Navistar False Claims Act Lawsuit–$50 Million Settlement

Case name: United States of America ex. rel. Duquoin Burgess v. Navistar International, LLC/Navistar Defense, LLC
Case type: Whistleblower & Qui Tam
Filed in: [U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia]
Docket: [Case no.:13-cv-1463 (TSC)]

Case Summary

In 2013, Duquoin Burgess, a former contract director at Navistar, filed the Complaint against Navistar Defense and Navistar International for violations of the False Claims Act. Seven years later, Navistar agreed to pay $50 million to resolve the FCA allegations.

The Complaint claimed the company took advantage of the Government’s contract procurement system and specifically its critical need for Mine Resistant, Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan to engage in a pervasive and long-running scheme to charge the U.S. Government inflated prices for vehicle parts.

According to the Complaint, Navistar forged invoices, catalogue prices, and other data during the negotiations of a multi-billion-dollar defense contract for (MRAP) vehicles.

Navistar allegedly made use of forgeries to avoid the requirement in the contract that stipulated the company must present real evidence of previous sales. According to Burgess’s Complaint, Navistar certified the truthfulness of the false and misleading cost and pricing data on all but one of the delivery orders placed under the contract.

In 2019, the United States Government intervened in the case, announcing it would partner with the legal team at Sanford Heisler Sharp in prosecuting the case against Navistar.

On December 2, 2019, Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia unsealed the six-year-old qui tam Complaint filed by Mr. Burgess, the whistleblower.

In May 2021, Navistar agreed to settle and resolve the FCA allegations.