A jury has found that Trinity Industries defrauded the Federal Highway Administration by providing defective guard rails for federal highway projects. The whistleblower, Joshua Harman, claimed and a jury found Trinity Industries liable for fraud, because it did not report for years changes to its ET-Plus guardrail system. Following the jury's verdict the judge, Rodney Gilstrap, a federal district judge for the Eastern District of Texas, ordered the parties to mediate and try and settle the case by the end of the year.
Source: New York Times
This case was brought under the federal False Claims Act, which allows a whistleblower to file suit on behalf of of the government or a federal agency where a contractor or supplier has defrauded it. In this case, the whistleblower would stand to receive probably about 25% of the monies paid by Trinity Industries.
Lexington, Kentucky whistleblower lawyer Robert Abell represents individuals in whistleblower cases under the False Claims Act; contact him at 859-254-7076.
