Monday, July 17, 2006
AMERICA IS THE LAND OF LAWSUITS
RV Business
Monday, July 17, 2006
Amid the destruction and toxic soup left behind by the hurricanes of 2005 that ravaged the Gulf Coast, stories of chronic physical illnesses are not surprising.
But, according to an in-depth story in the July 16 edition of the Elkhart Truth, increasingly the stories are coming from those living in the recreational vehicles provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after the natural disasters.
Many are now claiming the formaldehyde in the wood products used to build and furnish the RVs is contaminating the air inside the FEMA trailers and making the occupants sick.
The Mississippi Chapter of The Sierra Club has been testing trailers in the Magnolia State, along with Louisiana and Alabama. A class-action lawsuit has been filed against FEMA and a handful of RV manufacturers, including four Indiana builders – Nappanee's Gulf Stream Coach Inc., Middlebury's Pilgrim International Inc., Shipshewana's KZRV LP, Topeka's Starcraft RV Inc., – along with Monaco Coach Corp., Coburg, Ore. and Riverside, Calif.-based Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. and Fleetwood Canada, Ltd. The lawsuit also leaves open the possibility that other RV manufacturers who sold units directly to FEMA will also be named as defendants.
"These smell bad," Becky Gillette, co-chair of The Sierra's Club's Mississippi Chapter, said of the FEMA trailers. "A lot of people don't know that smell's harmful to them."
How harmful – and even whether formaldehyde is harmful – is the subject of debate. Formaldehyde is present in many products and even found naturally in the human body.
"If somebody tells you, 'I've been exposed to formaldehyde,' you say, 'Yes, of course you have,'" said Ken Weaver, a partner on a reduced basis at the Baker & Daniels law firm.
Sitting in his firm's conference room, Richard Paulen, partner at the Barnes & Thornburg law firm, noted that formaldehyde is in the carpet, the table and even in permanent-press clothes.
"The problem is that we can't live without formaldehyde and do what we want to do," he said.
Weaver and Paulen are members of the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association's (RVIA) lawyers committee and have had extensive careers handling legal issues for the RV and manufactured housing industries. In addition, Weaver served on the lawyers committee for the Manufactured Housing Institute, including a 14-year stint as chairman.
Formaldehyde is present in the air of stick-built homes and offices buildings but because RVs are more tightly built, the air turns over less and the chemical substance can accumulate to a greater degree inside the units. The solution, said Weaver, is to open the doors and windows of the RV to let the air circulate and dissipate the formaldehyde.
Still, the conditions in the South may be coming together to create what Paulen termed the "perfect storm." Heat and humidity, of which the Gulf Region has plenty, will cause wood products in the recently built RVs to emit even more formaldehyde which, coupled with the units being shut tight to keep out the heat, may make the chemical substance especially pungent and cause residents' throats to burn and eyes to water.
"Does it make these units bad? I don't think so," Paulen said.
According to the Truth, Gillette said the Sierra Club has tested 44 trailers in the Gulf region and 40 have registered more than 0.1 parts per million. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) lists airborne concentrations of formaldehyde above 0.1 ppm as having the potential to cause irritation to the nose and throat.
Kathleen Covington, who moved her family into a travel trailer parked next to her home in Coden, Ala., is complaining of several symptoms. She said that her asthma returned after a five-year absence while her 8-year-old started having nosebleeds. She said her 5-year-old battled a bout with pneumonia before contracting bacterial strep throat.
Although the doctors treating her and her family have not diagnosed formaldehyde as the reason for their illnesses, Covington became convinced after seeing a news report on local television.
"When I hear about the formaldehyde thing, I think this is why we're sick and irritated," said Covington.
Others like Covington who believe they are suffering from the formaldehyde in their FEMA trailers have been calling the Lake Charles, La., law office of Bice, Palermo & Veron LLC. The result is a complaint filed in U.S. District Court against the federal government and travel trailer vendors to FEMA.
"We think the claims are without merit and we will vigorously and tenaciously defend our position," said Monaco spokesman Craig Wanichek.
Fleetwood Enterprises declined to comment, saying it was too early in the litigation process to respond.
The other RV manufacturers named in the suit did not return calls seeking comment.
Although the manufactured housing industry was hit with a series of formaldehyde lawsuits in the 1970s and 1980s, this is the first such lawsuit filed against the RV industry, Weaver said.
"(Formaldehyde) is a clear and present danger to the RV industry because they have to spend a lot of money on these lawsuits," Weaver said. "I don't think it's a health risk. I think it's a serious economic risk to the industry."
The Truth reported that the suit was filed on behalf of a group of individual plaintiffs by the law offices of Bice, Palermo & Veron, Sean Kevin Trundy and Nexsen Pruett. The suit claims the plaintiffs have "all spent significant time" in FEMA trailers, have "all been exposed to dangerously high concentrations of formaldehyde fumes" and since Hurricane Katrina blew ashore in August 2005, "have had no choice but to accept their plight."
