ABS Pipes
The ABS pipe cases have historical and precedential significance in the jurisprudence of building product class actions. These cases were among the very first defective building product cases to be treated as class actions. This coordinated proceeding known ABS Pipe Cases II, J.C.C.P. 3126, consisted of a series of combined class actions against five manufacturers of ABS pipe.
ABS pipe is black plastic pipe commonly used as "waste" pipe in residential properties. ABS pipe is used to drain sinks, tubs, and toilets. In 1985 and 1986 a huge volume of defective ABS pipe was sold largely in California, Oregon and Washington. Thousands of residential units were built with the defective pipe. The "signature" failure always manifested itself in the same way - a crack around the circumference of the pipe adjacent to the glue joint. The pipe failed because each of the manufacturers used improperly blended plastic resins manufactured by Plastic Processing, Inc., a Texas based company which contained
non-compliant additives in their pipe compounds. This resulted in the ABS pipes having reduced chemical and physical properties that did not meet the requirements of IAPMO, the certification body for ABS pipe in California. The ABS pipe manufacturers were Centaur, Polaris, Gable, Apache and Phoenix. Click below to see the impact of bad ABS pipe.
The ABS litigation, led by David M. Birka-White, involved approximately 100 separate lawsuits spanning 12 years from 1986 to 1998. The coordinated class actions were prosecuted between 1993 and 1998. The class action cases resulted in settlements of approximately $100 million. Most of the ABS settlements had a unique and unprecedented feature - the settlement funds would pay specialized contractors to remove and replace defective pipe and return a class member's property to its original condition. This program continued for nearly 12 years between 1998 and 2010.
The ABS settlement fund has been paid out to class members and is no longer an active case.