If you were employed as a naval architect or marine engineer in the public fleet shipbuilding industry, you may be entitled to recover financial compensation from a naval architect & marine engineer shipbuilder antitrust class action lawsuit case or settlement claim.
A team of class action attorneys and antitrust lawyers is investigating potential antitrust class action lawsuit and settlement cases of naval architects and/or marine engineers who worked in the United States public fleet shipbuilding industry and who may have been underpaid.
On October 6, 2023 a class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against various shipbuilders that have built military vessels, various specialized consulting firms that helped design, refit, and maintain ships in the U.S. fleet, and a recruiting firm that recruited naval engineers, styled as Susan Scharpf, et. al. v. General Dynamics Corp., et al., Case No. 1:23-cv-01372 (Judge Anthony John Trenga) alleging, among other things, that executives in charge of hiring at various companies in the naval engineering industry maintained an illegal “gentlemen’s agreement” not to actively recruit, or “poach” each other’s naval engineer employees which caused the employees to be paid artificially low wages, in violation of antitrust laws.
Naval Architect & Marine Engineer Shipbuilder Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit Case
Naval architect and marine engineer shipbuilder antitrust class action lawsuit and settlement cases potentially being investigated include claims involving individuals who, at any time after January 1, 2000, were employed as naval architects or marine engineers by various shipbuilders and specialized consulting firms in the industry, including:
- General Dynamics Corporation
- Bath Iron Works Corporation
- Electric Boat Corporation
- General Dynamics Information Technology, Inc.
- Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.
- Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company
- Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc.
- HII Fleet Support Group LLC (f/k/a AMSEC LLC)
- M. Rosenblatt & Son, Inc.
- HII Mission Technologies Corp.
- Alion Science and Technology Corporation
- John J. McMullen & Associates
- Marinette Marine Corporation
- Bollinger Shipyards, LLC
- Gibbs & Cox, Inc.
- Serco, Inc.
- Technology Financing Inc.
- CACI International Inc.
- Computer Sciences Corporation
- CSC Advanced Marine Center
- The Columbia Group, Inc.
- Columbia Research Corporation
- Thor Solutions LLC
- Tridentis, LLC
- BMT Designers & Planners, Inc.
- NASSCO Holdings Incorporated
- Austal USA LLC
- BAE Systems Ship Repair Inc.
Naval Engineer Shipbuilding Antitrust Lawsuit
According to the naval architect and marine engineer shipbuilder antitrust class action complaint, the alleged no-poach “gentlemen’s agreement” prohibited any Defendant from recruiting or poaching naval engineers from other Defendants, which allegedly suppressed wages for naval architects and marine engineers below competitive levels and deprived them of hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation.
The marine engineer and naval architect shipbuilder antitrust class action lawsuit was brought on behalf of, and potentially includes unless otherwise excluded, the following alleged class:
“All naval architects and marine engineers employed by Defendants (except Defendant Faststream Recruitment Ltd.), their predecessors, subsidiaries, and/or related entities in the United States at any time from January 1, 2000, until Defendants’ unlawful conduct ceases.”
Defendants in the public fleet shipbuilding class action have included General Dynamics Corporation, Bath Iron Works Corporation, Electric Boat Corporation, General Dynamics Information Technology, Inc., Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc., Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc., HII Mission Technologies Corp., HII Fleet Support Group LLC, Marinette Marine Corporation, Bollinger Shipyards, LLC, Gibbs & Cox, Inc., Serco, Inc., BMT International, Inc., Technology Financing Inc., CACI International Inc., The Columbia Group, Inc., Thor Solutions LLC, Tridentis, LLC and Faststream Recruitment Ltd.
Marine Engineer & Naval Architect Lawsuit Cases
Public fleet naval architects and marine engineers (i.e., “naval engineers”) design, build, support and refit U.S. warships and other public fleet vessels (i.e., vessels owned or operated by federal and state governments or government agencies, such as the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard). While some naval engineers work directly for the federal government, most naval engineers are employed by a group of private contractors (about 40% of naval engineers work for shipbuilders) and consulting firms (about 40% work for engineering consultancies) who are hired by the Navy, the Coast Guard, and other federal and state entities.
