Investigations
Dow Chemical Company Agrees To Pay Civil Settlement on Behalf of Poly-Carb, Inc.
On February 16, 2018, the Dow Chemical Company (Dow) agreed to a $479,000 civil settlement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Columbia, South Carolina, related to alleged violations of the False Claims Act.
In 2012, Poly-Carb, Inc. (Poly-Carb), a former Dow subsidiary, was awarded a subcontract on a federally funded project to provide materials and apply high-friction surface treatments (HFST) to several sites throughout South Carolina. To ensure the HFST was of good quality and conformed to contract specifications, the contract required Poly-Carb to collect samples of HFST, have them tested by an independent third party, and send certifications of the results to the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT). This agreement settles allegations that, between 2012 and 2013, Poly-Carb falsely certified to SCDOT that it had submitted samples of its HFST to an independent third-party laboratory for quality assurance testing.
The settlement agreement is a compromise of disputed claims and is neither an admission of liability by Dow nor a concession by the United States that its claims are not well founded.