In re Chinese-Manufactured Drywall Prods. Liab. Litig.
| Decision Date | 06 March 2019 |
| Docket Number | CIVIL ACTION MDL NO. 2047 SECTION L (5) |
| Parties | IN RE: CHINESE-MANUFACTURED DRYWALL PRODUCTS LIABILITY LITIGATION THIS DOCUMENT RELATES TO: ALL BROOKE CASES |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana |
Before the Court is the BNBM Defendants' Motion to Dismiss the Brooke omnibus complaint, filed January 15, 2016. R. Doc. 19984. On September 12, 2018, the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee ("PSC") filed its opposition. R. Doc. 21779. The BNBM Defendants filed a reply on October 3, 2018. R. Doc. 21818. On November 13, 2018, after reviewing the parties' submissions, the Court ordered additional briefing on the issue of tolling. R. Doc. 21914. On December 14, 2018, the PSC filed its supplemental brief. R. Doc. 21963. On January 18, 2019, Taishan and the BNBM entities filed their memoranda in further support of BNBM's motion to dismiss, R. Docs. 22071, 22072, to which the PSC filed a supplemental reply, R. Doc. 22083. The Court heard oral argument on the motion on February 21, 2019. R. Doc. 22114. Having considered the parties' arguments, briefing, and the applicable law, the Court is ready to rule.
From 2004 through 2006, a housing boom in parts of the United States and rebuilding efforts necessitated by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina in the Gulf South led to a shortage of construction materials, including drywall. As a result, drywall manufactured in China was brought into the United States and used to construct and refurbish homes in coastal areas of the country, notably the Gulf and East Coasts. Sometime after the Chinese drywall was installed, homeowners began to complain of foul-smelling odors, the corrosion and blackening of metal wiring, surfaces, and objects, and the breaking down of appliances and electrical devices in their homes. See In re Chinese-Manufactured Drywall Prods. Liab. Litig., 894 F. Supp. 2d 819, 829-30 (E.D. La. 2012), aff'd, 742 F.3d 576 (5th Cir. 2014). Many of these homeowners also began to complain of various physical afflictions believed to have been caused by the Chinese drywall.
These homeowners then began to file suit in various state and federal courts against homebuilders, developers, installers, realtors, brokers, suppliers, importers, exporters, distributors, and manufacturers who were involved with the Chinese drywall. Because of the commonality of facts in the various cases, this litigation was designated as a multidistrict litigation. Pursuant to a Transfer Order from the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ("JPML") on June 15, 2009, all federal cases involving Chinese drywall were consolidated for pretrial proceedings in MDL 09-2047 before this Court.
The Chinese drywall at issue was largely manufactured by two groups of defendants: (1) the Knauf Entities and (2) the Taishan Entities. The litigation has focused on these two entities and their downstream associates and has proceeded on strikingly different tracks for the claims against each group.1 Relevant to this Order are the Chinese Defendants. These Defendants include the principal Chinese-based Defendant, Taishan, namely, Taishan Gypsum Co. Ltd. ("TG") and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Taian Taishan Plasterboard Co., Ltd. ("TTP") (collectively"Taishan" or "Taishan Entities"). Other Chinese-based Defendants include China New Building Materials Group ("CNBM Group"), China New Building Materials Co. ("CNBM"), CNBMIT Co. Ltd. ("CNBMIT"), CNBM USA Corp. ("CNBM USA"), and United Suntech Craft, Inc. ("United Suntech") (collectively the "CNBM Entities"), as well as the Beijing New Building Materials Public Limited Company ("BNBM") and Beijing New Building Material Group ("BNBMG") (collectively the "BNBM Entities").
The Court's initial inquiry regarding Taishan involved four cases in this MDL: (1) Germano v. Taishan Gypsum Co. (Case No. 09-6687); (2) The Mitchell Co. v. Knauf Gips KG (Case No. 09-4115); (3) Gross v. Knauf Gips KG (Case No. 09-6690); and (4) Wiltz v. Beijing New Building Materials Public Ltd. (Case No. 10-361).
The first issues involving Taishan arose when Taishan failed to timely answer or otherwise enter an appearance in Mitchell and Germano, despite the fact that it had been properly served in each case. Thus, after an extended period of time, the Court entered preliminary defaults against Taishan in both cases. Thereafter, the Court moved forward with an evidentiary hearing in furtherance of the preliminary default in Germano on Plaintiffs' claimed damages. At the hearing, the PSC presented evidence specific to seven individual properties, which served as bellwether cases. Thereafter, on February 19 and 20, 2010, the Court issued detailed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. On May 11, 2010, the Court issued a Default Judgment against Taishan in Germano and in favor of Plaintiffs.
