The Business of Law – Marketing and Business for Enterprising Attorneys

Some of the soldiers who are fighting on the front lines to protect our rights now want a fight at the Supreme Court for theirs.

Right now, active duty military members do not have the right to sue the government .  Two layers in Florida and some members of Congress are trying to change that and if they do, we at Sokolove will be ready to make sure our brave men and women can have their day in court!

Now as I’ve said many times I’m not a lawyer so I don’t want to go into a long analysis of the merits of sovereign immunity, but this seems pretty straightforward.  If a government agent does something negligent and that negligence harms a member of the active duty military, the victim of that injury should be able to sue the government.  It’s pretty straightforward.

Sounds simple enough, file the case, fight it out in court, and see what happens. Enter the Feres Doctrine.  Based on the decision in Feres v. United States, 340 U.S. 135 (1950), the doctrine prevents enlisted servicemen/women from suing the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act for injuries resulting from the negligence of others in the armed forces.

(continue reading…)

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.

(continue reading…)