NORFOLK, Va. (Legal Newsline) – A Pittsburgh-based coatings company is accused in a federal lawsuit of refusing to honor a warranty associated with one of its products.
Mitsubishi Chemical Composites America, Inc. filed the suit April 24 against PPG Industries, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division.
The lawsuit stated that MCCA purchased PPG’s fluoropolymer paint coatings to manufacture panels which the plaintiff installed on the Birck Building at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
The transaction reportedly occurred in 2004. The products were covered by a master warranty agreement issued by the defendant approximately six years before, the suit said.
According to the suit, the warranty was to be “20 years from the installation of the metal substrate coated with the product or 21 years from application of the product to the metal substrate, whichever first occurs.”
PPG represented that the coatings are “durable, long-lasting, and resistant to cracking and peeling for (20) years,” to which the 12-page petition asserted was untrue. MCCA claimed that the FEVE clear coat supplied by the company was “peeling off the panels” as of May 2016, and the university demanded it remediate.
“Within (12) years after installation – well within PPG’s 20-year warranty period – PPG’s clear coat paint began peeling and cracking under ordinary and expected weather conditions,” the complaint said.
The plaintiff allegedly filed a warranty claim with PPG the next month seeking “indemnity for amounts incurred in connection with the remediation.” However, PPG denied the claim, the suit said.
In all, MCCA’s claim was denied twice.
“Though MCCA complied with the warranty terms, PPG has refused to comply with the terms of its warranty and reimburse MCCA for damages in excess of $1,000,000 caused by PPG’s defective product,” court documents stated.
PPG stated in an email to Legal Newsline that it is reviewing the allegations, but “does not have additional information to share at this time.”
A jury trial is requested.
The law firm White & Case LLP, which has offices in New York City and Washington, D.C., is representing the plaintiff.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia case number 2:19-cv-00216