» KBR Contract Ms Sparky

KBR asks federal judge to dismiss case brought by Oregon soldiers

Posted on: January 27th, 2012 at 2:42 pm — by Ms Sparky

Mike Francis – (The Oregonian) – January 27, 2012 – Lawyers for defense contractor KBR Inc. asked a federal judge in Portland Friday to dismiss the suit brought by a group of Oregon National Guard soldiers who said the KBR knowingly exposed them to a carcinogenic compound while they served in Iraq in 2003.

U.S. District Judge Paul Papak heard the arguments for two hours Friday morning, then said he would rule on KBR’s request in the coming weeks.

Friday’s arguments, while delivered in calm and measured tones, included some stinging accusations. KBR’s lawyer said the soldiers’ primary medical expert is “a junk scientist who cannot be trusted.” And the soldiers’ lawyer said KBR committed “fraud” in its conduct at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant and in its actions afterward.

While KBR is technically asking the judge to dismiss the entire case brought by 34 Oregon National Guard soldiers, KBR lawyer Geoffrey Harrison of the Houston law firm of Susman Godfrey acknowledged that he expects some subset of the group will survive the legal challenge and proceed toward trial.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in A Soldiers Story, CHEMICAL AND OTHER EXPOSURES, GOV. CONTRACTORS, KBR Contract, KBR Investigations, Lawsuits Against KBR, RIO-KBR, Sodium Dichromate @ Qarmat Ali. Tags: David Sugerman, Hexavalent Chromium, Jeffrey Eden, Judge Paul Papak, KBR, Oregon National Guard, Qarmat Ali, Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt, Sodium Dichromate. No Comments »

U.S. Army protects KBR from willfull misconduct in Iraq

Posted on: December 16th, 2011 at 2:12 pm — by Ms Sparky

Indemnification clauses are nothing new in defense contracting. Many defense contractors now have or have had in the past, contracts with the Pentagon containing indemnity provisions. These provisions potentially immunize the contractors from legal accountability for harm caused during the implementation of their contracts. Indemnification clauses are most commonly found in high risk contracts dealing with the manufacture and disposal of hazardous materials for the Pentagon. Most importantly these indemnification clauses are not necessarily “classified” by the Pentagon unlike the indemnification clause that was added to KBR’s no bid contract to Restore Iraqi Oil (RIO) at Qarmat Ali in Southern Iraq in 2003.

In a deposition filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, Oregon in the case of the deadly hexavalent chromium exposure of Oregon National Guardsman and others, it was revealed that on March 18, 2003, the eve of the Iraq invasion, a KBR attorney secured a secret indemnification clause ensuring U.S. taxpayers, and not KBR, would pay for damages in the event of any death or injury which occurred during KBR’s implementation of the Restore Iraqi Oil no-bid contract in Southern Iraq, a contract worth over $2.5B.

The typical defense contractor indemnification provisions (pdf) for defense contracts, entered as Plaintiff’s exhibit #34 in the Oregon National Guard case against KBR states:

Section (e) – The Contractor shall not be reimbursed for liabilities (and expenses incidental to such liabilities)–

Section (e)(3) – That result from willful misconduct or lack of good faith on the part of any of the Contractor’s directors, officers, managers, superintendents, or other representatives who have supervision or direction of–

(i) All or substantially all of the Contractor’s business;

(ii) All or substantially all of the Contractor’s operations at any one plant or separate locations in which this contract is being performed; or

(iii) a separate and complete major industrial operation in connection with the performance of this contract.

