Since 1991 the United States Navy has been commissioning a new fleet of state of the art Arleigh Burke class destroyers, equipped with the latest Aegis weapons system and the capability to launch nuclear cruise missiles as well as conventional ordinances. All electrical power for the operation of these ships is provided by a series of three generator sets. Without the electrical power generated by these generator sets, these billion dollar destroyers are blind and defenseless.

These generator sets have been designed and produced by: Allison Engine Company (formerly a division of General Motors Corporation and now owned by Rolls Royce); General Tool Company; and Southern Ohio Fabricators. A False Claims Act case was brought by Roger Sanders and Roger Thacker, two former employees of the assembler of the generator sets, General Tool Company in 1994. These relators worked hand in glove with the Navy Criminal Investigative Service for years before filing their False Claims Act action alleging that: the generator sets were not manufactured or tested according to Navy specifications and standards; and that the Navy has been overcharged for redesigned versions of the generator sets which cost less to produce.

A United States Magistrate Judge in Cincinnati found that the United States had been overcharged for the Gen Sets and that the Gen Sets had not been properly tested. After a 5 week trial a federal judge in Dayton overturned those rulings and determined that even though the case was brought only against Navy Subcontractors, invoices from the Navy’s prime shipyard contractors were required to be proven. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the trial judge and determined that "a reasonable jury could find for relators [Sanders and Thacker]" and remanded this 12-year old case for a new trial.