When good wood goes bad
According to a lawsuit filed by the lumber company in federal court in June, not long after the paneling was installed in hundreds of dens, studies, and cabins around Minnesota and beyond, it turned an "undesirable shade of yellow," triggering more than 80 angry complaints from people unprepared for their homey new walls to morph into grand homages to Big Bird. It gets worse:
Because the bum paneling was intermingled with unafflicted wood paneling, far more than just the yellowed wood will have to be ripped out and replaced, according to the complaint.
Lake States Lumber's suit goes on to quote an email from a Sherwin-Williams rep taking responsibility for the problem last December: "Thank you for taking the time... to go and look at two of the homes involving yellowing pine due to our tie coat," the rep is quoted as saying.
Despite the seeming admission, the lawsuit alleges that Sherwin-Williams has since refused to make Lake State whole. Lake State's attorney Robert Weinstine is confident his client will soon be seeing green. Reached on his way to the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament late last week, Weinstine predicted a payout "into seven figures." Added Weinstine: "This is a defective product."
Sherwin-Williams has yet to file an answer to the complaint, and company spokesman Mike Conway said there would be no comment.
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