Produced by:
KBOO
Program::
Air date:
Fri, 09/04/2015 - 12:00am
Interview with the lawyer for Oregon Guard veterans
U.S. taxpayers will have to pay at least $30 million to cover attorney fees incurred by defense contractor K-B-R. The company, a subcontractor of the infamous Halliburton corporation, was found guilty of wrongly exposing U.S. and British soldiers to toxic chemicals while serving in the Iraq War.
More than 30 Oregon Army National Guard soldiers who served at Qarmat Ali filed a 2009 fraud and negligence lawsuit against KBR in Portland.
The vets alleged that exposure to the toxic dust caused them to suffer health problems, including serious respiratory illnesses.
A jury agreed, awarding the vets eighty five million dollars. But K-B-R appealed that ruling, and the guilty verdict against the company was thrown out by an appeals court on a technicality, after the U.S. Supreme Court changed the rules regarding lawsuits.
That ruling was related to an entirely different case, made in another state
Now, a judge has ruled that taxpayers will have to pay back defense contractor K-B-R thirty million dollars in legal fees.
The Supreme court ruling also, apparently, makes it so that any future claims made by veterans in this case, and potentially others, will be borne by taxpayers.
For more, KBOO’s jenka soderberg spoke with David Sugarman, one of the lawyers for the Oregon national guard veterans:
More than 30 Oregon Army National Guard soldiers who served at Qarmat Ali filed a 2009 fraud and negligence lawsuit against KBR in Portland.
The vets alleged that exposure to the toxic dust caused them to suffer health problems, including serious respiratory illnesses.
A jury agreed, awarding the vets eighty five million dollars. But K-B-R appealed that ruling, and the guilty verdict against the company was thrown out by an appeals court on a technicality, after the U.S. Supreme Court changed the rules regarding lawsuits.
That ruling was related to an entirely different case, made in another state
Now, a judge has ruled that taxpayers will have to pay back defense contractor K-B-R thirty million dollars in legal fees.
The Supreme court ruling also, apparently, makes it so that any future claims made by veterans in this case, and potentially others, will be borne by taxpayers.
For more, KBOO’s jenka soderberg spoke with David Sugarman, one of the lawyers for the Oregon national guard veterans:
- KBOO
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