THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 10, 1995 TAG: 9511100476
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
DATELINE: UNION CITY, TENN. LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Hundreds of thousands of U.S. homeowners with leaky plastic pipes will share in a $950 million settlement with the manufacturers after a judge approved the deal Thursday.
The material, made from polybutylene, was installed in millions of homes nationwide and has been widely used in home construction around Hampton Roads, local builders and plumbers say.
However, Virginia and North Carolina homeowners will not see any of the money because the settlement applies to only 21 states.
Plumbers like polybutylene because it's easy to bend around corners and inexpensive, said a manager at a large local plumbing supply house.
Thousands of people had joined class-action lawsuits over the last 10 years, saying that the pipes leaked when exposed to chlorine and other chemicals commonly found in tap water.
The agreement between the homeowners and the companies, Shell Oil Co. and Hoechst Celanese, would create a fund to repair the damage. State Judge Mike Maloan approved the settlement fund Thursday.
``This is an extraordinary success for consumers around the country,'' said Arthur Bryant, executive director of Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, a group that helped represent plaintiffs. ``The relief is unprecedented.''
A lot of polybutylene piping was and still is used in home construction in Hampton Roads, local builders and plumbers say. During the 1970s and 1980s, polybutylene plumbing was installed in about 1million houses nationwide and as many as 6 million housing units, including mobile homes and apartments.
``It's the most used piping in tract housing,'' said Dean Gurganus, an estimator with Smith & Keene, a local plumbing company.
``The pipe installed prior to 1988 is starting to come apart,'' Gurganus said.
The problem, he said, is the plastic fitting used to hook sections of the pipe together before 1988. He's seen seen about 10 cases of problem fittings in the past year. It's not clear whether the fitting themselves failed or they were not installed right, he said.
Besides polybutylene, other popular water pipe materials are hard-plastic CPVC and copper.
The pipes were made from materials manufactured by Houston-based Shell; Somerville, N.J.-based Hoechst made the fittings. The pipe is flexible, usually gray, and has been found to break down over time or come loose from its metal fittings. It was used for waterlines in some mobile homes and home construction through the mid-1980s.
Both companies have denied that the pipes are faulty, and blame the problems on poor installation and improper use.
Shell attorney Dan Hyde said the companies were sued because ``We're the big pockets.''
Another company that made materials for the fittings, the DuPont Co., has already agreed to a $120million settlement that a Tennessee judge approved earlier this year.
Lawyers have been negotiating a settlement since October 1993, plaintiff lawyer Bruce Conley said. Lawsuits over the pipes have been going on for a decade.
KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT PIPES by CNB