$90 million faulty plumbing settlement gets initial approval

By Jeff Pope, www.lasvegassun.com

Tue, Nov 4, 2008 (midnight)

A District Court judge gave preliminary approval last week to a $90 million settlement in a plumbing defect class action lawsuit.

Under the terms of the tentative agreement reached Thursday, Kitec plumbing fixtures manufacturer IPEX would pay the lump sum in exchange for the company and its subsidiaries and wholesalers being severed from the suit.

Judge Timothy Williams set another hearing for Jan. 26, at which time the deal could be finalized.

The case is by no means over, with about 25 home builders and six plumbing companies remaining as defendants in the suit, said Randall Jones and William Coulthard, the class action attorneys of Harrison, Kemp, Jones & Coulthard.

IPEX's settlement represents about 25 percent to 33 percent of the total cost of replacing plumbing fixtures, Jones said. The legal action seeks to collect $10,000 in damages for each property owner for a complete replumb of the homes.

Kitec plumbing was used in residential construction in Southern Nevada from 1995 to 2006. The fixtures were also sold under the brand name PlumbBetter.

Attorneys aren't sure how many homes may have the Kitec fittings, but Coulthard estimated 34,000.

IPEX attorney James Carraway estimated the actual number is closer to 28,000 homes and said the Kitec system wasn't used locally until 1996.

The settlement does not include personal injury claims or several individual suits brought against IPEX.

A deal was reached in March with Richmond American Homes, which agreed to replumb 1,251 homes for $10.2 million. The settlement with IPEX would set aside $4.5 million for Richmond American homeowners.

Members of the suit, including nearly 3,000 additional homes identified in the past few months, will be notified of the settlement by mail.

Water causes the brass Kitec fittings to corrode and zinc from the brass builds up in the pipes, restricting flow and eventually causing the pipe to break.

IPEX issued a recall on all Kitec brass fittings in 2005. The company denies liability and has claimed in the lawsuit that Southern Nevada's hard water is to blame for failures because the fixtures don't have the same problem elsewhere.

Jeff Pope can be reached at 990-2688 or jeff.pope@hbcpub.com.