An October 2009 deposition taken in the Chinese drywall class action lawsuits consolidated in New Orleans reveals how and why US builders decided to import the tainted drywall from China. During the housing boom of 2004, builders were desperate for drywall. According to Salomon Homsany Abadi, a businessman who ran North Miami, Florida, importing company La Suprema Enterprise, the only place to find drywall was China. When Abadi decided to import the drywall, he wasn’t aware of the drywall problem. However, in his October deposition, Abadi asserts that the German owners of Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin knew about the foul odor and corrosion issues surrounding the Chinese drywall as early as 2006.
Abadi first learned of problems with the Chinese drywall in late 2006 when Mickey Banner of Banner Supplies contacted him to complain about the foul odor emanating from the drywall he’d used to build a house. Abadi then contacted Knauf who denied there was any problem with the drywall.