One of the plaintiffs' attorneys, J. Rock Palermo, was adamant he and his legal colleagues did not take the case for its potential fat contingency fees.
"We didn't create this issue," he said. "The issue has been verified by the Sierra Club and other independent scientific people so certainly people are free to criticize but the problem was not created by lawyers."
Palermo said the goal of the lawsuit is to "simply find a way to get people living in a high-formaldehyde trailer into more suitable housing" and to provide medical monitoring of the plaintiffs for any long-term health problems.
A call to plaintiff attorney Sean Trundy was not returned.
The next event in the progression of the formaldehyde lawsuit will be for a judge to rule whether the plaintiffs collectively form a class, which will determine whether the plaintiffs can file a single complaint or if they must file separate ones.
Weaver and Paulen have differing viewpoints on how the case will play out. Weaver believes if the judge disqualifies the class, the case will be dead because the lawyers won't want to expend the time and money filing individual claims. Paulen predicts the effort would continue as individual cases.
If the case gets to the courtroom, Paulen said it will be a battle of experts arguing about the relationship between formaldehyde and the plaintiffs' health problems. The difficulty will be proving formaldehyde is the culprit and not, for example, second-hand tobacco smoke or the toxins floating in the air from the burning of the debris left behind by the hurricane.
"It's a complex set of facts that all these folks are going to have to deal with in this litigation," Paulen said.
Also, Paulen foresees RV companies turning on their suppliers.
"Part of the defense in any action like this is find somebody else to blame," Paulen said. "And there will be plenty of finger pointing if this action goes forward."
Weaver does not believe RV makers will sue their suppliers since such action would be an admission and help the plaintiffs. The RV companies, however, may ask their materials suppliers for assistance in defending against the legal action.
Weaver and Paulen agreed that regardless of what happens, the lawsuit will be a financial drain on the RV industry.
According to the Truth, Weaver said the lawsuit probably will not result in RV workers losing their jobs or RV companies going out of business. However, the cost of mounting a defense will be passed onto the consumers in the form of higher-priced units.
Covington is not a plaintiff in the lawsuit. She is focusing on finding laborers to help her husband rebuild their family home and on working part time at a bait shop. The wariness in her voice is easily heard along with the respiratory congestion.
"It never ends," she said. "It's just never ending."
Monday, July 17, 2006
Amid the destruction and toxic soup left behind by the hurricanes of 2005 that ravaged the Gulf Coast, stories of chronic physical illnesses are not surprising.
But, according to an in-depth story in the July 16 edition of the Elkhart Truth, increasingly the stories are coming from those living in the recreational vehicles provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after the natural disasters.
Many are now claiming the formaldehyde in the wood products used to build and furnish the RVs is contaminating the air inside the FEMA trailers and making the occupants sick.
The Mississippi Chapter of The Sierra Club has been testing trailers in the Magnolia State, along with Louisiana and Alabama. A class-action lawsuit has been filed against FEMA and a handful of RV manufacturers, including four Indiana builders – Nappanee's Gulf Stream Coach Inc., Middlebury's Pilgrim International Inc., Shipshewana's KZRV LP, Topeka's Starcraft RV Inc., – along with Monaco Coach Corp., Coburg, Ore. and Riverside, Calif.-based Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. and Fleetwood Canada, Ltd. The lawsuit also leaves open the possibility that other RV manufacturers who sold units directly to FEMA will also be named as defendants.
"These smell bad," Becky Gillette, co-chair of The Sierra's Club's Mississippi Chapter, said of the FEMA trailers. "A lot of people don't know that smell's harmful to them."
How harmful – and even whether formaldehyde is harmful – is the subject of debate. Formaldehyde is present in many products and even found naturally in the human body.
"If somebody tells you, 'I've been exposed to formaldehyde,' you say, 'Yes, of course you have,'" said Ken Weaver, a partner on a reduced basis at the Baker & Daniels law firm.
Sitting in his firm's conference room, Richard Paulen, partner at the Barnes & Thornburg law firm, noted that formaldehyde is in the carpet, the table and even in permanent-press clothes.
"The problem is that we can't live without formaldehyde and do what we want to do," he said.
Weaver and Paulen are members of the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association's (RVIA) lawyers committee and have had extensive careers handling legal issues for the RV and manufactured housing industries. In addition, Weaver served on the lawyers committee for the Manufactured Housing Institute, including a 14-year stint as chairman.
Formaldehyde is present in the air of stick-built homes and offices buildings but because RVs are more tightly built, the air turns over less and the chemical substance can accumulate to a greater degree inside the units. The solution, said Weaver, is to open the doors and windows of the RV to let the air circulate and dissipate the formaldehyde.
