Federal jury sides with whistle-blower against Dallas-based Trinity Industries; damages over $800M
Source: Dallas Morning News
WASHINGTON In a case that could trigger a wholesale re-evaluation of the safety of a guardrail system used on highways and interstates across the country, a federal jury in Marshall, Texas found against Dallas-based Trinity Industries Monday, finding that the company knowingly defrauded the government of $175 million since 2005.
Brian Farber, spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration, said Mondays ruling has triggered a review of whether federal funds can be used to continue buying the guardrail component sold by Trinity, and that a safety review prompted by recent concerns about its performance continues as well.
The Federal Highway Administration will evaluate the findings of the Trinity case and consider whether it affects the continued eligibility of the ET-Plus, said Farber, using the brand name for the guardrail cap sold by Trinity. Separately, the FHWA continues to review the Trinity guardrail service record. We have asked all states to immediately share any crash information involving the Trinity ET-Plus guardrail end terminal. To be clear, our number one priority is safety and we will take a data-driven approach to ensure safety on our highways.
The actual amount Trinity could owe is much higher. The federal False Claims Act, the statute under which whistle-blower Josh Harman brought his suit, states that a guilty party will pay three times whatever damages are proved at trial, plus in many cases attorneys fees and additional fines that Harmans lawyers say could top $200 million.
Read more: http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2014/10/dallas-based-trinity-industries-hit-with-175m-verdict-total-damages-could-near-1-billion-in-guardrail-case-brought-by-whistle-blower-josh-harman.html/
*ETA: Edited headline so that the damage amount was not truncated.
PeoViejo
(2,178 posts)...well, almost.
greiner3
(5,214 posts)"...well, almost."
My gut reaction was of Perry...
belzabubba333
(1,237 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)jtuck004
(15,882 posts)and deficient product.
Or we use stretched budgets to replace them with no one to recoup the cost from.
Or ignore it and watch people die needlessly, perhaps. I wonder how many crash into these in a year?
vlyons
(10,252 posts)might have something to say about paying claims when these guard rails are involved in accidents.
Mnpaul
(3,655 posts)It sounds like Trinity ripped him off so he called the feds
Harman, a former competitor of Trinitys who settled claims that he infringed on its patents, has traveled the country in the past few years visiting crash sites. He alleges that the small changes made by Trinity in 2005 have rendered the guard rails much more dangerous.
That issuewhether Trinitys changes made the guardrails more dangerouswas not on trial. There are several tort cases brought by crash survivors or the families of victims who have sued Trinity, but those claims were not before the jury in Marshall.
Instead, the seven jurors there were asked a simpler question: Were the changes that Trinity didnt tell the FHWA about serious enough to mean that the government had paid for something it never actually received.
The end rail is the problem here. Trinity changed its design without notifying the feds. The new design does not absorb the shock as intended. It locks up and slices into the car.
http://www.martinandjones.com/trinity-et-plus-guardrail-lawsuit
freshwest
(53,661 posts)malthaussen
(17,066 posts)The execs get cashing-out bonuses, and the small stockholders get screwed. And meanwhile defective guardrails line the roads and have to be either replaced or ignored.
-- Mal
mahatmakanejeeves
(56,902 posts)An illustration here shows how it's supposed to work, and what happens if it does not function as intended.
Highway Guardrails Are Killing Drivers, Says Industry Insider
I do have to add an important disclaimer:
By Patrick G. Lee June 19, 2014
....
Trinity alleges that Harmans case isnt about public safetyits about payback. In court filings, the company calls Harman an opportunistic litigant seeking to retaliate against Trinity. Harman cant claim to be impartial: He and his brother own two small companies in Virginia that once made and installed generic end terminals based on Trinitys ET-Plus design. In 2011, Trinity sued for patent infringement.
Harman says he believed the patents had expired. Although he stopped making the terminals, Trinity proceeded with its case, saying it wanted to ensure any infringing guardrails were off the roads. The companies reached a confidential settlement in 2012. Harman laid off most of his workforcemore than 100 peopleand sought Chapter 11 protection for his companies. His legal bills exceeded $7 million, according to one of his bankruptcy filings.
At the same time Trinity was going after his products, Harman says he started taking a closer look at Trinitys end terminals, driving to crash scenes all over the country. His quest took him away from his wife and two school-age daughters in Virginia for more than 300 days last year. He says whatever Trinity alleges about his motives doesnt matter if hes right that U.S. highways are lined with dangerous guardrails paid for by taxpayers. Its irrelevant if Im crazy.
Harman has a high-profile ally: Boies, Schiller & Flexner, the law firm founded by David Boies and known for taking on the likes of Microsoft (MSFT) and MasterCard (MA), is representing him in the suit. The firm argues Trinitys design modifications were more than cosmetic. The headers are now dangerous, and people are dying, says Nicholas Gravante Jr., a Boies Schiller partner whos working on Harmans case.
mahatmakanejeeves
(56,902 posts)By AARON M. KESSLER and DANIELLE IVORYOCT. 27, 2014
Adding to pressure on the guardrail manufacturer Trinity Industries, Virginia said on Monday that it planned to remove the companys products after it failed to meet a state deadline to supply documentation for new crash testing.
Virginia would be the first state to take such an action, going a step further than the 13 other states that have now banned additional purchases of the guardrails. On Monday, Texas became the latest state to stop buying and installing them.
The products, which are called rail heads and are found at the end of the guardrail, are suspected of having a dangerous defect that could lead them to jam, causing guardrails to pierce vehicles.
We cant have an unapproved product on our roadways, Marshall Herman, a spokeswoman for Virginias Transportation Department, said. Were working as we speak on a plan for removal.
A 1999 crash test video by the Texas Transportation Institute shows how rail heads, or end terminals, are meant to push guardrails away from a car on impact. Publish date, October 12, 2014.