» Franken Amendment* Ms Sparky

KBR can’t recover $2M from Jones; case not frivolous says Judge

Posted on: September 27th, 2011 at 1:18 pm — by Ms Sparky

Jamie Leigh Jones

John O’Brien – (Legal Newsline) – HOUSTON – September 27, 2011 – Jamie Leigh Jones, the woman who alleged her employer was at fault for a rape that a jury said never happened, must pay court costs to the company she sued but not its attorneys fees.

U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison ruled Monday on Kellogg, Brown and Root’s motion for costs and attorneys fees, more than two months after a federal jury found that Jones was not raped while an employee of KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton.

He ruled that Jones is on the hook for KBR’s $145,073.19 in court costs. Citing a federal rule of civil procedure, Ellison wrote “costs – other than attorneys fees – should be allowed to the prevailing party.”

A federal jury decided in July that Jones, whose case became a talking point for those who sought mandatory arbitration reform, was not raped in Iraq while employed by KBR. The company moved on Aug. 17 to have its attorneys fees paid by Jones. KBR spent more than $2 million on attorneys fees.

In fighting the lawsuit, KBR had argued a mandatory arbitration clause in her employment contract had prevented her from suing the company in open court. An appeals court sided with Jones on that issue, but jurors ruled in July that Jones and Charles Bortz had engaged in consensual sex. (Read the rest of the story here…)

How Women Won the KBR Rape Case

Posted on: July 11th, 2011 at 1:33 pm — by Ms Sparky

Whatever the outcome of the Jamie Leigh Jones trial, victims of sexual assault may now get their days in court.

Jamie Leigh Jones

Pema Levy – (The American Prospect) – July 11, 2011 – In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones went to work in Baghdad’s Green Zone for KBR, then an engineering and construction subsidiary of the defense contractor Halliburton. Upon arrival, she was placed in co-ed barracks where the ratio of men to women was 20 to 1. Four days later, Jones said that she was slipped the date-rape drug Rohypnol and gang raped by fellow KBR employees. When she reported the crime, Halliburton locked her in a shipping container for 24 hours without food or water, and barred her from contacting anyone outside.

Last month, Jones’ case against KBR employee Charles Boartz for rape and against KBR for knowingly sending her into a hostile work environment finally went to trial. On Friday, a jury found Boartz and KBR not guilty.

Jones’s story won the sympathies of millions; she now has a contract for both a book and movie, and was prominently featured last month in HBO’s Hot Coffee, a documentary about the corporate campaign to restrict access to the justice system. But at trial, Jones’ story fell apart. As Stephanie Mencimer reported in Mother Jones last week, KBR found experts and evidence that cast doubt on large portions of Jones’ story. Jones claimed, for example, that she had two sips of a drink and doesn’t remember anything else, but KBR dug up a report in which she admitted to having five drinks. No evidence of Rohypnol was found in blood tests. Jones also alleged her breast implants were ruptured by the violent assault, but the doctor who treated her the next day said this wasn’t true either. The allegation that there were multiple attackers was thrown out for lack of evidence, and prosecutors brought up that Jones had reported being raped twice in the past and had taken drugs used to treat anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Franken Amendment*, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Jamie Jones vs KBR, KBR, Lawsuits Against KBR, LOGCAP III - KBR, Rape, Hazing, Discrimination & Harassment. Tags: Charles Boartz, Charles Bortz, Employee Issues-KBR, Jamie Leigh Jones, Jones vs. KBR. 29 Comments »

KBR Named A Preferred Employer Among Women? Surely you jest!

Posted on: April 7th, 2011 at 10:13 am — by Ms Sparky

Every once in a while, something so incomprehensible happens, it throws off the whole balance of nature, white becomes black, up becomes down and pigs fly.

In a recent news release from KBR, it states they have made it onto the “Top 50 Employers” list for Woman Engineer Magazine with a ranking of #46. The lists published on WEM’s site do not include KBR so I can’t confirm KBR’s claim. Assuming KBR is not trying to mislead their employees and investors and did in fact somehow magically make it onto this list, I must then ask “Who in the Hell is #47, #48, #49 & #50?” KBR is notorious for their crimes and abuses against women employees. (Click HERE to contact Women Engineer Magazine and insist KBR be removed from the list)

Let’s start with this short list of well documented cases of female KBR employees who were brutally raped, harassed, intimidated and held against their will while working for KBR in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Jamie Leigh Jones – Drugged and gang raped by KBR employee Charles Boartz and other unidentified KBR employees (firemen) and then held against her will by KBR management in the Green Zone – Baghdad, Iraq. To top it off KBR has the audacity to publicly vilify Jones by calling her a liar on their own site and in the media.

