Broken oil filter housing

[bingo296]

My lube tech broke the spring loaded assy in the filter housing while trying to install the oil filter. Said the spring was not compressing so he used more/too much force and broke the top that retains the spring. We are going to replace it but want to know why it happened. I removed the filter from my 6.0 and installed a new one and tried to replicate the problem-minus breaking the center piece. I notice that intermittently the filter spring would not compress-applying a little more force would result in a snap and then the spring would compress. Has anyone experienced this resistance and snap or a frozen spring assy during their oil changes? I noticed that intermittently I was unable to press the spring by hand but I saw nothing interfering with it's travel. Any ideas?