Leaky home owners seek damages from James Hardie

A class action lawsuit by leaky home owners against Australian building materials group of companies James Hardie will begin on May 17. Collectively the homeowners are seeking about $220 million of damages from James Hardie over leaks in 376 buildings. They claim James Hardie’s Harditex cladding system is defective, which the group denies. Lawyer Adina Thorn said the trial was expected to last about 15 weeks. Thorn, who has been managing the funded class action, said the High Court had split the action into two stages. The first stage would be focused on whether Harditex was defective, while the second stage would be to determine losses for homeowners, assuming they proved James Hardie’s product was defective. The owners alleged James Hardie knew, or ought to have known, its system failed, but kept manufacturing and supplying it, said Thorn.