Polybutylene Disaster

The Recovery

06/21/2001

Son of a bitch is going to pay.

I was thinking lawsuit the second I heard how much a repipe was going to cost. How could my real estate agent not explain the significance of the seller disclosing that the house had polybutylene pipes? How could the home insepction people not inform me that my house had a defective product?

The answer - real estate agents don't care about anything but closing a deal and getting paid. They also have no legal obligation to explain anything to you. How ethical is this...? you decide. Home inspectors don't need to tell you anything unless there is a problem right that minute.

So the only recourse at this point is to call the 1-800-lawsuit number on the previous page and wait for the information packet...

07/08/2001

So get this. The Spencer class lawsuit is against DuPont. The settlement only allows for 10% reimbursement of a "qualifying" leak. The other lawsuit against Shell pays out 100% of the repipe cost, and wether they pay depends on how long it has been since installation of the poly pipes.

08/19/2001

The fittings used in my plumbing were metal, which means the deadline is up to 16 years after installation. Needless to say, I have been scrambling around putting together the paperwork to send in. There may yet be hope for reimbursement.

10/14/2001

Finally got a note indicating that somebody is going to show up to inspect the repipe and collect all of the original invoices and receipts. Interesting. Why should they want the originals? So I no longer have proof of the repairs? Lawyers. Sink 'em all to the bottom of the ocean for all I care.

12/17/2001 Victory !!

Merry Christmas!! Just received a check from the CPRC reimbursing me for (nearly) 100% of the cost to repipe my house. What a relief. Finally, I can close this whole episode with a happy ending.