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Before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the country was a major oil producer. After the invasion, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hired KBR to restore the interrupted flow of oil.
(Associated Press)
From staff and wire reports
The Supreme Court this week turned away three appeals from military contractor KBR Inc. that seek to shut down lawsuits over a soldier's electrocution in Iraq and exposure to environmental hazards in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the suits the Supreme Court declined to hear was a parallel case to the one brought in Oregon by Oregon National Guard soldiers who accused KBR of knowingly exposing them to the carcinogen hexavalent chromium at Qarmat Ali in Iraq.
The justices offered no comment in allowing the lawsuits to proceed.
The lawyers for Oregon soldiers said the court's decision clears the way for other soldiers' next day in court.
"The wait for the remaining Qarmat Ali veterans' cases to proceed to trial has finally ended," said Michael Doyle of the Houston law firm of Doyle Raizner by email. "There can't be a place in American law for blanket immunity for military contractor misconduct harming our troops and others, and we look forward to the next trial soon."
While the Oregon case proceeded to trial and, ultimately, an $81 million judgment against KBR, a similar case in Texas was put on hold while courts weighed some of questions surrounding suits that stem from events in a war zone. That case, McManaway v. KBR, can now go forward.
"While we are disappointed that the Supreme Court has decided not to hear these important cases at this time, we will follow the legal process," John Eloff, spokesman for KBR said by email. "We will return to the trial court, perfect these defenses, and win on these defenses. If necessary, KBR is also prepared to go to trial to win the cases on their merits.
"Ultimately, we believe the courts will agree that these lawsuits are improper and ill-advised attempts to have judges and juries inappropriately second-guess the methods chosen by the U.S. military to carry out critical wartime functions," he said. "Ultimately, these issues will end up before the US Supreme Court."
KBR has appealed the Oregon judgment to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Another of the lawsuit the Supreme Court declined to hear was filed by the parents of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, who was electrocuted in his barracks shower at an Army base in Iraq in 2008. The suit claims KBR unit Kellogg Brown & Root Services Inc. was legally responsible for the shoddy electrical work that was common in Iraqi-built structures taken over by the U.S. military. KBR disputes that claim.
Dozens of lawsuits by soldiers and others assert they were harmed by improper waste disposal while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. They seek to hold KBR and Halliburton Co. responsible for exposing soldiers to toxic emissions and contaminated water when they burned waste in open pits without proper safety controls.
The contractors say they cannot be sued because they essentially were operating in war zones as an extension of the military.
The Obama administration agreed with the contractors that lower courts should have dismissed the lawsuits, but said the Supreme Court should not get involved now because lower courts still could dismiss or narrow the claims.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.