A Soldiers Story – Ms Sparky

A Soldiers Story Archive

Lawyer: Military’s housing choice irrelevant

By Ms Sparky | Filed in A Soldiers Story, Electrocutions/Shocks, GOV. CONTRACTORS, KBR Contract, LAWSUITS, Lawsuits Against KBR, LOGCAP III - KBR, Ryan Maseth-US Army

Brian Bowling – (TribLive News) – May 14, 2013 – A federal jury can determine whether a Defense contractor is responsible for the electrocution death of a Shaler soldier without second-guessing the military’s choice of where to house troops in Iraq, a lawyer for the soldier’s parents argued Tuesday.

The jury doesn’t have to decide whether the Army made the right choice in housing Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, in a building with a substandard electrical system to determine whether KBR Inc. of Houston had the discretion to fix the water pump that electrocuted Maseth while he was taking a shower, said William Stickman.

If the jury decides the Army tied KBR’s hands, “we simply lose,” he told a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which was hearing oral arguments in the Downtown federal courthouse.

Cheryl Harris of Cranberry and Douglas Maseth of Allison Park want the appeals court to reinstate their lawsuit against KBR Inc. for the Jan. 2, 2008, death of their son at the Radwaniyah Palace Complex in Iraq.

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Tags: Cheryl Harris, Electrocutions/Shocks, Judge Nora Barry Fischer, KBR, Lawrence Ebner, Lawrence S. Ebner, SSG Ryan Maseth, William Stickman

It’s sooooooo unfair………….NOT!

By Ms Sparky | Filed in A Soldiers Story, CHEMICAL AND OTHER EXPOSURES, GOV. CONTRACTORS, LAWSUITS, Lawsuits Against KBR, Qarmat Ali Lawsuits, RIO-KBR, Sodium Dichromate @ Qarmat Ali

KBR lawyers seek new trial, citing legal mistakes and violations

Mike Francis – (The Oregonian) – December 29, 2012 – Following unproductive talks on the day after Christmas, lawyers for defense contractor KBR Inc. and for a set of Oregon National Guard veterans filed dueling motions Friday in federal court in Portland.

KBR has asked Magistrate Judge Paul Papak to grant a new trial, almost two months after a Portland jury awarded 12 Oregon National Guard veterans about $85 million in damages. The company’s lawyers say that lawyers for the veterans committed “numerous and repeated violations” of Papak’s rulings, tainting the verdict and misleading the jury.

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Tags: Hexavalent Chromium, Judge Paul Papak, KBR, Oregon National Guard, Qarmat Ali, Sodium Dichromate

Star Creeps: Petraeus & the Price of the Top-Heavy Pentagon

By Forseti | Filed in A Soldiers Story, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Politics, Rape, Hazing, Discrimination & Harassment, Reports & Investigations

Ben Freeman – (POGO) – November 21, 2012 – In addition to extramarital affairs and “flirtatious e-mails,” the General Petraeus sex scandal highlighted another of the Pentagon’s dirty little secrets – generals live like billionaires, and taxpayers are footing the bill.

As the Washington Post reported on Saturday, these perks “befitting a billionaire,” include, “palatial homes, drivers, security guards and aides to carry their bags, press their uniforms and track their schedules in 10-minute increments. Their food is prepared by gourmet chefs. If they want music with their dinner parties, their staff can summon a string quartet or a choir.”

Lavish perks bestowed to generals increase with higher ranks, as Raymond Dubois, former DoD director of Administration and Management from 2002 to 2005, told Air Force Times. “A four-star has an airplane. A three-star often doesn’t…Can a three-star get an airplane when he needs it? Not always. Does a four-star get an airplane when he needs it? Always. Many times he’ll already have a G5 sitting on the runway, gassed up. There are the kinds of costs that are fairly significant when you add them all up,” according to Dubois.

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Tags: Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), DoD Contractors, Gen. David Petraeus, Gen. John R. Allen, Raymond Dubois, Retired General's Club, Secretary Robert Gates, Sen. Tom Coburn

Oregon National Guard soldiers vs. KBR – Trial Wrap-up

By Ms Sparky | Filed in A Soldiers Story, CHEMICAL AND OTHER EXPOSURES, GOV. CONTRACTORS, KBR, KBR Contract, LAWSUITS, Lawsuits Against KBR, Qarmat Ali Lawsuits, RIO-KBR, Sodium Dichromate @ Qarmat Ali

From left are Charles Seamon, Aaron St. Clair, Jason Arnold, attorney David Sugerman, and Rocky Bixby in front of the federal court, shortly after the KBR verdict was announced Friday afternoon. (Photo Motoya Nakamura / The Oregonian)

Some reflections on the KBR trial by a juror
Mike Francis – (The Oregonian) – November 4 , 2012 – I reached out to most of the jurors who awarded damages Friday to the Oregon National Guard soldiers and, so far, one has agreed to discuss the jury’s deliberations, on the condition that he/she not be identified. Here are a few bullet points from our conversation.

1. A consensus emerged fairly quickly that KBR was negligent in the way it operated at Qarmat Aliin 2003. KBR “displayed a level of incompetence you wouldn’t expect from a professional organization being paid well” to do its job, the juror said.

The jury was influenced by the fact that KBR eventually did shut down operations at the water treatment plant out of concerns over contamination by sodium dichromate, which contains the carcinogen hexavalent chromium. Yet KBR was present at the site beginning in March and operated there daily through the spring and summer. To think something changed that much at the site between March and August “defies logic,” the juror said. “There should have been enough red flags. They screwed up in not identifying it early.” (Click HERE for article)

KBR trial: Some morning-after observations
Mike Francis – (The Oregonian) – November 3, 2012 – While the trial felt like a marathon that ended in a Friday-afternoon frenzy, the KBR case is far from over. Or, as one of the soldiers’ lawyers told his clients in the moments after the verdict was read, “Don’t start writing checks yet.”KBR’s lawyers will ask Judge Papak to throw out the verdict for multiple technical reasons, including what’s known as “the political question.” Failing that, they will appeal.

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Tags: Aaron St. Clair, Charles Seamon, David Sugerman, Geoffrey Harrison, Hexavalent Chromium, Jason Arnold, KBR, Mike Doyle, Oregon National Guard, Qarmat Ali, Rocky Bixby, Sodium Dichromate

Oregon National Guard soldiers vs. KBR – Trial News

Larry Roberta and wife Michelle (Photo by Mike Francis / The Oregonian)

A Halloween word: Boo!lean. Also, a note about KBR’s financials and a doctor’s testimony
Mike Francis – (The Oregonian) – October 30, 2012 -The defense has rested in the case of Bixby et al., vs. KBR Inc. All that is left will be for the judge to instruct the jury and the lawyers to make their closing arguments. The jury will have the case early afternoon on Halloween.

A few notes from the afternoon, in descending order of importance.

1.) The medical expert called by KBR Inc., Dr. David Weill, a pulmonologist at Stanford University Medical Center, examined the medical histories of each of the 12 soldier-plaintiffs, dating from before, during and after their time in Iraq in 2003. In each case, he said, the symptoms the soldiers cite in the lawsuit — symptoms such as reflux disease, asthma and a skin rash — could not be associated with their service at Qarmat Ali. He said the symptoms included some pre-existing medical conditions, or weren’t reported until long after the deployment — too remote in time to be associated with exposure to hexavalent chromium nine years ago.

2.) Since Magistrate Judge Paul Papak has ruled that KBR Inc. remains as a defendant in this case, the soldiers’ lawyers seek to introduce some information about the company’s financial picture. That could be meaningful if the jury decides to award damages to the soldiers.

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