Elecrocuted Solider Suit Revived Against KBR
(CN) - The parents of a staff sergeant fatally electrocuted in an Iraq military base shower may still seek justice against the KBR, the 3rd Circuit ruled.
While a federal judge dismissed the case in 2012 after finding that she could not question military wartime decisions, a three-judge panel found earlier this month that "defense contractors are not part of the government, so sovereign immunity, waiver of sovereign immunity, and exceptions to waiver do not apply directly to defense contractors."
The panel remanded the case back to District Court to determine whether the political question doctrine bars the claims, which are otherwise not pre-empted by the combatant-activities exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act.
Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth's parents had sued KBR, a former Halliburton subsidiary previously known as Kellogg Brown & Root, based on maintenance work it performed on the Radwaniyah Palace Complex military base in Iraq.
The 24-year-old soldier had died when an ungrounded water pump short-circuited as he was showering at the base.
When the pump short-circuited, the electricity traveled "through the pipes, shower head, coils and water" and caused "the water itself [to be] electrified," according to their complaint . Maseth suffered a heart attack and died on the shower floor.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/08/13/60253.htm
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