American manufacturers, especially those that still employ significant numbers of middle-class workers in the United States, face enough challenges as it is. The last thing they need are unscrupulous trial lawyers teaming up with cash-strapped politicians to file fraudulent lawsuits that only waste company time and money. But that is exactly what is happening to Boeing.

Boeing, which is locked in fierce competition with Airbus for the highly competitive global jet airliner business, performed a stress test on the wings of its new 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft in April of 2009. Despite failing that test, Boeing executives announced in May that the plane was still on track for its first flight in June. When Boeing later announced in June that the Dreamliner’s first flight would be delayed, its stock dropped 10 percent.