View source for Joshua Harman

{{Infobox person
| name               =  Joshua Harman
| image              =
| image_size         =
| alt                =
| caption            =
| nationality        = American
| education          =
| occupation         = Co-founder, SPIG Industry and Selco Construction Services
| years_active       = 1988-present
| movement           =
| known_for          = [[Whistleblower]] lawsuit against [[Trinity Industries]]
}}
'''Joshua Harman''' is an entrepreneur and activist. He is the co-founder of Selco Construction Services, as well as SPIG Industry LLC, a private Virginia-based company that installs guardrails.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.roanoke.com/news/virginia/southwest-virginia-man-wins-case-alleging-unsafe-guardrail-caps/article_eeb4da95-6197-5cdd-8582-5eed2ed70e8c.html | title=Southwest Virginia man wins case alleging unsafe guardrail caps| date=October 23, 2014| author=Jeff Sturgeon| publisher=The Roanoke Times| accessdate=June 16, 2015}}</ref> Harman is the [[whistleblower]] in the lawsuit against [[Trinity Industries|Trinity Industries Inc.]]<ref name=reuters>{{cite web| url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trinity-ind-inc-trial-idUSKCN0I926E20141020| title=Trinity faces $525 million in damages after U.S. guardrail trial| author=Nate Raymond| date=October 20, 2014| publisher=Reuters| accessdate=June 16, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.fox4news.com/story/27148755/investigation-et-plus-guardrail-system | title=Investigation: ET-Plus guardrail system| author=Becky Oliver| date=October 28, 2014| publisher=Fox 4 News| accessdate=June 16, 2015}}</ref> He sued Trinity on behalf of the government under the [[qui tam]] provisions of the [[False Claims Act]] in 2012.<ref name=wsj14>{{cite web| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/mistrial-declared-in-trinity-whistleblower-suit-1405734728 | title=Mistrial Declared in Trinity Whistleblower Suit| author=Katy Stech| date=July 18, 2014| publisher=The Wall Street Journal| accessdate=June 16, 2015}}</ref> In October 2014, the jury of the U.S. District Court in Marshall, Texas ruled that Trinity will pay $525 million, the largest whistleblower award won without the assistance of the US Justice Department.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/guardrail-whistleblower-puts-own-company-into-bankruptcy-1426634654 | title=Guardrail Whistleblower Puts Own Company Into Bankruptcy| author=Katy Stech| date=March 17, 2015| publisher=The Wall Street Journal| accessdate=June 16, 2015}}</ref> In June 2015, the judge awarded Harman over $199 million, or 30 percent of the final settlement of $663 million against Trinity Industries.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-09/trinity-told-by-judge-to-pay-663-million-over-guardrails| title=Trinity Guardrail Fraud Award Grows to $663 Million| author=Patrick G. Lee| date=June 9, 2015| publisher=Bloomberg Business| accessdate=June 16, 2015}}</ref>  This verdict was reversed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals who ruled that there was no evidence that the government had in any way been defrauded.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/15/15-41172-CV0.pdf | title=Fifth Circuit Opinion }}</ref>
==Career==
In 1988, Harman and his brother, Chris, started their first business together as teenagers. The company, Selco Construction Services, began by planting vegetation along roads and highways and later expanded to installing fencing and guardrails.<ref name=bloom14>{{cite web| url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-12/guardrails-secret-deadly-life-alleged-by-whistleblower.html | title=Highway Guardrails Are Deadly Spears on Impact, Says Whistleblower| author=Patrick G. Lee| date=June 12, 2014| publisher=Bloomberg| accessdate=June 16, 2015}}</ref>
Harman and his brother founded SPIG Industry LLC in 2007. The company operates a guardrail manufacturing facility in [[Bristol, Virginia]]. During the mid-1990s until the mid-2000s, Harman bought Trinity Industries guardrail systems to install on state highways.<ref name=cj14>{{cite web| url=http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/national/2014/06/13/250280.htm| title=Whistleblower Says Guardrails Causing Driver Deaths| author=Patrick G. Lee| date=June 13, 2014| publisher=Claims Journal| accessdate=June 16, 2015}}</ref> After reporting over a year of no revenue, SPIG Industry LLC filed for bankruptcy in 2015.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-12/guardrails-secret-deadly-life-alleged-by-whistleblower.html| title=Guardrail Whistle-Blower’s Company Seeks Court Protection| author=Patrick G Lee| date=March 17, 2015| publisher=Bloomberg| accessdate=June 16, 2015}}</ref>
===Trinity Industries lawsuits===
In 2012, Harman filed a lawsuit against Trinity Industries Inc. after having previously been involved in an earlier lawsuit from 2011 in which Trinity sued Harman's company SPIG Industry for patent infringement. Harman paid damages and agreed to stop the production of the early guardrail system design. After Trinity asked for the guardrails Harman's company had installed to be removed, Harman went on a two-week trip across eight states to survey accident sites involved with the ET Plus guardrail.<ref name=bloom14/> The guardrails Harman's company installed using the earlier versions of ET-Plus guardrails had been involved in five car accidents, all of which performed in the way they were designed to.<ref name=cj14/> He later investigated hundreds of guardrail accidents and documented over 40 deaths and 100 injuries involving cars crashing into the redesigned ET-Plus guardrails that went into production by Trinity Industries in 2005.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.wral.com/guardrail-blamed-in-deaths-banned-in-nearly-every-state-but-nc/14435163/ | title=Guardrail blamed in deaths banned in most states, but not NC| publisher=WRAL| accessdate=June 16, 2015}}</ref> He alleged that Trinity had made five changes to the ET-Plus without notifying the [[Federal Highway Administration]] (FHWA) and filed the lawsuit, Joshua Harman v. Trinity Industries Inc, as a whistleblower on behalf of the federal government.<ref name=reuters/>
In July 2014, Judge Rodney Gilstrap declared a mistrial, referring to the case as being "replete with errors, gamesmanship [and] inappropriate conduct," as reported by the ''Wall Street Journal''.<ref name=wsj14/> In October 2014, the federal jury decided that Trinity defrauded the US government of $175 million by making changes to its ET-Plus guardrail system, designed to absorb the impact of a crash, without telling the Federal Highway Administration.<ref name=reuters/><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2015/03/19/361188.htm| title=Firm owned by Guardrail Whistleblower files for Bankruptcy| author=Patrick G. Lee| date=March 19, 2015| publisher=Insurance Journal| accessdate=June 16, 2015}}</ref> In June 2015, the judge fined Trinity Industries $663 million for defrauding the government, of which Harman was awarded $199 million, or 30 percent, plus an additional $19 million in court fees.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/trinity-industries-whistleblower-josh-harman-awarded-199-million/| title=Trinity Industries Whistleblower Josh Harman Awarded $199 Million| date=June 12, 2015| publisher=Corporate Crime Reporter| accessdate=June 16, 2015}}</ref> In December 2017 the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit reversed and rendered judgement as a matter of law for Trinity. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-5th-circuit/1875809.html|title=FindLaw's United States Fifth Circuit case and opinions.|website=Findlaw|language=en-US|access-date=2018-07-23}}</ref>
==Personal life==
Harman is married and lives in Virginia with his wife and two daughters.<ref name=cj14/>
==References==
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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]