中國建材公司向美國屋主支付賠償金

Elizabeth Heischober has been waiting nearly five years for a Chinese company to honor a court judgment for contaminated drywall that upended her life, made her sick and wrecked her finances. Until now, she wondered if it would ever happen.

快五年了，伊麗莎白·海斯科博(Elizabeth Heischober)一直在等待一家中國公司執行法庭判決。這家公司生產的有毒石膏板打亂了她的生活，害她生了病，還毀了她的財務狀況。直到不久前，她都不確定這一天是否會到來。

“We’d pretty much given up hope,” she said. “It’s been a nightmare.”

“我們差不多已經放棄希望了，”她說。“這是一個噩夢。”

American consumers like Mrs. Heischober who have been hurt by defective products made by Chinese companies frequently have little recourse. But in a stunning turn of events, a Chinese drywall manufacturer has agreed to pay the damages owed her and six other Virginia families.

像海斯科博這樣受到中國公司製造的劣質產品傷害的美國消費者，往往沒有多少手段可以依靠。然而，事態卻出現了驚人的逆轉，一家中國石膏板生產商已經同意向她和另外六個弗吉尼亞家庭支付所欠的賠償金。

“It’s amazing,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor and product liability expert at the University of Richmond. “Americans trying to hold Chinese companies accountable in U.S. courts? They basically never succeed.”

“這太不可思議了，”里士滿大學(University of Richmond)的法學教授、產品責任專家卡爾·托比亞斯(Carl Tobias)說。“美國人想要在美國法院追究中國公司的責任？基本上從沒成功過。”

The judgment against the Taishan Gypsum Company, a state-controlled company, dates to 2010, when a New Orleans federal judge ruled that the company was liable for $2.6 million to fix the homes of the seven Virginia families. The seven were used as a so-called bellwether case — a test trial of sorts for the issues surrounding complex litigation — to represent the owners of about 4,000 houses nationwide built with Taishan’s drywall. It emitted sulfur gases that corrode metal wiring and pipes, short-circuit electronics and can lead to numerous respiratory ailments.

這項針對中國國有企業泰山石膏股份有限公司的裁決，要追溯到2010年。當時，新奧爾良的一位聯邦法官判定，這家公司有責任支付260萬美元（約合1600萬元人民幣），以修復這七個弗吉尼亞家庭的房屋。這樁官司被當做所謂的“領頭羊案件”——對於複雜訴訟問題的試探性審理——代表的是全美約4000棟使用了泰山公司石膏板的房屋的業主。這種石膏板會釋放含硫氣體，能腐蝕金屬佈線和管道、使電子產品短路，還能引發大量的呼吸系統疾病。

But the company never paid. While another Chinese drywall manufacturer owned by a German company settled with victims, Taishan filed multiple appeals and challenged the jurisdiction of the federal court. Then, when the Fifth Circuit finally ruled in favor of the homeowners, the company pulled a Houdini act: It dismissed its lawyers and stopped showing up in court.

然而，這家公司一直沒有支付賠償金。儘管一家德國企業旗下的另一家中國石膏板生產商與受害人達成了和解，但泰山石膏公司多次提起上訴，對聯邦法院的判決表示不服。後來，當第五巡迴法院最終做出了支持業主的判決之後，公司耍了一個胡迪尼魔術般的花招：它解僱了律師，再也不在法庭上露面了。

Federal District Judge Eldon E. Fallon, who oversaw the wide-ranging drywall litigation in New Orleans, responded with a scathing rebuke to the company and its affiliates — all controlled by the Chinese government.

在新奧爾良負責這宗覆蓋面頗廣的石膏板訴訟的聯邦地區法院法官埃爾登·E·法倫(Eldon E. Fallon)，強烈譴責了這家公司及其附屬公司。這些企業均由中國政府控制。

Last summer, he found Taishan in civil and criminal contempt of court, and barred the company, and its parent corporations, from doing business in the United States.

去年夏天，他裁定泰山石膏公司犯有刑事和民事類的藐視法庭行爲，並禁止這家企業及其母公司在美國開展業務。

But just recently, as a March 26 hearing approached at which Judge Fallon was expected to hand down a judgment for the entire class of Taishan homeowners — potentially more than $1 billion in damages — the company suddenly reappeared, along with a new set of lawyers, from a well-known Atlanta firm, Alston & Bird.

