Arizona Chemical Co. v. Mohawk Industries, Inc.

This appeal and cross-appeal arise from a $70.1 million jury verdict and resulting judgment for the plaintiffs, Mohawk Industries, Inc., and Aladdin Manufacturing Corporation (collectively “Mohawk”), in a lawsuit about defective Unibond-brand carpet. Mohawk, the manufacturer, became aware of the Unibond defects in 2008, when consumers’ claims against Unibond’s lifetime warranty began to rise sharply. After studying the issue, Mohawk developed a hypothesis that the cause of the claims spike was the use of a particular resin in the Unibond backing system. This resin had been formulated and…