Anna Mayo – Raped and brutally beaten by who is believed to be a KBR employee and who was allowed to leave the country most likely by KBR management at Balad, Iraq. Again KBR chooses to publicly vilify Mayo by claiming she did not pursue the issue when she felt threatened by this employee when in fact she did report it to KBR management. (Read the rest of the story here…)

It’s hammer time – keeping defense contractors in check

Posted on: January 15th, 2011 at 8:08 am — by Forseti

Will 2011 be the year that we see the USG grow a set and begin enforcing the laws on errant and corrupt contractors? In the last few months new legislation has been enacted that seems to point in that direction. However, as the loyal readers of Ms Sparky know, new rules generally invoke new methods of cover up by the criminal elements committing these misdeeds and acts of malfeasance. Also, what about the old rules? When is the USG going to enforce them? Has anyone been debarred, sanctioned or otherwise called on the carpet for violating or covering up crimes in the past? I am not talking about the smattering of indictments, convictions and plea deals against individuals that have made headlines. I am talking about the dirty rotten scoundrels laughing all the way to the bank to deposit billions of taxpayer dollars into their corporate coffers! ~Forseti

Defense Authorization Bolsters Foreign Contractor Accountability and Expands FAPIIS

Neil Gordon – POGO – January 14, 2010 – Earlier this week, POGO submitted a public comment about a new Department of Defense interim rule permitting the reduction or denial of award fees if contractors jeopardize the health or safety of government personnel. Since then, POGO became aware of a provision tucked into the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 that could send the rule drafters at the Pentagon back to the drawing board. In addition, it will also provide the public with a new source of contractor accountability data.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Franken Amendment*, GOV. CONTRACTORS, LAWSUITS, Politics, Reports & Investigations. Tags: DoD Contractors, DoD*, FAPIIS, Franken Amendment*, Pentagon, POGO, Rape, Title VII. No Comments »

Women team up to stop alleged contractor abuses in Iraq

Posted on: November 10th, 2010 at 3:09 am — by Ms Sparky

Christine Dobbyns – HOUSTON (KTRK) — For the first time on Monday night, we heard the story of a local woman who claims she was brutally attacked and raped while working for an American government contract company in Iraq. Now, we’re continuing the story with reaction from the company — KBR — and how other women say it happened to them too.

The story of 27-year-old Anna Mayo is graphic.

“He was grabbing my hair and grabbing my hair, and my face and at one point he had my face and he was ripping it, he had gloves on and I was biting him so hard, I could taste, I could taste the gloves, I could taste the blood, I could taste the smell,” she said.

Mayo was working at KBR’s Ballad (Joint Base Balad) Facility in Iraq last November when a man claiming to be a maintenance worker attacked as she lay sleeping in her bed.

“I remember poking him in the eyeballs because he was on top of me, and I took my nail and digged it into his eye, and it’s like he was mocking me,” she said.

He put a rope around her neck and she passed out. When she came to, she was being raped.

“It was almost like a relief because it didn’t hurt as bad as when he was ripping my face off,” Mayo said.

Her injuries left her in intensive care.

“A girl that I worked with at the warehouse came in, looked at me, sat down and fainted — that’s how much of a monster I was,” Mayo said.

Mayo has filed a lawsuit against the government contractor and subsidiaries, saying, “It is not the first time that KBR has had problems with sexual violence in its workspaces, nor the first time that it has been put on notice of these rampant violent behaviors.”

But KBR says it in no way condones or tolerates illegal or unethical behavior saying “Sexual misconduct is not tolerated. Ms. Mayo’s allegations to the contrary are not correct.”

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Anna Mayo vs KBR, Franken Amendment*, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Jamie Jones vs KBR, LAWSUITS, LOGCAP III - KBR, Media Coverage, Rape, Hazing, Discrimination & Harassment. Tags: Anna Mayo, Employee Issues-KBR, Jamie Leigh Jones, Joint Base Balad (JBB), KBR, KBR Fact Sheets, Rape, Sexual Assault, Todd Kelly. No Comments »

KBR employee Anna Mayo recalls attack in Iraq (Updated)

Posted on: November 9th, 2010 at 5:55 am — by Ms Sparky

This is the full interview with Anna Mayo (approximately 20 minutes)

Christine Dobbyn – HOUSTON (KTRK) — A Houston woman is telling her story of survival for the first time on camera. She is a former KBR contractor who began working in Iraq in November of 2008.

Anna Mayo says what happened to her one morning in her sleeping quarters changed her life forever. While we don’t normally identify rape victims, the young woman says she wants her story heard.

In the fall of 2008, Anna Mayo left Austin to work as a KBR contractor in Iraq. Within a month, she was promoted to an operations specialist with project management.

“I loved it,” Mayo said. “I moved up really fast; I got a lot of responsibility.”

And then Mayo was moved to the night shift, so that meant sleeping during the day.

“I had a sign on my room that said daysleeper, please come back after 14:00,” she said.

On a November morning in 2009, there was a knock on her sleeping container door. She opened it to find a man she says was not an American.

“He told me that he needed to come in and check something in my bathroom,” Mayo said. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Anna Mayo vs KBR, Franken Amendment*, GOV. CONTRACTORS, LAWSUITS, LOGCAP III - KBR, Media Coverage, Rape, Hazing, Discrimination & Harassment. Tags: Anna Mayo, Employee Issues-KBR, Joint Base Balad (JBB), KBR, Rape, Sexual Assault, Todd Kelly. 14 Comments »

Cenk Uygur on the Franken Amendment

Posted on: November 3rd, 2010 at 2:36 pm — by Ms Sparky

MsSparky.com has been following the Franken Amendment since we first heard about it. It still amazes me we have to pass a law so women who have been raped while working for a Defense contractor in a war zone can seek restitution in civil court.

This is an awesome commentary from Cenk Uygur (pronounced jenk Ui-gur) host of The Young Turks, on the Republican response to Senator Al Franken’s Amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill. It’s funny and insightful. Cenk Uygur nailed it.