FEMA to be enjoined in formaldehyde lawsuit

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which supplied about 120,000 travel trailers to hurricane victims in 2005, is expected to be named as a co-defendant in a massive lawsuit against manufacturers charging the units had dangerous levels of formaldehyde.

If the hurricane victims prevail, the formaldehyde suit could rival other huge product-liability lawsuits, including those filed against asbestos and tobacco manufacturers, in the scope and size of awards.

Letecheia Acker, who lives with her husband and two young sons in a FEMA trailer in Pearlington, Miss., said she'll be grateful if a court win helps her buy a house to replace the Katrina-destroyed apartment her family once lived in. "I would love to have a home for my children," she said.

Lawyers representing the trailer residents say the CDC's results don't show the full scope of the problem because they were conducted in December and January, and formaldehyde levels rise when temperatures increase.

Tony Buzbee, a Houston, Texas, attorney representing about 5,100 people displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, said he had about 750 FEMA trailers tested last summer and found higher formaldehyde levels than the CDC did.

"People should go to jail for what has happened here," Buzbee said. Buzbee and other lawyers continue to test trailers in preparation for the legal battle.

The formaldehyde scandal, under scrutiny by several congressional committees, is a blow to a recreational vehicle industry already hurt by the flagging economy and high gas prices.

Buzbee, Bencomo and five other law firms have consolidated their cases against trailer manufacturers. The lawyers are expected to file a master complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on Tuesday against 34 manufacturers and FEMA. Judge Kurt Engelhardt is considering the case.

None of the manufacturers contacted returned calls requesting comment. Neither did the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association.

FEMA was not a defendant in the original cases because the Federal Tort Claims Act required the attorneys involved to wait six months to allow a federal agency to decide whether it preferred an administrative remedy to the issue.

SOURCE:  Clarion Ledger