L-P To Discuss Settlement In Siding Suit Company Lawyers Request Meeting Today With Magistrate Handling Class-Action Suit

Attorneys for Louisiana-Pacific Corp. are nearing a settlement with thousands of unhappy homeowners who claim the company’s Inner-Seal house siding is defective, the company said Tuesday.

That optimism isn’t shared by some of the attorneys suing the company.

Lawyers in the case have requested a meeting today with U.S. Magistrate John Jelderks, said Barry Lacter, an L-P spokesman.

“They’re discussions that would lead to a national settlement, except for Florida, where we already have a settlement,” Lacter said.

He said an announcement was possible today but it would depend on the results of the meeting with Jelderks.

Attorneys for Louisiana-Pacific withdrew a similar request earlier but have crafted a new settlement to present to Jelderks.

The settlement will not stop two major lawsuits filed last week on behalf of apartment owners in Vancouver, Wash., and Gresham, Ore., attorneys at the firm of Stanislaw Ashbaugh said. The suits ask for $6.5 million and are the largest non-class actions over the siding, which was manufactured near Coeur d’Alene for six years.

A Stanislaw Ashbaugh spokesman also said it is doubtful the settlement will end all of the homeowner litigation. Even if the judge approves settlement of the dozen class lawsuits, people can opt out of the settlement and file their own suits.

During the last decade, L-P has paid more than $46 million to 17,000 homeowners nationwide. In addition, homeowners in several states filed lawsuits alleging their siding had failed. This settlement, which pulls all of them together, will attempt to cover all of the homeowner claims.

Unhappy homeowners report that the siding - made of strands of aspen or pine glued together with resin and compacted under heat and pressure - has begun to rot, swell, crack or sprout mushrooms.

The rapid march to a single settlement started when attorneys filed a class action last month in U.S. District Court in Portland.

Financial analysts expected the new settlement means the company will pay at least $300 million in claims.

Despite the cost, analysts say a settlement would be good for Louisiana-Pacific, showing Wall Street that the company has put some of its troubles behind and can move on to other issues.

“It would seem to me they made progress on their problem,” said Steve Dietrich, an analyst with Jensen Securities in Portland. “And that is how (Wall) Street is going to see it.”

Meanwhile, investigations into the company’s house siding by attorneys general in Oregon, Washington and Florida would not be affected by any court-sanctioned settlement; they are expected to continue.

“This doesn’t change it,” said Doug Walsh, with the Washington attorney general’s office. “I have a law enforcement action under this state’s act.”

Other lawsuits filed this year accuse Louisiana-Pacific of everything from securities fraud to racketeering. The company also faces federal criminal charges that it violated environmental laws at a factory in Colorado.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Associated Press Staff writer Ken Olsen contributed to this report.