Lumber Liquidators’ engineered wood flooring contains dangerous levels of formaldehyde that are not compliant with California Air Resource Board Phase II standards, according to an expanded lawsuit filed last week.
Consumer-rights law firm Hagens, Berman, Sobol, Shapiro LLP included the allegations in an expanded lawsuit last week. The original lawsuit accused Lumber Liquidators only of selling unsafe Chinese-made laminate flooring. This is the first lawsuit that claims the retailer’s engineered wood flooring contains the same levels of formaldehyde as the laminate flooring.
The suit’s named plaintiffs, Christopher and Coleen Hyldburg of Massachusetts, performed multiple home tests that revealed a formaldehyde concentration in the air of 52 ng/L (42 ppb)—more than 20 times the exposure limit recommended by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, according to a statement from the law firm.
“Consumers across the nation have been unknowingly filling their homes with a product laced with high levels of cancer-causing chemicals,” said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman, in a statement. “Lumber Liquidators continues to distribute and sell its engineered flooring products to customers who believe they are CARB compliant, when in reality its products are emitting toxic fumes.”
Lumber Liquidators faces more than 100 lawsuits after a “60 Minutes” report in March claimed the company sold Chinese-made laminate with an unsafe and noncompliant level of formaldehyde.
Last week, the company’s CEO suddenly resigned.
