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Maryland County Has Joined Huge Artificial Turf Class Action Lawsuit

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This article is more than 6 years old.

The size of the class of the lawsuit against artificial turf company FieldTurf is getting bigger.

I have learned that in December, Mike Riley, the Director of Montgomery Parks, wrote the following in a letter:

"After careful consideration of the condition and damage to various turf fields purchased from Field Turf, including the field located at Montgomery Blair High School, and legal options, the Commission will seek relief as a member of the class in the matter pending before the United States District Court – District of New Jersey, In Re: FieldTurf Artificial Turf Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation, Case No.: 17-md-02779 MAS.  In this case, it is alleged that Field Turf misrepresented the reliability, performance, and cost-effectiveness of its turf fields in violation of the Maryland Consumer Protection Act; knowingly provided turf fields which contained defects in materials that were never disclosed; and, otherwise asserted that the fields provided were in merchantable condition and fit for their intended purpose, in breach of its express and implied warranties."

Montgomery Parks is run by the Maryland National Park and Planning Commission. The MNCPPC runs Montgomery Parks department and the Prince George's County Parks department.

A year ago I wrote a story on the deterioration of a field at one of the county's high schools: "The principal of Blair High School in Montgomery County, Maryland, announced that the stadium is closed so that its artificial turf field can be replaced. The field was installed in 2009. A press release dated January 13 of this year says, in part, “The carpet on the artificial turf field at Blair High School has deteriorated and is heavily worn." What is unusual about the principal's tweet is that the field was studied for problems; once in August and then again in October (see results below). The report in August basically said the field was fine. The report in October indicates potential safety problems."

Investors may be getting nervous. Shares of Tarkett, the French company that owns FieldTurf, have dropped 10% in 2018 compared with a 3.7% gain for the CAC 40.

I have been following the economics of artificial turf fields for a while now and find some of the supposed savings in such fields to be bogus.  In 2014, for example, I wrote "non-partisan studies have shown the exact opposite--natural grass fields are a bargain compared to artificial turf due to the huge costs taxpayers get stuck with to maintain and replace artificial fields after their warrantees expire."

One of the issues appears to be that Montgomery Parks only owns one of the public high school artificial turf fields. The other defective artificial turf fields are owned by the public school system and they have not been replaced, nor have they responded to requests from the public to sue FieldTurf.

 

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