New recall, settlement over bulletproof vests.

In a second major recall, Second Chance Body Armor has called back nearly 100,000 bulletproof vests, admitting that the Zylon fiber they contain is subject to rapid and unpredictable degradation. The company faces lawsuits across the country claiming that vests made of Zylon are not reliable. (Sara Hoffman Jurand, Zylon Body Armor Fails to Protect and Serve Police, Lawsuits Claim, TRIAL, Mar. 2005, at 14.)

Second Chance insists that the problem is with the Zylon fiber itself, manufactured by the Japanese company Toyobo, not with the design of its vests. The vest maker says it hired a leading polymer chemist, a former employee of Dow Chemical Co., to analyze the synthetic fiber.

"These test results showed the presence of inordinately high levels of residual process acids--up to eight times the desired level--in the Zylon manufactured by Toyobo," the company said in a press release. "These process acids can lead to a sudden and dramatic loss of tensile strength, even under normal conditions."

Toyobo says Second Chance has known of Zylon's chemical properties for years. "The subject of hydrolytic degradation is a well-known phenomenon in the scientific community," Toyobo said in its own press release, noting that there is no evidence its product is inherently defective. Throughout the litigation, Toyobo has claimed that if the vests are unreliable, it is because Second Chance poorly engineered both the material made from the fiber and the vests.

In September 2003, Second Chance informed law enforcement agencies that nearly 130,000 vests with protective cores made solely of Zylon should be replaced or upgraded. It offered discounts or free "performance packs," composed of pads to be inserted in the original vest.

The company filed for bankruptcy last October. In June, it notified police departments that all vests containing any Zylon fiber and those previously upgraded with performance packs should be replaced immediately.

Shortly after that, Toyobo settled a large nationwide class action in Oklahoma. (Lemmings v. Second Chance Body Armor, Inc., No. CJ-2004-62 (Okla., Mayes County Dist. Ct. preliminary settlement July 11, 2005).) Lead plaintiff counsel Allan Kanner of New Orleans said the class was certified in February and the case was set to go to trial in August. The Zylon maker has agreed to contribute to a fund to help officers replace their vests and will pay legal costs and attorney fees.

The settlement included a deal with Armor Holdings, another bulletproof-vest maker, to give police departments and officers significant discounts on vests for five years. Armor Holdings withdrew all its Zylon-based products from the market and issued a recall last year.

"It's sad but true that it took the civil justice system to get the job done," Kanner said.

Suits against Second Chance and that company's cross-claims with Toyobo are tied up in the bankruptcy proceedings. Meanwhile, the Justice Department recently filed a suit in federal court in Washington, D.C., against both companies on behalf of several federal agencies that bought vests for their officers. That suit claims the companies conspired to hide evidence of defects. The attorneys general of several states are also investigating or pursuing claims against the companies.