Naval architects are responsible for naval vessels’ design, including the form, structure, performance and stability of hulls. Naval architects have specialized knowledge of hydrostatics, hydrodynamics, vessel motion physics, mechanics, strength of materials, and design of structures.
Marine engineers (also known as marine design engineers, marine mechanical engineers, specialized electrical engineers, HVAC engineers, and structural engineers) design onboard ship systems, including those related to propulsion mechanics, power generation, heating, air conditioning, ventilation, water distillation and purification, cargo handling, steering, and fuel.
Public Fleet Shipbuilding Shipyards
Examples of major shipbuilding yards that design, build, maintain and repair the largest vessels in the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard fleets (including major warships, submarines, aircraft carriers, cruisers, cutters, destroyers, and auxiliary and support ships, etc.) and vessels operated by the U.S. Army’s Transportation Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration include:
- Bath Iron Works Shipyard (Bath, Maine)
- Electric Boat Shipyard (Groton, Connecticut)
- Newport News Shipbuilding (Newport News Virginia)
- Ingalls Shipbuilding (Pascagoula, Mississippi)
- NASSCO Shipyard (San Diego, California)
Examples of midsize shipyards that design and build smaller ships (such as patrol boats, surveillance ships, workboats, littoral combat ships, naval tugboats, bunker barges, rescue ships and naval transports) include:
- Marinette Marine Shipyard (Marinette, Wisconsin)
- Bollinger Shipyards (Louisiana/Gulf Coast)
- Austal Shipyards (Mobile, Alabama/Gulf Coast; San Diego; Virginia)
Naval Architects and Marine Engineers Seek To Recover Damages Over Alleged No-Poach “Gentleman’s Agreement” Forbidding Shipbuilders and/or Consulting Firms From Recruiting Each Other’s Naval Engineering/Architecture Employees
The public fleet shipbuilder Naval engineering class action lawsuit complaint asserts a “Conspiracy to Depress Compensation in Violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act,” alleging Defendants entered into an unlawful agreement, combination, and conspiracy in restraint of trade, in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1. Specifically, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants agreed to restrict competition for marine architecture and naval engineering services through restrictions on hiring and recruiting naval engineers from, between, and among each other, in the form of “gentlemen’s agreement” not to recruit one another’s naval engineers.
Plaintiffs in the naval architect and marine engineer class action lawsuit seek to recover, among others things, treble (i.e., triple) the amount of damages sustained by them, the costs of the lawsuit, reasonable attorneys’ fees, pre- and post-judgment interest and injunctive relief.
Time Is Limited To File An Engineer Antitrust Lawsuit
Various deadlines called statutes of limitation and statutes of repose may limit the amount of time that naval architects and marine engineers have to file an antitrust lawsuit claim to try to recover compensation.
This means that if a naval engineer shipbuilding antitrust lawsuit claim is not filed before the applicable time limit or deadline, a claimant may be prohibited from ever pursuing litigation or taking legal action regarding their claim. That is why it is important to connect with an antitrust class action lawyer or attorney as soon as possible.
If you were employed as naval architect or marine engineer in the public fleet shipbuilding industry, you may be entitled to recover financial compensation from a marine engineer and naval architect shipbuilding class action lawsuit case or settlement claim. Contact an antitrust class action lawyer to request a free case review.
*The listing of a company (e.g., General Dynamics, Bath Iron Works, Electric Boat, General Dynamics Information Technology, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock, Ingalls Shipbuilding, HII Fleet Support Group, M. Rosenblatt & Son, HII Mission Technologies, AMSEC, Alion Science and Technology, John J. McMullen & Associates, Marinette Marine, Bollinger Shipyards, Gibbs & Cox, Serco, Technology Financing, CACI International, Computer Sciences, CSC Advanced Marine Center, The Columbia Group, Columbia Research, Thor Solutions, Tridentis, BMT Designers & Planners, NASSCO , Austal, BAE Systems Ship Repair, etc.) is not meant to state or imply that the company acted illegally or improperly; rather only that an investigation may be, is or was being conducted to determine whether legal rights have been violated.
**The use of any trademarks, tradenames or service marks is solely for product identification and/or informational purposes.
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