Tulsa World: State veterans sue Halliburton, KBR

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State veterans sue Halliburton, KBR
They claim the companies exposed soldiers to toxic smoke in Iraq and Afghanistan.

By DAVID HARPER World Staff Writer
Published: 7/18/2009 2:25 AM
Last Modified: 7/18/2009 3:33 AM

Two Oklahoma veterans of the war in Iraq are suing Halliburton Co. and KBR Inc., saying the companies "callously exposed and continue to expose soldiers and others to toxic smoke, ash and fumes" in Iraq and Afghanistan.

David Green of Miami, Okla., and Nick Daniel Heisler of Lawton say in the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Tulsa, that they are seeking "redress for American soldiers and others deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan who were poisoned" by the companies.

The plaintiffs' attorneys are Armando Rosell of Oklahoma City and William O'Neil and Elizabeth Burke of Washington, D.C.

O'Neil said Friday that about 20 deaths have resulted from the defendants' actions.

He declined to estimate the number of people who have been sickened or injured, saying that total should become more clear during the discovery process.

A motion to certify the cases as a class-action lawsuit eventually will be filed, O'Neil said.

The filing of the Tulsa case late Thursday brought the total number of such lawsuits filed by the firm in the nation's federal courts to 21, O'Neil said.

The majority of the cases involve smoke-related injuries from burn pits.

O'Neil said motions have been made to transfer the cases to one federal court district — either in Maryland or Florida — for consolidated pretrial discovery. Still, he said, it is possible that the Tulsa lawsuit could eventually be sent back here for trial.

Heather Browne, KBR's director of communications, said in a statement Friday that "KBR is still reviewing the recently filed suits. It should be noted though that KBR did not operate the burn pit at Balad in Iraq, as has been previously asserted. It should also be noted that any burn pit operated in Iraq or Afghanistan is done pursuant to Army guidelines and regulations."

She added, "The general assertion that KBR knowingly harmed troops is unfounded as the safety and security of all KBR employees and those the company serves remains our top priority."

Diana Gabriel, Halliburton's senior manager of public relations, said Friday in a written statement that "as these lawsuits are based on KBR activity in Iraq and Afghanistan, we believe that Halliburton is improperly named in these cases and, as such, we expect Halliburton to be dismissed from the suits as Halliburton would have no responsibility, legal or otherwise, for the actions alleged."

Gabriel added, "Further, it would be inappropriate for Halliburton to comment on the merits of a matter affecting only the interest of KBR."

Halliburton and KBR were part of the same company for 44 years until they separated in April 2007, with Halliburton saying the split allowed it to focus on its profitable operations assisting oil and natural-gas producers.

The Tulsa lawsuit alleges that "the defendants were paid millions of dollars by the United States government to dispose of waste on bases and camps in Iraq and Afghanistan. Defendants promised to dispose of all waste in a method designed to minimize safety risks, to minimize the environmental effects of any burn site they operated and to minimize any type of smoke exposure to people" in and around the area.

The complaint says "the defendants utterly failed to fulfill any of the promises they made to the United States government. Defendants, more interested in money than safety, wholly ignored their obligations and burned vast quantities of unsorted waste in enormous open air burn pits with no safety controls."

The lawsuit says that "this misconduct began in 2004 and continues unabated to date," and it asks for actual and punitive damages for each plaintiff.

David Harper 581-8359
david.harper@tulsaworld.com By DAVID HARPER World Staff Writer

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Some reader comments for this story were copied from "Oklahoma veterans file lawsuit against Halliburton, KBR," which was published on 7/17/2009.

