Halliburton Rape Claim Goes to Court (instead of arbitration!!)

Breeze54

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Mon May-12-08 11:18 AM
Original message

Halliburton Rape Claim Goes to Court (instead of arbitration!!)

Halliburton Rape Claim Goes to Court

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4829320&page=1

Judge Orders That Woman's Case Should Go to Trial, Not Arbitration

By MADDY SAUER
May 10, 2008

Jamie Leigh Jones

A Houston woman who says she was gang-raped by co-workers at a Halliburton/KBR camp in Baghdad
won a major court battle late Friday when a Texas judge ordered that she can bring her case to
court instead of forcing her into secretive arbitration proceedings with Halliburton and KBR.

"We are ecstatic that (District Judge Keith Ellison) had the courage to uphold justice in this case,"
Jamie Leigh Jones' attorney Todd Kelly said after the decision.

Jones says that after she was raped by multiple men at a KBR camp in the Green Zone, the company
put her under guard in a shipping container with a bed and warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she'd be out of a job.

Jones returned from Iraq following her alleged rape in 2005. She was the subject of an exclusive
ABC News report in December, which led to congressional hearings.

After months of waiting for criminal charges to be filed, Jones decided to file suit against Halliburton and KBR.

KBR had moved for Jones' claim to be heard in private arbitration, instead of a public courtroom,
as provided under the terms of her original employment contract.

Ellison, however, wrote in his order Friday that Jones' claims of sexual assault, battery, rape,
false imprisonment and others fall beyond the scope of her employment contract.

"The Court does not believe that Plaintiff's bedroom should be considered the workplace, even
though her housing was provided by her employer," Ellison wrote.

Ellison did, however, rule that a sexual harassment claim that Jones included in her case against
her supervisor in Texas would have to be decided in arbitration.

Halliburton, which has since divested itself of KBR, has said it is improperly named in the suit
and has referred calls to KBR.

In arbitration, there is no public record nor transcript of the proceedings and Jones' claims
would not have been heard before a judge and jury.

* | 2 NEXT >

Nail them, Jamie !!!

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pleah

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Mon May-12-08 12:25 PM
Response to Original message

1. K&R Glad to hear it!

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Breeze54

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Mon May-12-08 02:16 PM
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4. I hope she wins and then files a civil suit and sues for tons of $$$...

and really puts a cramp in their bank account! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

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alstephenson

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Mon May-12-08 12:39 PM
Response to Original message

2. Good news. K & R

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Elidor

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Mon May-12-08 12:42 PM
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3. Great news

And may Halliburton and KBR both spend much more time in various courtrooms.

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crimsonblue

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Mon May-12-08 02:37 PM
Response to Reply #3

7. to pay their legal fees,

KBR will probably just cut MORE corners in Iraq-- if that's even possible. Plus, I would not be surprised if their next contract is a bit more bloated then the last or if they have an agreement with the Gov to pay their legal costs. Wouldn't that be something-- tax dollars hard at work defending a vile and morally bankrupt company against a rape victim .

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ceile

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Mon May-12-08 02:24 PM
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5. Glad to hear it! n/t

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ljm2002

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Mon May-12-08 02:32 PM
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6. Hard for me to imagine any other choice...

...companies can require arbitration for civil matters, but cannot use such a system to cover up for criminal actions.

Well, in theory, anyway. In fact, I'm pleasantly surprised that this is allowed to go to trial.

Assuming that her story is true, I hope she NAILS their asses.

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