Louisiana-Pacific Earnings Reduced

Louisiana-Pacific Corp. slashed a third off its previously announced quarterly earnings Monday to reflect the increased defense costs of a criminal indictment and defective-product lawsuits.

The revision in the wood product company’s second-quarter results means it earned $26.3 million or 25 cents a share instead of $42.2 million or 40 cents a share reported less than two weeks ago. In the comparable 1994 quarter the company earned $81.9 million or 75 cents a share.

Louisiana-Pacific said the downward revision resulted from “an increase in reserves related to pending litigation.”

The company is facing a 56-count criminal indictment in Colorado charging it with environmental law violations. In addition, it’s facing class-action lawsuits nationwide claiming the company’s house siding is defective.

The bulk of the earnings decline reported earlier resulted from low lumber prices. Except for its pulp operations, the Portland-based company depends almost entirely on home construction and building products sales.