Rockwell Loses Bid to Overturn Fine

Rockwell International Corp. can’t overturn an agreement with the U.S. government that requires the defense contractor to pay $18.5 million for violating environmental laws, a federal appeals court ruled. The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver rebuffed Rockwell executives’ bid to invalidate a 1992 plea agreement they signed to end criminal prosecution for environmental violations at a nuclear weapons plant it operated in Colorado. In return for Rockwell officials’ agreement to plead guilty and pay the fine, prosecutors dropped their case over violations at the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant and agreed not to sue the company. When the government intervened in a whistle-blower suit alleging Rockwell officials at the Denver plant were fraudulently overbilling the government, Rockwell moved to overturn the earlier agreement. A trial judge found that the agreement was binding, but Rockwell appealed. Its lawyers argued that Justice Department officials agreed to avoid involvement in lawsuits stemming from the company’s operation of the plant. The court said the government’s agreement did not extend to fraud suits. Officials of Seal Beach-based Rockwell could not immediately be reached for comment.