Still, the conditions in the South may be coming together to create what Paulen termed the "perfect storm." Heat and humidity, of which the Gulf Region has plenty, will cause wood products in the recently built RVs to emit even more formaldehyde which, coupled with the units being shut tight to keep out the heat, may make the chemical substance especially pungent and cause residents' throats to burn and eyes to water.
"Does it make these units bad? I don't think so," Paulen said.
According to the Truth, Gillette said the Sierra Club has tested 44 trailers in the Gulf region and 40 have registered more than 0.1 parts per million. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) lists airborne concentrations of formaldehyde above 0.1 ppm as having the potential to cause irritation to the nose and throat.
Kathleen Covington, who moved her family into a travel trailer parked next to her home in Coden, Ala., is complaining of several symptoms. She said that her asthma returned after a five-year absence while her 8-year-old started having nosebleeds. She said her 5-year-old battled a bout with pneumonia before contracting bacterial strep throat.
Although the doctors treating her and her family have not diagnosed formaldehyde as the reason for their illnesses, Covington became convinced after seeing a news report on local television.
"When I hear about the formaldehyde thing, I think this is why we're sick and irritated," said Covington.
Others like Covington who believe they are suffering from the formaldehyde in their FEMA trailers have been calling the Lake Charles, La., law office of Bice, Palermo & Veron LLC. The result is a complaint filed in U.S. District Court against the federal government and travel trailer vendors to FEMA.
"We think the claims are without merit and we will vigorously and tenaciously defend our position," said Monaco spokesman Craig Wanichek.
Fleetwood Enterprises declined to comment, saying it was too early in the litigation process to respond.
The other RV manufacturers named in the suit did not return calls seeking comment.
Although the manufactured housing industry was hit with a series of formaldehyde lawsuits in the 1970s and 1980s, this is the first such lawsuit filed against the RV industry, Weaver said.
"(Formaldehyde) is a clear and present danger to the RV industry because they have to spend a lot of money on these lawsuits," Weaver said. "I don't think it's a health risk. I think it's a serious economic risk to the industry."
The Truth reported that the suit was filed on behalf of a group of individual plaintiffs by the law offices of Bice, Palermo & Veron, Sean Kevin Trundy and Nexsen Pruett. The suit claims the plaintiffs have "all spent significant time" in FEMA trailers, have "all been exposed to dangerously high concentrations of formaldehyde fumes" and since Hurricane Katrina blew ashore in August 2005, "have had no choice but to accept their plight."
One of the plaintiffs' attorneys, J. Rock Palermo, was adamant he and his legal colleagues did not take the case for its potential fat contingency fees.
"We didn't create this issue," he said. "The issue has been verified by the Sierra Club and other independent scientific people so certainly people are free to criticize but the problem was not created by lawyers."
Palermo said the goal of the lawsuit is to "simply find a way to get people living in a high-formaldehyde trailer into more suitable housing" and to provide medical monitoring of the plaintiffs for any long-term health problems.
A call to plaintiff attorney Sean Trundy was not returned.
The next event in the progression of the formaldehyde lawsuit will be for a judge to rule whether the plaintiffs collectively form a class, which will determine whether the plaintiffs can file a single complaint or if they must file separate ones.
Weaver and Paulen have differing viewpoints on how the case will play out. Weaver believes if the judge disqualifies the class, the case will be dead because the lawyers won't want to expend the time and money filing individual claims. Paulen predicts the effort would continue as individual cases.
If the case gets to the courtroom, Paulen said it will be a battle of experts arguing about the relationship between formaldehyde and the plaintiffs' health problems. The difficulty will be proving formaldehyde is the culprit and not, for example, second-hand tobacco smoke or the toxins floating in the air from the burning of the debris left behind by the hurricane.
"It's a complex set of facts that all these folks are going to have to deal with in this litigation," Paulen said.
Also, Paulen foresees RV companies turning on their suppliers.
"Part of the defense in any action like this is find somebody else to blame," Paulen said. "And there will be plenty of finger pointing if this action goes forward."
Weaver does not believe RV makers will sue their suppliers since such action would be an admission and help the plaintiffs. The RV companies, however, may ask their materials suppliers for assistance in defending against the legal action.
Weaver and Paulen agreed that regardless of what happens, the lawsuit will be a financial drain on the RV industry.
According to the Truth, Weaver said the lawsuit probably will not result in RV workers losing their jobs or RV companies going out of business. However, the cost of mounting a defense will be passed onto the consumers in the form of higher-priced units.
Covington is not a plaintiff in the lawsuit. She is focusing on finding laborers to help her husband rebuild their family home and on working part time at a bait shop. The wariness in her voice is easily heard along with the respiratory congestion.
"It never ends," she said. "It's just never ending."
