Dr. Aaron Westrick blew the whistle on defective bullet proof vests, saving thousands of lives.
Dr. Aaron Westrick filed a False Claims Act lawsuit against Toyoba, the manufacter of Zylon fiber, a material that degraded over time, which put thousands of lives in American police departments, federal law enforcement agencies, and the U.S. military at risk.
What would you do if you had to dedicate your career to protecting those who protect us, only to discover that the company that once saved your life may be putting others at risk? This is the dilemma Aaron Westrick faced.
Westrick was the research director for America’s largest body armor company – Second Chance Body Armor – and was the first official to oppose the sale of bulletproof vests made with Zylon fiber. His False Claims Act lawsuit against the manufacturers of these defective vests forced them off the market, which in turn protected the lives of thousands of officers in American police departments, federal law enforcement agencies, and the U.S. military.
On March 15, 2018, the Japanese manufacturer of Zylon agreed to pay the United States $66 million to resolve the allegations of False Claims Act violations against it. Westrick was awarded $5 million from the settlement. And on July 16, 2018, the former Second Chance president and CEO agreed to pay the government $125,000 to settle claims related to the False Claims Act suit filed against Second Chance.
Before he was research director at Second Chance Body Armor (SCBA), he was a deputy sherriff who had been shot wearing a SCBA vest.
Dr. Aaron Westrick is a hometown hero. Born in Detroit Michigan, Dr. Westrick served as a deputy sheriff police officer in his hometown St. Clair County. Soon after starting as a police officer, he was shot in the chest and hand. Luckily, he had a vest on, which saved his life.
Dr. Westrick was extremely concerned about the safety of body armor made from Zylon, especially because he had witnessed first-hand the importance of having effective protective clothing. Dr. Westrick recommended that SCBA test the Zylon vests. SCBA adopted this recommendation.
Several years later, he was invited to a Second Chance Body Armor event, commemorating the officers who had been shot in the line of duty. This is where he met Second Chance Body Armor president Richard Davis, whom he became friends with.
This friendship blossomed, and soon after Dr. Westrick finished his doctorate in Sociology and Criminal Justice at Wayne State University, he was offered (and accepted) a position as research director at Second Chance Body Armor.
In 2001, when Toyobo informed Second Chance Body Armor (“SCBA”), formerly the largest bulletproof vest company in the United States, that Zylon may experience degradation. Alarmingly, corporate leaders chose to conceal this critical defect.
Toyobo is a Japanese-based company that manufactured the Zylon that was imported and sold to Second Chance. At the time of Toyobo’s notification, Dr. Westrick was the SCBA Director for Research and Marketing and a rising star in the body armor industry.
Dr. Westrick was the first official to oppose the sale of bulletproof vests made with Zylon fiber. He became a lone voice of reason, desperately warning the company and Toyobo about the possibility of catastrophe, such as a police officer being shot and killed because of a failing vest.
On December 18, 2001, Dr. Westrick grew increasingly alarmed at the Toyobo-SCBA cover-up and wrote a memo to the President of SCBA urging SCBA to “immediately notify our customers of the degradation problems we are experiencing” with the Zylon vests.
He informed the President of Second Chance that SCBA should “make the right difficult decisions” and “do the right things and not hesitate.” The “obvious safety issues” should “not be hidden.” SCBA ignored this recommendation.
Instead, Toyobo and SCBA entered into a secret “rebate” agreement in which Toyobo would make “incentive payments” to SCBA if SCBA “promoted” the sale of Zylon vests “to the police force.” Upon signing the agreement, Toyobo paid SCBA an immediate “retroactive rebate” of $1.421 million.
In 2002, the President of SCBA finally decided to act on Westrick’s concerns. He wrote a confidential memo to the SCBA Executive Board acknowledging that the Zylon vests were dangerous, and explicitly urged the company to warn police.
The memo included two possible solutions:
- “Solution 1: We continue operating as though nothing is wrong until one of our customers is killed or wounded, or … some other entity exposes the Zylon problem,” or
- “Solution 2: We publish and circulate an ad denouncing all [Zylon] vests and decline to make them anymore, unless … the customer is fully aware of the [Zylon] shortcomings.”
The SCBA General Counsel ordered that all copies of the memo be shredded and that the document be removed from the SCBA computer system. All copies of the memo were destroyed, except for one copy preserved by Dr. Westrick, which he eventually provided to the United States and other law enforcement agencies.
SCBA continued to sell the Zylon vests and did not issue any warnings. Tragically, the warnings became reality. The Zylon vests failed as suspected and two officers were injured. Unfortunately, one life was lost while wearing a Zylon vest.
