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Attorney General Jeff Landry Conducting Audit on Chinese Drywall Lawsuit

BATON ROUGE, LA – After thoroughly examining the State of Louisiana, ex rel. James D. (“Buddy”) Caldwell v. Knauf Gips KG et al. lawsuit, Attorney General Jeff Landry has cancelled the outside legal contracts related to the case. He is today announcing an internal audit of the performed services and billing practices by the outside counsel to further evaluate costs incurred pursuant to the canceled contracts.

“The State has spent nearly $7 million on outside legal counsel for the Chinese drywall litigation,” said General Landry. “This use of taxpayer’s hard-earned money comes to an end under my watch. While we continue to advance the claim internally like we are doing with Deepwater Horizon, we will also be determining what – if anything – the external lawyers provided to advance Louisiana’s cause.”

In 2010, former Attorney General Buddy Caldwell filed suit in Orleans Parish Civil District Court seeking recovery for damages caused by the defective drywall imported after Hurricane Katrina. In 2014, Mr. Caldwell filed an amended suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Both petitions may be found in the More Resources section on this webpage.

To date, the State has paid the following firms and amounts for work on Louisiana v. Knauf: Perkins Coie - $5,583,118.62; Shows, Cali & Walsh - $490,452.67; Usry, Weeks & Matthews - $477,005.33; U.S. Health & Environmental Liability Management - $265,194.88; and the Theriot Group - $101,705.55.

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