The Business of Law – Marketing and Business for Enterprising Attorneys

Last week, I posted a piece about Jamie Jones a former Halliburton employee who was allegedly assaulted in Iraq and then held against her will by the company to prevent her from coming forward. She’s now a whistleblower who I recently had the chance to hear speak.

Well now we’re seeing more reason to wonder about the huge defense contractor. In December, sixteen Indiana National Guardsmen filed suit against KBR, (a Halliburton subsidiary) alleging that the company exposed them to hazardous chemicals while they were guarding the Quarmat Ali water plant in Southern Iraq.

The allegations are amazing. First, these soldiers and civilians are exposed to harmful chemicals like sodium dichromate which contains pure hexavalent chromium. (Follow the link, it’s nasty stuff).

Then the KBR managers said that soldiers complaining of symptoms were just suffering from “dry desert air” or that they were “allergic to sand”. (Tip of the cap to Shannon Henson over at Law 360 subscription required)

Turns out that while more than 60 percent of the soldiers were documented with symptoms, work continued on the site for another month.

Then according to the Associated Press another 433 Guardsmen may have been exposed to chromium while escorting KBR employees to another water plant.

In June, seven National Guardsmen from West Virginia filed suit and accused KBR for deliberately concealing the risks. Overall hundreds of military families may be affected.

According to published reports, KBR will likely try to use a SOL defense, but plaintiffs’ lawyers will argue that since they actively concealed their misconduct such a defense is barred.

As if that weren’t bad enough…..

In April, nine class action law suits were filed by soldiers and civilians who claimed that they had become sick from open-air burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq. Kelly Kennedy at Federal Times has done a great job of covering this story.

Both KBR and Halliburton of course have denied knowingly exposing anyone to anything harmful, but it appears that while Defense Department officials said there were no known long-term health effects due to exposure to open-air burn-pit smoke, seven months earlier, Army researchers had written a report that said:

“Open burn pits and simple incinerators with little or no air pollution control devices, used at some locations to process waste in [Iraq and Afghanistan], generate smoke plumes that may pose a considerable health hazard to deployed personnel,”

Way to get your stories straight guys!!

[UPDATE November 9, 2009] US Senator Byron Dorgan says this harmful disposal method is continuing.

Here’s the bottom line. Whether at the burn pits, or water treatment plants, numerous lawsuits allege that Haliburton or its subsidiaries may have knowingly or negligently exposed soldiers and civilians to toxic chemicals for extended periods of time.

Nobody can be sure how many soldiers have been affected, but Sokolove Law is embarking on an aggressive effort to reach soldiers and their families who may be suffering from serious health problems. Something tells me we’re just scratching the surface of those civilians and soldiers who have been affected by these issues. If your law firm would like to work with us on this outreach, please shoot me an email.