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The government awards contracts to companies with histories of misconduct such as contract fraud and environmental, ethics, and labor violations. In the absence of a centralized federal database listing instances of misconduct, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is providing such data. We believe that it will lead to improved contracting decisions and public access to information about how the government spends hundreds of billions of taxpayer money each year on goods and services. Report an instance of misconduct »

Textron, Inc.

Defective Crankshaft Design

Date: 11/01/2007 (Date of Appellate Opinion)

Misconduct Type: Non-governmental Contract Fraud

Enforcement Agency: Non-Governmental

Contracting Party: Non-Governmental

Court Type: Civil

Amount: $0

Disposition: Judgment Against Defendant

Synopsis: Interstate Southwest Ltd. sued Textron Inc.’s Lycoming engines division alleging Lycoming was responsible for several incidents between 1999 and 2001 involving small aircraft equipped with Lycoming engines that failed when the planes’ crankshafts broke in flight. Interstate Southwest supplied Lycoming with crankshaft forgings but claimed Lycoming’s crankshaft design was defective and that Lycoming fraudulently concealed information about the failures. In 2005, a Grimes County, Texas jury found Lycoming liable for fraud and ordered it to pay Interstate $96 million in damages. In November 2007, a Texas appeals court partly affirmed and partly reversed the trial court verdict. It agreed that the crankshaft failures were caused solely by a defect in Lycoming’s design and nullified Lycoming’s counterclaim, but the court also set aside the damages award.