The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently considered the extent to which settlements in related False Claims Act cases must be offset against damages owed by non-settling parties – and the appropriate measure for allocating previous settlements in later related cases.
In United States v. Honeywell Int’l Inc., the Department of Justice sued Honeywell for providing allegedly defective material in bulletproof vests sold to the government. Honeywell, No. 21-5179, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 24369 (D.C. Cir. Aug. 30, 2022). Honeywell was one company in a complex network of bulletproof vest suppliers, and Honeywell sold Z Shield, a zylon fiber product, to the manufacturers of the bulletproof vests. United States v. Honeywell Int’l Inc., 502 F. Supp. 3d 427, 435 (D.D.C. 2020). The manufacturers in turn sold the vests to the federal government through two separate programs, the General Services Administration Multiple Award Schedule Program and the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program. Id. at 435-36.
In a series of related lawsuits, DOJ alleged that Honeywell and the vest manufacturers learned during the performance period of the procurement contracts that the Z Shield material degraded under hot and humid conditions, but did not adequately disclose this alleged defect to the government. Id. at 461. DOJ further alleged the degradation caused the bulletproof vests to no longer meet performance standards, and that Honeywell falsely certified the vests had met those...
Vadodara/Surat. A special CBI court has convicted four individuals in a 23-year-old fire insurance fraud case in Gujarat and sentenced each of them to three years of rigorous imprisonment. The cou...