- On June 13, 2003, a Zylon vest was penetrated. Officer Tony Zeppetella died while wearing body armor made with the Zylon fabric.
- On June 23, 2003, Officer Ed Limbacher was shot through his vest under ballistic conditions for which the vest should have worked. He was permanently injured.
Dr. Westrick promptly “leaked” all of his documentation concerning defects of Zylon, and the Toyobo-SCBA cover-up, to representatives of Officer Limbacher, counsel for Officer Zeppetella‘s widow, and numerous state Attorney General’s offices, permitting those agencies to settle class action and personal injury cases successfully.
Dr. Westrick testified in the Zeppetella case, providing critical evidence that resulted in the jury awarding Zeppetella’s widow $3.6 million in damages based on the failure of SCBA and Toyobo to warn police officers of the dangers from Zylon.
Determined to make a difference, Dr. Westrick turned to the False Claims Act. This lawsuit became his weapon to force Zylon vests off the market and hold the companies profiting from faulty equipment accountable.
In 2004, Dr. Westrick filed a qui tam False Claims Act (“FCA”) case against SCBA and Toyobo. The federal government backed-up Westrick and intervened in the on case June 1, 2005.
Toyobo maintained that it had no liability for the vests, arguing that SCBA should be blamed as it manufactured the actual vests and that Toyobo only sold the raw Zylon to SCBA. This argument was convenient, as SCBA went bankrupt, primarily due to its Zylon-related liabilities.
Toyobo mounted an unprecedented 13-year scorched earth defense, using every possible legal maneuver to escape liability for selling unsafe body armor to police, federal agents, and the U.S. military.
The case settled on the eve of an anticipated six-week jury trial.
At a pretrial conference held on February 22, 2018, Dr. Westrick moved the Court to permit the jury to find Toyobo guilty of conspiracy with SCBA, thus undermining Toyobo’s principle defense, and allowing the jury to hold Toyobo accountable for all the vest sales made by SCBA. The Court granted Dr. Westrick’s request over Toyobo’s strenuous objection. That same evening, Toyobo gave up, agreeing to a settlement in principle with the United States.
All in all, the Department of Justice described the benefits obtained by the taxpayers based on Dr. Westrick’s whistleblowing: A total of $132 million recovered from 18 corporations and individuals, of which $22 million was used to purchase new body armor for police officers. But the biggest winners were police officers and federal agents around the United States who were able to replace defective Zylon vests with those that would protect their lives.
Dr. Aaron Westrick’s courage and pursuit of justice paid off. The sale of Zylon vests screeched to a halt, and most were removed and replaced. The companies who responsible for selling these dangerous vests paid millions in damages to the United States.
In a major blow, Toyobo, a key player, was forced to pay a hefty $66 million in damages, along with several other firms. Second Chance, unable to withstand the pressure, filed for bankruptcy, and its top executives faced personal financial repercussions.
Dr. Westrick’s career in the body armor industry might have been sacrificed, but his unwavering commitment to officer safety yielded significant rewards.
He received whistleblower compensation from Toyobo, the Second Chance bankruptcy settlement, and additional settlements, including one under the California False Claims Act.
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The Pillar Awards
Dr. Aaron Westrick (right) speaking at the Pillar Awards next to Stephen M. Kohn, his attorney.
Championing Truthtellers: The Pillar Awards
In 2018, Dr. Westrick received the Frank Wills and Martha Mitchell Pillar Award for Whistleblowers and Unsung Heroes.
The Whistleblower Summit for Civil and Human Rights presents the Pillar Awards to celebrate individuals and organizations who stand up for the community by upholding the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments. These amendments guarantee freedom of speech, protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, and due process of law, respectively.
The Pillar Awards specifically recognize whistleblowers who faced retaliation or hardship for exposing wrongdoing. The award honors not only their bravery and resilience, but also the positive impact their actions have on society. Past recipients include Diane Williams, alongside Senators Corey Booker, Rand Paul, and Ron Johnson.
Whistleblower Advocate: National Whistleblower Day
Dr. Westrick was a featured speaker at the 2018 Whistleblower Day Celebration on Capitol Hill. He was joined by Sen. Charles Grassley, the Chairman of the Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus who recounted Dr. Westrick’s incredible impact during his keynote address:
“Because of his remarkable courage, the product was pulled from the market, and no doubt countless lives saved. But think about it this: what if his company had listened to him in the first place? Times would have turned out very differently for the two brave officers whose vests failed them.”
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