Appeals Court Reinstates Suit Claiming Defect in MX Device
In a surprise legal twist, a civil suit alleging that Northrop Grumman supplied a defective guidance system for the MX nuclear missile system has been reinstated by a federal appeals court.
The allegations, first raised 10 years ago by former Northrop senior engineer Brian Hyatt, prompted one of the biggest defense fraud controversies of the 1980s and led to a series of acrimonious congressional hearings.
Hyatt filed suit against Northrop in 1986 under the federal False Claims Act, but his charges were dismissed by federal Judge David V. Kenyon in Los Angeles in 1988.
In a ruling published Friday, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the 1988 decision on legal grounds and sent the case back to Kenyon for a trial.
“Northrop is back to square one with Brian Hyatt,” said Phil Benson, Hyatt’s attorney.
In 1994, Hyatt won $228,000 from Northrop for wrongful termination, which was originally part of the same False Claims Act case. In an interview Friday, Hyatt said that he is now employed as a sales representative for an electronic components manufacturer in San Diego.
Hyatt contended that the guidance system, an extraordinarily complex device the size of a basketball, was unreliable. The suit asserts that Northrop knowingly supplied defective parts for the MX “that will cause catastrophic failure at indeterminable times.”
Northrop said Friday that the allegations are without merit, adding that the guidance systems are more reliable than expected. A company spokesman said that the Justice Department, after looking into Hyatt’s charges, decided not to intervene in the suit.
Northrop built guidance systems for 50 MX missiles, which today remain on alert status in Air Force missile silos at Western bases. The missiles are fueled and armed, and the guidance systems operate on a 24-hour basis.
After a lengthy criminal investigation, the Justice Department never brought criminal charges against Northrop. But a number of the MX issues remain active a decade after they were first raised.
Northrop is currently in trial in federal court over separate MX fraud allegations originally brought by former Northrop employees Jeff Kroll and David Peterson. The Justice Department is prosecuting that case.
