Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
Home Depot Faces Multiple Suits: Allegations of Health Hazards from Grout Sealer
When Gwinnett County, GA, resident James Flynn bought a spray can of grout sealer from his neighborhood Home Depot in July 2005, he could not have imagined that his purchase would land him in the hospital and cost him the use of a lung. However, Flynn's attorney, Frank Ilardi, said that when his client bought Tile Perfect Stand 'N Seal Spray-On Grout Sealer, its manufacturer had been fielding complaints for more than a month about potentially devastating effects associated with its use.
Flynn is now one of more than 160 people across the country who have brought 31 product liability suits against The Home Depot and five companies tied to the manufacture and distribution of Stand 'N Seal, claiming that use of the product permanently damaged their health. According to Ilardi, Stand 'N Seal is an aerosol chemical spray containing Flexipel ' an ingredient that should never have been produced in aerosol form. Two people have died after exposure to Stand 'N Seal, Ilardi said. Others, like Flynn, were hospitalized and left with permanent lung damage.
The suits, which will be tried individually after joint discovery, have yet to place a dollar amount on the damages claimed. Northern District of Georgia Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. of Atlanta is presiding over the multidistrict litigation. Ilardi, of Atlanta's Houck, Ilardi & Regas, LLC is sharing lead counsel duties with Texas attorney William J. Maiberger Jr., of the Watts Law Firm in San Antonio. In Re Stand 'N Seal, Products Liability Litigation, No. 1:07-mdl-01804, (N.D. Ga.). Home Depot and its co-defendants are fighting the claims vigorously, attempting to shift responsibility away from themselves, while suggesting that any alleged harm to customers was caused by the product's misuse. Ilardi said the serious health problems resulting from the grout sealer's use were compounded by Stand 'N Seal's manufacturer, the Illinois-based Roanoke Companies Group, doing business as Tile Perfect, which manufactured Stand 'N Seal exclusively for Home Depot. Once alerted that users of Stand 'N Seal 'were reporting to emergency rooms all over the country,' Ilardi said Tile Perfect ' while doing its own quiet internal investigation ' delayed notifying the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and continued to sell the product. When the commission was finally alerted, Ilardi said Tile Perfect withheld critical information and listed the recall on its Web site as voluntary rather than mandatory.
This premium content is locked for Entertainment Law & Finance subscribers only
ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCESS TO THE SINGLE SOURCE OF OBJECTIVE LEGAL ANALYSIS, PRACTICAL INSIGHTS, AND NEWS IN ENTERTAINMENT LAW.
- Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
- Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
- Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts
Already a have an account? Sign In Now Log In Now
For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Stranger to the Deed Rule
In 1987, a unanimous Court of Appeals reaffirmed the vitality of the "stranger to the deed" rule, which holds that if a grantor executes a deed to a grantee purporting to create an easement in a third party, the easement is invalid. Daniello v. Wagner, decided by the Second Department on November 29th, makes it clear that not all grantors (or their lawyers) have received the Court of Appeals' message, suggesting that the rule needs re-examination.