Families of mercenaries solicit cash to push lawsuit against Blackwater [View All]

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The families of four security contractors killed and mutilated in Iraq issued a public plea yesterday for financial support so they can continue a wrongful death lawsuit against Blackwater USA.

The families’ attorneys said that they have already spent more than $2.5 million on a lengthy legal battle against the private security company, based in Moyock. They hold Blackwater responsible for the deaths of Scott Helvenston, Jerry Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague, who were working for the company in March 2004 when they escorted a supply convoy through Fallujah and were attacked by a frenzied mob.

The families’ lawsuit argues that Blackwater failed to prepare the men for the mission.

Blackwater responded late last year by filing a $10 million countersuit against the person representing the estates of the slain employees, claiming that the wrongful death suit breaches the men’s original contract.