Well, owning one of the first Shad 42L that Murph sold, and having it mounted on my C10 for about 3-4 years, mounted on my custom made metal brackets, where the surface of the shad plate was directly mounted to flat metal, I had no issue... mind you I did wisely use a full size washer on the plate at install...
When I transferred this to my C14, it was undamaged, and due to the method for mounting on that rack, kept the larger washers in place, and used longer bolts to allow mounting with the existing "slots" on the C14's plastic rack, but stacked large diameter fender washers below the rack, along with helical lock washer and nuts... no issue, re installed it on my new plastic rack from Kaw, which was the recall replacement rack, in the same fashion.... still no issue today... so that's a total of almost 13 years, with no issue...
I think maybe you should have simply used a larger washer, right from the start, and also maybe not have been so agressive in tightening the bolts, sounds like when installed you overtightened them just a touch, dishing the metal on that plate, under the bolt head, and a crack formed.
Granted, its a heavier box than my 42, but thousands of miles, many of which my wife was leaning against this bag, and it carried 20+ plus inside for most of its life, I can say I had no issues.
You are the first person I have seen on either Concours site that has reported anything negative about this system, sorry to hear of your issue.
As you never revealed what rack surface you had tyhis mounted to, I can only assume you mounted it like I did, to the existing plastic rack, adding the larger washers should protect your investment on the "replacement" plate for a longer period of time.
I'll point out they did make an adapter kit, to insure a stronger perch mountingfor the bags, which I was not aware of, just saw it, I have to assume this was called for as so many people in COG were buying these...and asking for a stroner mounting surface...
http://www.shadonline.com/category-s/476.htmBest of luck. A lot of us have Shad Cases, and some have actually used the side bag mount adaptors to replace the side luggage with them. Let's see how many people report back with similar results.
Thank you for the cautionary heads up.