	Report Comment Four Sixteen Rigby, (7/17/2009 12:25:08 PM) Use private companies to fight your wars? This is what happens. We've come a long way from the Feres Doctrine, it seems. But when it was adopted, we didn't have "private military contractors" doing so much of the dirty work. Don't know the Feres Doctrine? Wikipedia and Google are your friends.
	Report Comment desert fox, (7/17/2009 12:40:37 PM) Good for these guys, I am rooting for them! V-P Cheney, the former CEO of Halliburton, saw to it his old company, that he was still drawing"deferred compensation" from, got billions of no-bid contracts and then they screw our troops around.
	Report Comment Hijinx, (7/17/2009 12:44:54 PM) Army Times writer Kelly Kennedy reports that “annual cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among service members have risen 82 percent since 2001, to 24,555 last year, while cases of all other respiratory illnesses have risen 37 percent, to 28,276, Defense Department data show.” The troops risking their lives deserve more than negligence from the DoD.
	Report Comment Thunder196, Tulsa (7/17/2009 12:54:48 PM) Every time private companies are used, the United States seems to look the other way towards actions that would land anyone else's rear end in jail. Just because they are on foreign soil.
	Report Comment Legal Citizen, . (7/17/2009 1:00:23 PM) "annual cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among service members have risen 82 percent since 2001, to 24,555 last year" >> Think that may be because the service members actually started seeing combat in 2001? It doesn't prove negligence. War is sometimes dirty.
	Report Comment jhill, Tulsa (7/17/2009 1:05:04 PM) Thunder196, … and that's precisely why they farm these inconvenient assignments to private companies -- one of the reasons, anyway.
	Report Comment Skeptic, Tulsa (7/17/2009 1:08:19 PM) The second Iraqi war shamelessly proved that war is big business, at least for the US. I wonder if the Bush fortune was enriched by this war as his grandfather was during WWII. War = profits.
	Report Comment okierose, Glenpool (7/17/2009 1:08:37 PM) 'Hijinx, (7/17/2009 12:44:54 PM) The troops risking their lives deserve more than negligence from the DoD.' It happened in Vietnam. Remember agent orange?
	Report Comment SRV, (7/17/2009 1:23:34 PM) Maybe someone can put some of that into Cheney's coffee? LOL
	Report Comment minnieme, Tulsa (7/17/2009 1:25:13 PM) Good luck with that! Hasn't KBR become an offshore company and isn't Haliburton headquarters in Dubai officially. Perhaps I'm wrong, but can they even be audited now?
	Report Comment Thunder196, Tulsa (7/17/2009 1:49:05 PM) I wish them luck, but I think we all know how far this is going. Anyone else remember the private security companies, that were contracted in Iraq for escorts. This was another case of companies making millions for sanctioned killing machines. ........... okierose I remember "agent orange". I also remember the statement our government gave regarding "agent orange". In short it stated "so what".
	Report Comment lizzy, Tulsa (7/17/2009 2:14:13 PM) Good luck to them. Everything about the contracts to Halliburton and KBR stinks.
	Report Comment docpresley, Tulsa (7/17/2009 2:19:57 PM) One of the big companies everyone loves to hate
	Report Comment Thunder196, Tulsa (7/17/2009 2:33:15 PM) Monitor LOL
	Report Comment Johnny - #1 Cobra, L.A. (7/17/2009 3:27:27 PM) I believe that it is a Federal lawsuit, so OK tort reform would not have any bearing on the outcome.
	Report Comment happy8003104b, Tulsa (7/17/2009 3:29:34 PM) war is no fun
	Report Comment Few Clothes, Austin, TX (7/17/2009 3:33:08 PM) War isn't supposed to fun. If it was, it would be caused recess.
	Report Comment Few Clothes, Austin, TX (7/17/2009 3:52:30 PM) I am glad that this is being addressed in a timely fashion. Many RVN vets have fathered children with birth defects from agent orange. Many have died from the cancers and other effects of the spray.
	Report Comment 52favoriteteacher, Washburn--used to be Broken Arrow (7/17/2009 4:27:07 PM) Cheney's deals... don't ask, don't tell look the other way America...
	Report Comment flint, Checotah (7/17/2009 4:31:00 PM) Unfortunately those that say this will go nowhere are correct. Ask WW11 and Korean vets. We were promised FREE medical and dental care for ourselves and families for LIFE in return for making a career of the military. Until we retired. Then we were thrown to the wolves until we reached Medicare age. Finally we got a decent Medicare supplement. Now Obama wants to cut both and place more cost on us. So much for ANY government promise - worthless!
	Report Comment Bedazzled, (7/17/2009 5:05:54 PM) Flint, McCain was going to Cut Medicare and an article was printed in the Wall Street Journal back when he campaigned. Romney said the problems were Medicare and Medicaid, if you paid close attention. Bush and the GOP weakened Medicare around six years ago, they did not want to make it stronger. I don't think Romney or McCain had a Public Option in mind so people would just be without. In is a known fact other countries are leading the way and have better insurance and more quality care and it is even cheaper than we pay – even their population lives longer and healthier lives than we do here in the good old USA. Halliburton has over charged us for years and I’m glad to see this but the Judges will probably side with the corporations that we have in place.
	Report Comment Bedazzled, (7/17/2009 5:06:49 PM) 52favoriteteacher, isn't that convenient for Chaney.
	Report Comment Bedazzled, (7/17/2009 5:08:11 PM) Good luck guys.
	Report Comment CWG, Tulsa (7/17/2009 8:06:32 PM) My guess is none of them were made to breathe the fumes of the burning, and who set the guideline for the burning?
	Report Comment Bedazzled, (7/17/2009 11:07:24 PM) Desert Fox hit this on the nailhead. I am sure Chaney is till getting paid extra for all the contracts and does consulting on the side.

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