In Hot Water

This post doesn't have a social science connection. It involves a legal case that, to the best of my knowledge, is only being covered in Pittsburgh. I believe it deserves to be more widely known because of what it says about the attitudes of the Army and major defense contractors toward American soldiers.

In 2008, Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth, a Green Beret from Shaler, PA (a Pittsburgh suburb), serving in Iraq, was electrocuted while taking a shower on an Army base in Baghdad. He was one of 18 soldiers in Iraq to be electrocuted by faulty wiring. In Sgt. Maseth's case, a water pump shorted out, electrifying the water in which he was showering. The building's electrical system was ungrounded.

The installation and maintenance of the electrical system was the responsibility of Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), formerly a division of Halliburton. Both Halliburton and KBR made a millions of dollars contracting various services to the Defense Department in Iraq. Many of these were no-bid contracts, obtained no doubt with the help of Vice President Dick Cheney, former CEO of Halliburton.

Sgt. Maseth's family is suing KBR on the grounds that their negligence was responsible for the soldier's death. On March 30, KBR asked Judge Nora Barry Fischer to dismiss the suit. KBR's contract says it is “responsible for quality” in its work. KBR's lawyer, Lawrence Ebner, says this is just “biolerplate language” and doesn't mean what it says. He says the U. S. Army is responsible for Sgt. Maseth's death.

Mr. Ebner said that the Army decided use old Iraqi buildings to house soldiers rather than build new structures for three reasons:

• The old buildings provided good protection against gunfire.
• New construction would have created the impression the U. S. was preparing for a permanent occupation.
• Using old buildings was less expensive.

Then, even though they knew these old buildings were unsafe, the Army decided they were “good enough” and required only that they be maintained rather than refurbished. However, Patrick Cavanaugh, lawyer for Sgt. Maseth's parents, said the Army had given KBR about a dozen work orders to fix the building. An electrical expert estimated that it would have taken $100 and a half-hour's work to prevent Sgt. Maseth's death, he said.

The significance of this argument is that under U. S. law, soldiers and their families cannot sue the Army for injuries incurred during a war regardless of the amount of negligence involved. If the Court accepts KBR's motion, no one is legally accountable for Sgt. Maseth's death.

Not content just to blame the Army, KBR also attempted to blame the victim. Mr. Ebner said that Sgt. Maseth knew the showers were unsafe and chose to take the risk of showering there. (Maybe he should have taken his shower in one of downtown Baghdad's luxury health spas.) Mr. Cavanaugh replied that although Sgt. Maseth knew the showers were dangerous, he had reason to believe they had been repaired.

The Army declined to comment. Judge Fischer will decide whether to dismiss the suit. Stay tuned.