsuit alleges that executives of now bankrupt WCI knew of the existence of defective “Chinese Drywall” in their homes as early as 2006. These same executives served on WCI homeowner association boards and appointed other WCI executives to these boards who had knowledge of this hazard. These executives, and the homeowner association boards they control, have never notified a single WCI resident about the dangerous drywall in their homes. The lawsuit alleges that their failure to notify or warn constitutes a breach of their fiduciary duties owed to the residents and constitutes negligent performance of their association board duties.

The “Chinese Drywall” victims are alleging that had the WCI board members promptly warned the residents, the “Chinese Drywall” victims would not have purchased their WCI homes, would not have improved the homes. They would have immediately removed their families from these homes and promptly brought legal claims against WCI while the billion dollar corporation was solvent.
The lawsuit only seeks damages available through the associations’ policies of insurance, which were originally purchased by the builder, WCI. Consequently, WCI association homeowners should not anticipate increased assessments as a result of the suit.