EOTech Return = Class Action Opt Out?
Facing a class action, EOTech has quietly instituted a refund scheme whereby consumers return their optic for a “promised refund” sometime in the future. Unfortunately, under many state’s consumer protection laws, this refund scheme eliminates the returning customer’s economic loss and secretly strips them of the ability to get up to $10,000 (depending upon state) as damages in what may be one of the
largest consumer frauds perpetrated by a US defense contractor in modern memory. Unfortunately, consumers may not have to sign a single thing telling them they are giving up their rights in order to potentially lose their rights. All they have to do is accept the EOTech “payoff”.
Know your rights and carefully consider what are giving up before returning your optic to EOTech. If you want more information about this case,
contact us.
EOTech Consumer Fraud Claims Still Open following $25.6 Million Settlement with Gov’t
On November 25, 2015, L-3 Communications Holdings Inc.
agreed to pay $25.6 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the military contractor of defrauding the U.S. government by selling thousands of holographic weapon sights that it knew were defective. EOtech
admitted to concealing defects that caused the sights to fail in cold or humid conditions, including one defect that was actively hidden from the government and the public for 8-
1/2 years. In addition to hiding the defects from U.S. Consumers, New York-based L-3
hid the defects from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and FBI, even as it sold them tens of millions of dollars of the sights beginning in 2004. For years, L-3 touted the military’s use of its products to improve its image and boost commercial sales. Now it seems, the EoTech Brand is build upon a fraud.
If you would like more information about the EoTech fraud, and to have your claim considered by an EOtech Fraud lawyer, click here.
Summary of the Problem
Identified performance issues include:
Thermal Drift – After zeroing the ECOS systems at or near ambient temperature (73°F), the zero position will shift during operating temperature changes. The ECOS systems have the potential to shift approximately +/- 4 Minutes of Angle (MOA) at -40°F and 122°F. Due to thermal drift, the sight may not return to zero. The systems have the potential of approximately a +/- 2 MOA zero shift upon return to ambient (73°F) after being exposed to any temperature between -40°F and 122°F temperatures.
Fading Reticle – The complete 65 MOA ring with 1 MOA dot reticle may not be visible to the operator throughout the entire viewing window of the ECOS-Q optic. The ECOS-Q system’s age and environmental exposure are factors which accelerate reticle dimming. Impact to operators is the holographic reticle may not be visible in all firing positions.
Parallax Error – Parallax is an apparent change in the position of an object resulting from a change in position of the observer. The 65 MOA ring with 1 MOA dot reticle point of aim will appear to move in relation to your target during off-axis firing positions where maintaining cheek-weld and sight picture is not feasible. The ECOS-Q system has the potential of approximately 4 Minute of Angle (MOA) parallax error at 70°F and approximately 6 MOA parallax error at 5°F. Impact to the operators is the point of aim / point of impact will be affected by a MOA parallax error, in off-axis firing positions at all temperatures.
Is My EOTech safe to use?
There is no known fix for the problem other than replacing the unit. Degree of inaccuracy and MOA variance will change based upon the ambient temperature the HWS was zero’d at, the amount of humidity it has been exposed to over its operational life, the age of the HWS and the ambient temperature the HWS is used at while engaging target. We do not recommend continuing to use the EOTech HWS system in scenarios where reliable targeting is necessary across a broad range of temperatures or humidity.
What misrepresentations did EOTech make to US consumers?
- Beginning in 2005, in its product marketing brochures, EOTech represented, “Extreme Durability – Built to take it: The HWS has been designed and tested to provide consistent, reliable performance even in the most hostile operational environments. The HWS is Waterproof (submersible), fogproof, shockproof, and withstands extreme temperature variations.”
- It also represented, “No Reticle Wash-Out: The HWSʼs 30 brightness settings ensure the holographic reticle can be instantly viewed in ALL types of lighting environments, cluttered back- grounds and target colors. The HWS delivers an impressive 10,000,000:1 bright to low reticle contrast ratio … to ensure the reticle is always clearly viewable.”
- In the HDS Specifications, it also said that the optics were “100% parallax free”.
- EO Tech’s brochure specified the temperature operating rage to be: “-40 to 150 F(using AA lithiums); -20 to 150 F(all other battery choices)”
What did EOTech know?
- In 2006, EOTech became aware that its sights failed to maintain zero with temperature changes, a condition it referred to as “thermal drift”.
- EOTech’s CEO admits he knew that EOTech’s sights were experiencing increasing parallax errors in cold temperatures as early as March, 2007.
- In early 2007, EOTech became aware that its sights were experiencing increasing parallax error in cold temperature. At 32° F, the parallax error was 12 MOA, i.e., 12 inches for every hundred yards, when measured from outside edge to outside edge of the sight; and at 5° F, the error was more than 20 MOA, from outside edge to outside edge.
- In February 2009, EOTech became aware, based on testing a sample of sights, that moisture was entering its sights. When moisture enters a sight, it can cause a dimming of the reticle. Reticle dimming can occur more quickly in humid environments. An optic’s reticle is necessary to allow the user to acquire a target.
- EOTech continued to sell its sights to the Government, Consumers, and others.
- EOTech has been part of the L3 “Warrior Systems” division since 2011.
- Beginning in 2011 , EOTech conducted testing of sights sold to Crane and found thermal drift of 2 to 6 MOA over temperature variations for its carbine sights.
- EOTech continued to sell its sights to the government and the public without disclosing its findings.
What are my options?
We are pursuing refunds, replacements, civil damages, punitive damages and costs of suit on behalf of our clients.
Is it too late to bring a claim?
Generally, no. EOTech fraudulently concealed the known defects in its HWS units while
continuing to market them based upon false information and “stolen valor” from inducing the spec ops community to use a product with known operational defects. Regardless of when you purchased your HWS, we’d like to talk to you about your claim. Some claims may be time-barred, but we can’t know that until we investigate the facts of your claim.
Click here to speak with one of our experienced EOTech fraud attorneys.
