Guardrail maker to pay $663M for not revealing design change

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By DAVID KOENIG and JAMIE STENGLE

DALLAS (AP) — A federal judge is ordering a Texas company to pay $663 million for failing to tell the government about design changes to highway guardrails that critics say made the systems more dangerous.

Trinity Industries Inc. says the judgment should be thrown out.

A Trinity competitor in Virginia sued the company on behalf of the government and will receive $199 million.

A jury decided last October that Trinity defrauded the government by failing to tell regulators about changes to its ET-Plus guardrails, which are designed to fold up when hit by a car, reducing the chance of death or injury to car occupants.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/21fd4dfb439043cdaa174b40e1e02466/guardrail-maker-pay-663m-not-revealing-design-change

[Journeyman]

1. So a private company, a competitor, brought the suit against their rival "on our behalf". . .

Nice of them to be looking after our interests (especially in this case, as it sounds like Trinity's infraction was criminal), but interesting nonetheless that a competitor was allowed to profit off our problem.

Anyone know how such a suit works? I'm thinking I might be able to make some quick money myself, should I ever lose out on another government job.

[Major Nikon]

2. Qui tam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qui_tam

[Journeyman]

3. Thank you, Major Nikon. I appreciate the link . . .