Court Asks Trinity To Pay $682.4 Mln In Guardrail Case

(RTTNews) - Trinity Industries Inc (TRN) on Tuesday said a U.S. Court has ordered it to pay $682.4 million for failing to inform the government about changes in design to highway guardrails.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, entered judgment in the federal False Claims Act case filed against Trinity by Joshua Harman involving the ET Plus System.

The court judgment was expected after post-verdict, court-ordered mediation failed to resolve the legal issues involved.

In October 2014, a jury awarded $175 million in damages in this case which alleged certain violations of the False Claims Act. Under the Act, the award is automatically trebled to $525 million.

Also, the District Court imposed civil penalties in the amount of $138.4 million and awarded attorney's fees, and expenses to the relator of $19 million. The amount of the total judgment is $682.4 million.

The company believes the evidence clearly shows that no fraud was committed. Trinity also believes that the trial court made significant errors in applying the federal law to Harman's allegations and, therefore, the judgment is erroneous.

Trinity said it plans to file certain post-judgment motions and, depending upon the District Court's rulings on those motions, to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.