A class action lawsuit against window manufacturer Viking Industries, a Pella Corporation subsidiary, was certified April 10, 2009 in California. Pella bought Viking in 1998.
The lawsuit alleges that windows manufactured by Viking Industries are defective and leak in their lower corners. Plaintiffs estimate the total number of windows sold is in excess of 1.2 million.
The Plaintiffs' window experts reported that 61% of the windows they tested leaked and testified that to a "reasonable engineering certainty" those windows that had not yet leaked would during their expected useful life. In court documents, the Pella subsidiary's experts declared that 43% of the windows they tested leaked even when tested at a lower performance standard than was promised by Viking.
The Plaintiffs' attorneys pointed out that projecting Pella's subsidiary experts' opinion of a 43% leak rate onto all of the windows means that between 336,000 and 696,000 of the windows leak. Pella and its subsidiary have been aware of its expert's 43% leak rate since its spring 2008 investigation, according to the plaintiffs' attorneys.
According to the attorney's representing the homeowners, Pella's subsidiary has a potential liability of several hundred million dollars.