不過，就在最近，隨着3月26日的聽證會的臨近——預計法倫法官將在會上針對所有使用泰山公司石膏板的房主做出裁決，可能會涉及逾10億美元的賠償金——這家公司突然再度現身，還聘請了一幫來自亞特蘭大知名律所奧斯頓與伯德(Alston & Bird)的新律師。

On Tuesday, Taishan’s lawyers appeared in the New Orleans courtroom with a stunning announcement: The company would pay the court-ordered damages to the Virginia families it had fought for years to avoid.

週二，泰山的律師團出現在了新奧爾良的法院，並宣佈了一個令人震驚的消息：公司將向這七個弗吉尼亞家庭支付多年來一直想方設法逃避的法庭賠償金。

Those involved in the yearslong legal battle say the company’s decision could clear a path toward relief for the entire class of victims, though that remains far from certain.

瞭解這場持續多年的訴訟戰的人士表示，泰山公司的決定可能會爲所有受害者獲得賠償掃清障礙，不過這一點還遠非板上釘釘。

Mrs. Heischober, who lives with her husband, Steve, near Virginia Beach, said that while she was relieved at the news, she worried about others still waiting for help.

海斯科博和丈夫史蒂夫(Steve)生活在弗吉尼亞比奇附近。她說，儘管這個消息令自己頗爲欣慰，但她對其他仍然在等待幫助的人感到擔心。

“It’s a huge relief, but it’s just for seven of us,” she said. “There are thousands who aren’t as lucky right now.”

“這是一個很大的寬慰，但只是我們七家，”她說。“目前還有幾千個家庭沒有這麼幸運。”

Lawyers for Taishan did not return telephone calls seeking comment on Wednesday.

泰山的律師週三沒有回覆請求置評的電話。

Mrs. Heischober, 63, said the couple originally planned to retire and live out their lives in the Virginia home. But the tainted drywall ended those dreams. After nearly two years of respiratory problems and the death of their previously healthy dog, the couple fled the home to live at a friend’s house. They then rented a tiny, run-down house, and put their personal items in storage, hoping that the court-ordered judgment would finally come through and they could fix their now-empty dream home.

現年63歲的海斯科博說，他們夫婦本來打算退休，在弗吉尼亞的房子裏安度晚年。然而，有毒的石膏讓這些夢想化爲了泡影。在被呼吸系統的疾病困擾了近兩年、原本健康的狗也死去了之後，老兩口逃出了自家的屋子，住到了朋友的房子裏。他們後來租了一座很小很破的房子，把一些私人物品封存了起來，希望法庭的判決最終會執行，自己可以修好已然空置的那棟夢想中的房子。

But as time dragged on, they could no longer afford the mortgage on the empty house, which had been worth close to $800,000. They sold it for $390,000 in 2011, in a so-called short sale, to a commercial developer with plans to gut it and rebuild. Their credit was destroyed — so much so that in 2012 when they tried to buy a modest home to start over, the bank they had dealt with for 25 years denied them a mortgage.

可是，隨着時間的拖延，他們已經無法擔負這棟空置房屋的按揭貸款了，而房子的價值此時已接近80萬美元。2011年，他們通過“短售”交易以39萬美元把它賣給了一家商業開發商，後者計劃將其毀掉重建。他們的信用記錄也毀了——以致於當他們2012年想要購買一棟簡樸的房子重新開始時，打了25年交道的那家銀行拒絕向他們提供按揭貸款。

When a local banker finally gave them a small loan, Mrs. Heischober said she went to open the boxes of personal items that had been in storage. “The smell just about knocked me over,” she said. “I thought after two years that smell would be gone, but nope. I just threw everything away.”

後來，一家當地銀行終於向他們提供了一筆小型貸款。海斯科博說，此時她去打開了那些裝着他們個人物品的箱子。“那味道差點把我們薰倒，”她說。“我以爲兩年之後，氣味會消失，但根本沒有。我乾脆把所有東西都扔了。”