KBR’s recently declassified indemnification provisions (pdf) for the $2.5B no-bid Restore Iraqi Oil contract in Southern Iraq are a stark contrast to the typical indemnification afforded to other defense contractors and states: (Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in CHEMICAL AND OTHER EXPOSURES, GOV. CONTRACTORS, KBR, KBR Contract, LAWSUITS, Lawsuits Against KBR, Politics, Qarmat Ali Lawsuits, RIO-KBR, Sodium Dichromate @ Qarmat Ali. Tags: Hexavalent Chromium, KBR, Lawsuits Against KBR, Qarmat Ali, Rep. Earl Blumenauer*, Rep. Kurt Schrader*, Senator Jeff Merkley*, Senator Ron Wyden*. No Comments »

KBR Dodges Lawsuit by Electrocuted Marine

Posted on: October 10th, 2011 at 10:25 am — by Forseti

KIM CALANTROPO - (Courthouse News) – RICHMOND, Va. – October 10, 2011 – A Marine who was electrocuted while trying to install a wiring box at the military base near Fallujah, Iraq, cannot pursue negligence claims against defense contractor Kellogg Brown & Root, the 4th Circuit ruled.

Peter Taylor had sought relief from the appellate court after a federal judge dismissed the claim in April 2010. Senior U.S. District Judge Robert Doumar had agreed with KBR that Taylor lacked subject-matter jurisdiction since the political question doctrine bars negligence claims. Doumar also found that the “combat activities” exemption of the Federal Tort Claims Act pre-empts the suit.

The 4th Circuit declined to revive Taylor’s claim, but it did vacate the trial court’s finding about the pre-emption issue since the lack of jurisdiction removes the judges need to consider this aspect of the case.

Taylor, a hospital corpsman for the Marines, had been stationed at a camp about 15 miles outside Fallujah at the time of the July 2007 accident. A generator malfunction had incapacitated the tank ramp that troops used to maintain Marine tanks, Humvees and other vehicles.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in A Soldiers Story, Electrocutions/Shocks, GOV. CONTRACTORS, KBR, KBR Contract, KBR Investigations, LAWSUITS, Lawsuits Against KBR, LOGCAP III - KBR. Tags: Camp Fallujah, Electrocutions/Shocks, Judge Robert G. Doumar, Judge Robert King, KBR, Petty Officer 2nd Class Peter Taylor, William Stickman. No Comments »

Defense Department Inspector General says KBR and the military failed to respond quickly to health risks posed to Oregon soldiers

Posted on: September 29th, 2011 at 10:24 am — by Ms Sparky

Sodium dichromate has been linked a range of illnesses

…Minutes of a June 14-15 meeting between TF RIO, KBR, and Iraqi State Company for Oil Projects representatives noted that “chemical treatment should [be] selected based on widely available nontoxic commodity chemicals.” However, e-mails between KBR personnel in late June indicated a decision from corporate headquarters in Houston to keep using “chromate” and other chemicals used previously. Three TF RIO witnesses we interviewed supported the conclusion that sodium dichromate was not used at Qarmat Ali after TF RIO and KBR personnel arrived… ~ Part II – Exposure to Sodium Dichromate at Qarmat Ali Iraq in 2003

Mike Francis – (The Oregonian) – September 28, 2011 – The Defense Department and contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root failed to act as quickly as they should have to protect those exposed to a carcinogenic chemical at an Iraqi water treatment plant in 2003, according to a report Wednesday by the Defense Department’s Inspector General.

The report was hailed as a victory for Oregon soldiers by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who was one of a group of senators who sought the IG’s evaluation, and by Oregon National Guard troops who are among those suing KBR. They accuse the contractor of knowingly exposing them to sodium dichromate, an anticorrosive compound that can cause skin and breathing problems and cancer. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Foiled by FOIA and other news

Posted on: September 25th, 2011 at 6:08 am — by Forseti

Many western multinational companies have been indicted for paying bribes to Nigerian government officials to secure contracts running into billions of dollars. One of the high profile cases involved former US vice president, Dick Cheney. He was head of the American oilfield services company, Halliburton when its engineering subsidiary, KBR, allegedly paid bribes totaling 180 million dollars to secure contracts worth six billion dollars. Nigerian authorities dropped corruption charges against him after Halliburton agreed to pay a 250 million dollar fine. But anti-corruption campaigners say the settlement is illegal. One of them has gone to court in an effort to make the former US vice president face trial. Sam Olukoya reports from Lagos. ~Free Speech Radio News – September 23, 2011