On June 10, 2010, the last day to timely appeal the Default Judgment against them, Taishan filed a Notice of Appeal in Germano and entered its appearance in Germano and Mitchell. After Taishan entered its appearance in the MDL, it quickly sought to have the Default Judgment in Germano and the Preliminary Default in Mitchell vacated for lack of personal jurisdiction.Because this was the first time Defendants raised jurisdictional issues, the Fifth Circuit remanded the case to this Court to determine whether this Court indeed has jurisdiction over Taishan.
In the fall of 2010, the Court directed the parties to commence the personal jurisdiction discovery necessary to resolve Taishan's motions to vacate. Sometime after the initial discovery, the parties agreed to expand the discovery beyond the Germano and Mitchell cases to other cases in which Taishan had been served, including Gross and Wiltz.
Formal personal jurisdiction discovery of Taishan began in October 2010. Discovery included the production of both written and electronic documents as well as depositions of Taishan's corporate representatives, with each type of discovery proceeding in a parallel fashion. This discovery was highly contentious, requiring close supervision by the Court. The Court presided over regularly-scheduled status conferences, conducted hearings, and issued rulings to resolve numerous discovery-related disputes.
In June 2011, the PSC filed identical complaints in Federal district courts in Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana (the "Amorin complaints"). The Amorin complaints include all Plaintiffs named in the Wiltz, Gross, Abel, and Haya actions. The Florida and Virginia actions were transferred by the JPML to the MDL; the PSC filed the Louisiana omnibus complaint directly into the MDL. It is undisputed that the allegations and Plaintiffs named in the Amoin complaints are identical. According to the PSC, these identical complaints were filed "out of an abundance of caution," because "there existed a colorable question regarding the application of the jurisdictional tests known as the 'stream-of commerce' test and the 'stream-of-commerce-plus' test reflected in the plurality opinions in McIntyre and Asahi, as well as Justice Brennan's concurring opinion in Asahi."
In April 2012, Taishan filed various motions, including motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. On June 29, 2012, over three years since the creation of this MDL and after a year-and-a-half of personal jurisdiction discovery on Taishan, the Court presided over a hearing on Taishan's motions. The Court coordinated its hearing with the Honorable Joseph Farina of the Florida state court, who had a similar motion involving Taishan's challenge to personal jurisdiction.
On September 4, 2012, this Court issued a 142-page Order regarding Taishan's motions in Germano, Mitchell, Gross, and Wiltz, in which the Court denied the motions to dismiss and held that it maintained personal jurisdiction over Taishan. In re Chinese-Manufactured Drywall Prods. Liab. Litig., 894 F. Supp. 2d 819 (E.D. La. 2012). The Court also ruled that Taishan was operating as the alter ego of TG and TTP. The Court certified an interlocutory appeal, and the Fifth Circuit granted permission to appeal. In January and May of 2014, two different panels of the Fifth Circuit affirmed this Court's ruling and held that this Court maintained personal jurisdiction over Taishan, TG, and TTP. In re Chinese-Manufactured Drywall Prods. Liab. Litig., 753 F.3d 521 (5th Cir. 2014); In re Chinese-Manufactured Drywall Prods. Liab. Litig., 742 F.3d 576 (5th Cir. 2014). The time for writ of certiorari passed, and the issue of personal jurisdiction over Taishan became firmly and finally settled. Nevertheless, Taishan refused to voluntarily participate in this suit.
On June 20, 2014, the Court ordered Taishan to appear in open court on July 17, 2014 to be examined as a judgment debtor. Taishan failed to appear for the July 17, 2014 Judgment Debtor Examination, and the Court held Taishan in contempt, ordering that Taishan pay $15,000.00 in attorneys' fees to Plaintiffs' counsel and $40,000.00 as a penalty for contempt; Taishan and any of its affiliates or subsidiaries be enjoined from conducting any business in the United States until or unless it participates in this judicial process; and if Taishan violates the injunction, it must paya further penalty of twenty-five percent of the profits earned by the Company or its affiliate who violate the Order for the year of the violation.
On July 23, 2014, the PSC filed their Omnibus Motion for Class Certification pursuant to Rule 23(b)(3). Taishan did not appear and, on September 26, 2014, this Court certified a class of all owners of real properties in the United States, who are named Plaintiffs on the complaints in Amorin, Germano, Gross, and/or Wiltz (), asserting claims for remediated damages arising from, or otherwise related to Chinese Drywall manufactured, sold, distributed, supplied, marketed, inspected, imported or delivered by the Taishan Defendants. R. Doc. 18028.
Taishan finally entered an...
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