An Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal ruling refused to overturn a 2020 decision denying class certification for a lawsuit by police officers over the safety of bulletproof vests made by a Pompano Beach firm.
October 01, 2021 – By Ron Hurtibise – Source South Florida Sun Sentinel
Police officers have been dealt a loss in their bid to prove that their safety was jeopardized by alleged design flaws in bulletproof vests made by a Pompano Beach, Florida, company.
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal this week struck down a group of officers’ effort to overturn a U.S. district judge’s August 2020 ruling denying class certification for a lawsuit they filed against Point Blank Enterprises in 2019.
The company manufactures body armor, surveillance systems, communications products and other protective products for U.S. military, Defense Department, law enforcement and detention facilities.
The officers claimed the company substituted genuine Velcro straps that ensured that the vests safely covered their chests and backs with a cheaper hook-and-loop material that falls apart early in the vests’ expected five-year lifespan.
One of the plaintiffs, a 27-year sergeant in Glendale, California, was quoted in the initial complaint as saying the hooks and straps at the shoulder connection of his vest failed within a year. It fell down inside his uniform, forcing him to interrupt his work to find a safe place to remove his uniform and attempt to reattach the failed connections.
Plaintiffs named in the suit included the Ohio State Troopers Association, the Sarasota-based International Union of Police Associations, and six individual officers.
A district judge in Fort Lauderdale rejected the plaintiffs’ request for class certification, finding that they failed to meet multiple requirements. Among them, he said, was that they failed to present evidence that a common defect exists and offered no class-wide method of calculating damages.
In a unanimous opinion issued on Monday, a three-member panel of judges upheld the district court’s reasoning, saying it “adequately explained its reasons for finding Point Blank’s expert testimony about the lack of a uniform defect to be more persuasive than Appellants’ expert.”
Individual inquiries of prospective class members would be required, the opinion said, to resolve how each used the vest and whether they experienced the alleged defect.
The ruling marked the third time courts have denied the plaintiffs’ bid for class certification. In a separate case in 2017 filed by the two police organizations and three Ohio troopers, the district court ruled that the plaintiffs failed to target only models they purchased rather than all models that use the hook and loop material.
Point Blank did not respond to a request for comment about the ruling. In 2019, it said that fewer than 222 of more than 443,000 vests sold were returned for issues with the hook-and-loop fasteners.
But David Cohen, one of the lead attorneys for the officers, said Wednesday that the company has issued more than 30,000 replacement straps that officers had to install after experiencing failure of the original straps and a replacement strap that shipped with each new vest.
Cohen said he disagrees with the rulings that the officers failed to present evidence of a common defect.
While some users remove the vests by pulling them over their heads with no issues, failure can be predicted when users repeatedly fasten and unfasten the shoulder connections, he said.
He cited testimony from Point Blank officials stating that the fasteners are not meant to be connected in any way other than in a “very gentle” manner.
“They would never state that in their marketing materials,” Cohen said.
Cohen said the officers might seek a rehearing before the full 12-member appellate court, or individual officers might refile claims on behalf of current and future users.
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