FOIA Friday: Was the Military the Victim of a War Profiteer Fuel Supplier?
NEIL GORDON – POGO – September 23, 2011 – Last March, the Department of Defense Inspector General (DoDIG) released an audit of contracts for the delivery of fuel to U.S. troops in Iraq. Only a summary of the report’s findings has been made available to the public. Yesterday, POGO received the full report (with redactions). DoDIG’s website still promises that the report will be made publicly available “at a later date.”

The DoDIG conducted the audit in response to concerns former House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) had about the competitiveness and prices paid under fuel supply contracts awarded to the International Oil Trading Company (IOTC). In October 2008, Waxman wrote to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates that IOTC “appears to have engaged in a reprehensible form of war profiteering” and may have overcharged the government as much as $180 million to deliver fuel to troops in Iraq.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Iraq: We Lost $1.2 Billion in Equipment Going in; How Much Will We Lose Getting Out?

Posted on: September 21st, 2011 at 6:39 am — by Forseti

Dina Rasor – (Truthout | Solutions) – September 21, 2011 – On December 31, 2011, the United States has committed to the government of Iraq that they will be removing their troops and contractor personnel. The US State Department will remain in a diplomatic role with limited Department of Defense (DoD) personnel and some State Department-hired private security personnel for protection.

Beyond the sticky diplomatic implications of this transfer, the DoD has a complicated task to wind down its giant footprint in Iraq. It will require a delicate and well-prepared withdrawal to get all the troops, contractors, equipment, and other assets out of the giant bases and turn the bases over to the Iraqi government while preventing attacks from insurgents and looting of US government assets.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) just released a detailed report [4] saying, in their ever so polite way, that the DoD and the State Department don’t have the information and tools to pull this off. The benign title of the report to Congress (“IRAQ DRAWDOWN: Opportunities Exist to Improve Equipment Visibility, Contractor Demobilization and Clarity of Post-2011 DoD Role”) doesn’t project the startling troubles they outline inside the report that threaten this withdrawal.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in GOV. CONTRACTORS, KBR, KBR Contract, LOGCAP III - KBR. Tags: CENTCOM, Contractor Managed Government Owned (CMGO), Dina Rasor, DoD*, Donald Rumsfeld, DOS*, GAO, Halliburton, Iraq, KBR, LOGCAP, LOGCAP III, POGO, USAID, USF-I. 2 Comments »

Tamimi, the unlucky “13th defendant” settles with the U.S.

Posted on: September 16th, 2011 at 5:12 pm — by Forseti

Saudi Arabia-Based Tamimi Global Company to Pay U.S. $13 Million to Resolve Criminal and Civil Allegations of Kickbacks and Illegal Gratuities

KBR Subcontractor Provided Dining Services in Iraq and Kuwait

(DoJ) – WASHINGTON – September 16, 2011 – Saudi Arabia-based Tamimi Global Company Ltd (TAFGA) has agreed to pay the United States $13 million to resolve criminal and civil allegations that the company paid kickbacks to a Kellogg Brown & Root Inc. (KBR) employee and illegal gratuities to a former U.S. Army sergeant, in connection with contracts in support of the Army’s operations in Iraq and Kuwait. The civil matter was handled by the Justice Department’s Civil Division, and the criminal matter was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois.

The U.S. alleges that employees of TAFGA paid kickbacks to KBR to obtain subcontracts awarded under LOGCAP (Logistics Civil Augmentation Program) III – KBR’s prime contract with the U.S. Army to provide logistical support to the military in conflicts abroad, including Iraq and Afghanistan. LOGCAP III is the third generation of contracts under the program. KBR performs its obligations under the contract largely through subcontractors such as TAFGA.

(Read the rest of the story here…)