Canadian fabric company settles case with US Department of Justice
16/02/2010
A Canadian manufacturer, Lincoln Fabrics, has agreed to pay $4 million to settle a lawsuit with the US Department of Justice, even though it insists it played no part in providing material for bulletproof vests that failed to work.
The US Department of Justice has embarked on a series of lawsuits against companies involved in the production of a Kevlar-like fibre called Zylon, which has gone into bulletproof vests for US law enforcement agencies. One police officer in California died in 2003 when a Zylon vest failed to protect him during a shooting, while another officer in Pennsylvania was injured in a similar incident a few weeks later.
Canadian media quoted Lincoln Fabrics president, Dave Howes, as saying that his company had agreed to pay but accepted no responsibility for the incidents in the US. He said: “We absolutely reject every allegation. But when it comes down to it, we’re a small company and this is the US Department of Justice. It hurts, but at some point you just have to cut bait, settle and move on.
“The government just sued everybody, everyone, including companies involved in producing component parts.”
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