Bollinger, DOJ settle false-claims lawsuit over hull strength of cutters

摘要

Late last year, Bollinger Shipyards agreed to pay the federal government $8.5 million to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit alleging the shipbuilder misrepresented the hull strength of modified patrol boats. The suit, dismissed by a federal judge in 2013 but revived by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2014, alleged that at least eight of the Coast Guards patrol boats were unseaworthy after Bollinger, in renovating hulls, misstated their resistance to bending. The Lockport, La.-based company was contracted in 2002 to renovate 49 patrol boats by extending their length from 110 feet to 123 feet. In July 2011, the Justice Department filed a suit saying Bollinger falsely reported its hull-strength calculations to the Coast Guard.