Hurricane victims expected to sue FEMA

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which supplied about 120,000 travel trailers to hurricane victims in 2005, is expected to be named as a co-defendant in a massive lawsuit against manufacturers charging the units had dangerous levels of formaldehyde.

Letecheia Acker, who lives with her husband and two young sons in a FEMA trailer in Pearlington, Miss., said she joined the lawsuit because she thought a trial would shed light on troubling questions she has had about the long-term effects of formaldehyde exposure.

"The more people who are asking questions, the more information we'll have," Acker said.

If the hurricane victims prevail, the formaldehyde suit could rival other huge product-liability lawsuits, including those filed against asbestos and tobacco manufacturers, in the scope and size of awards.

Acker said she'll be grateful if a court win helps her buy a house to replace the Katrina-destroyed apartment her family once lived in. "I would love to have a home for my children," she said.

Acker said her sons, especially her 2-year-old who was born the day after the family moved into the trailer, have frequent respiratory infections and upset stomachs. Upon discovering that formaldehyde in the trailer may be making them sick, Acker asked FEMA to test her unit.

But FEMA declined Acker's request - and those of hundreds of other trailer residents - until lawmakers last summer released e-mails that showed the agency's lawyers advised against testing the trailers to avoid liability.

At FEMA's behest, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested 519 trailers and mobile homes and found high levels of formaldehyde in most of them.

FEMA said it will now honor all requests for trailer testing.

Lawyers representing the trailer residents say the CDC's results don't show the full scope of the problem because they were conducted in December and January, and formaldehyde levels rise when temperatures increase.

Tony Buzbee, a Houston, Texas, attorney representing about 5,100 people displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, said he had about 750 FEMA trailers tested last summer and found higher formaldehyde levels than the CDC did.

"People should go to jail for what has happened here," Buzbee said.

Buzbee and other lawyers continue to test trailers in preparation for the legal battle.

"They are out in the field every day," New Orleans lawyer Raul Bencomo said.

Formaldehyde is a colorless, pungent gas emitted by many construction materials. It can cause a variety of symptoms, including burning eyes, respiratory problems and rashes and is a suspected carcinogen.

The formaldehyde scandal, under scrutiny by several congressional committees, is a blow to a recreational vehicle industry already hurt by the flagging economy and high gas prices.

Buzbee, Bencomo and five other law firms have consolidated their cases against trailer manufacturers. The lawyers are expected to file a master complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on Tuesday against 34 manufacturers and FEMA. Judge Kurt Engelhardt is considering the case.

None of the manufacturers contacted returned calls requesting comment.

Neither did the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association.

FEMA was not a defendant in the original cases because the Federal Tort Claims Act required the attorneys involved to wait six months to allow a federal agency to decide whether it preferred an administrative remedy to the issue.

The six-month waiting period ends Tuesday.

FEMA does not comment on such cases as a matter of policy, said FEMA spokesman James McIntyre.

The federal government is shielded from liability for most of the consequences of its actions and is a difficult target for lawsuits.

"It's an uphill battle; we admit it," Buzbee said.

But the government already has been ordered by Engelhardt to wait at least 30 days before destroying a trailer to give time for trailer residents and their lawyers to inspect them.

FEMA also housed hurricane victims in mobile homes that were found to have elevated levels of formaldehyde. Formaldehyde in mobile homes is regulated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which sets limits for emissions of the gas in particle board and plywood used in construction of the homes.

But there is no government regulation of formaldehyde in travel trailers.

In January, the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association required its members to adopt HUD's standards. This week, it voted to tighten those standards.

Buzbee said regulating emissions from some of the components of a travel trailer or mobile home isn't effective in controlling the amount of formaldehyde gas in the interior air of a unit.

He also said the formaldehyde lawsuit may have far-reaching consequences.

"The danger the manufacturer faces is that it's just not a FEMA issue; it's an industrywide problem," he said.