Hingle v Toyobo Company, LTD and Second Chance Body Armor, Inc.
Body Armor Purchasers Claim Zylon is Defective
Multiple class actions have been filed in various states against the Toyobo Company, LTD. and Second Chance Body Armor, Inc. The action is brought on behalf of all U.S. residents who purchased bullet proof vests from Second Chance which contained Zylon, a fiber manufactured by Toyobo. The purchasers allege that vests which contain Zylon are defective and degrade over time, rendering them not usable for their intended purpose. Purchasers are seeking compensatory and punitive damages as well as injunctive and declaratory relief.
According to the purchasers, Second Chance uses the fiber known as Zylon in the manufacture of its bullet proof vests. Zylon, which is manufactured by the Toyobo Company and supplied to Second Chance, is allegedly defective in several ways. The purchasers claim that Zylon breaks down through exposure to heat and humidity, flexing through normal use, wear, light and care. According to the purchasers, this renders the vests manufactured by Second Chance as ineffective for their intended purpose, which is stopping bullets.
The purchasers allege that both Toyobo and Second Chance knew that Zylon was susceptible to degradation and lost its protective qualities, but did not inform purchasers, whose lives were at stake, of these defects. The purchasers allege that Second Chance has sold thousands, if not tens of thousands, of these vests to law enforcement personnel and average citizens throughout the U.S. and should have taken steps to remedy the alleged potentially deadly defects in these vests.
Class-action lawsuits in West Virginia, Missouri, Louisiana, New Jersey, California and Michigan were consolidated into the Oklahoma class-action, which settlement was announced on July 13, 2005. Toyobo Co. is paying $29 million to settle the consolidated class-action lawsuit in the United States that had demanded damages from the Japanese textile manufacturer for bulletproof vests suspected of defects.
Members of the class potentially include individuals, municipalities and police agencies across the country who wore or paid for the vest. The case involves some 150,000 bullet-resistant vests.
Toyobo and Second Chance have blamed each other. Toyobo says the problem was caused by the design and production of the vests, not the Zylon material. 'Toyobo supplies eight other companies with Zylon for bulletproof vests, and there hasn't been a single accident in the other vests' a Toyobo official stated.
Toyobo offered the settlement because it wanted to avoid a long legal fight and to deal responsibly with the possibly defective vests. Under the settlement, the plaintiffs can buy bulletproof vests from Armor Holdings Inc. at a discount.
