Armored-vehicle manufacturers in a legal battle

Friday, 24 August 2007

Page 2 of 2 Barrett resigned from Force Protection on Aug. 25, 2005, telling at least one company official that he had no intention of competing with his former employer in connection with the design, development, manufacture, marketing or sale of armored vehicles, the suit alleges. But little more than a week later, the lawsuit states, Barrett “or others acting on his behalf” registered the Web domain name protectedvehicles.com, with the title “Protected Vehicles for Mine, IED, Blast Armored Trucks,” and began posting content on the new site. Two days after that, on Sept. 7, 2005, Barrett reserved the corporate name “Protected Vehicles Inc.” The company was originally incorporated in South Carolina but has since been re-incorporated in Delaware. Thebes resigned from Force Protection a week later and joined PVI. Following Thebes’ departure from Force Protection, a number of employees of Force Protection’s finance department also resigned and joined PVI. The lawsuit also charges that PVI actively recruited several members of Force Protection’s research and development department “as well as several critical welders.” Officials at the two companies declined to comment on the lawsuit Thursday morning. PVI has yet to file a response to the charges. Both companies are among a growing number of manufacturers around the country vying for orders from the Pentagon, which is awarding production contracts for at least 8,000 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPs, as part of a $12 billion program. Force Protection’s fortunes have continued to improve in recent months with the company recently announcing plans to purchase a new 430,000-square-foot facility in Roxboro, N.C., to expand its production capacity. Protected Vehicles, meanwhile, has been struggling. Its only existing order, with the U.S. Marine Corps for 60 armored vehicles, was filled this month and it lost out on a recent bid to acquire additional work. The company’s layoffs earlier this month were attributed directly to its failure to get enough orders from the federal government to sustain its work force, which numbered up to 500. << Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>