US: China's Taishan Gypsum Co Ltd, which was accused of manufacturing substandard gypsum wallboard, has been ordered not to conduct business in the United States.
The US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana found Taishan in contempt for failing to appear on 17 July 2014 for a hearing related to a US$2.6m judgment that it has refused to pay to seven Hampton Roads families.
The China-based company had previously claimed that US courts did not have jurisdiction in a lawsuit filed by the affected families. After losing that argument in the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in early 2014, Taishan chose not to file an appeal with the US Supreme Court. Taishan made no move toward paying the judgment or working out a settlement, so it was called into court to explain its actions.
"We will be pursuing them until hell freezes," said Arnold Levin, an attorney who had argued in New Orleans on behalf of the families.
For failing to appear, Taishan was ordered by US District Judge Eldon Fallon to pay US$15,000 in attorneys' fees and US$40,000 in penalties. He also prohibited the company from conducting business in America and declared that if it did, it would have to forfeit 25% of its profits. Fallon chided Taishan's leaders for participating in the legal process until they lost and then deciding to 'thumb their nose at the court' by not following his orders.
Fallon sent his ruling to the US secretary of commerce, the chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the US Attorney General's Office to take 'any appropriate action they may see fit.'
