Lopez Hodes Files Lawsuit Against KBR Halliburton for Wrongful Death of Contract Employee in Fuel Convoy Massacre
Newport Beach, CA-March 28, 2005-In the first of several lawsuits arising out of Halliburton's civilian-driven truck convoy of April 9, 2004 in Iraq, during which driver Tommy Hamill was taken hostage and six other drivers were killed by enemy insurgents, plaintiff in a California civil action entitled April Johnson, as the surviving daughter of decedent truck driver Tony Johnson vs. Halliburton and its subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root, et al., alleges that Halliburton/KBR deployed its civilian truck drivers into a hostile active war zone despite knowledge from intelligence sources that there existed a substantial certainty the civilian drivers, moving in U.S. military vehicles, would be ambushed by Iraqi insurgents and killed or seriously injured. The drivers were following orders from Halliburton to deliver fuel to Baghdad International Airport ("BIAP").
According to the lawsuit, Halliburton intentionally sent the convoy as an enemy "decoy," in U.S. military camouflage vehicles, to ensure the safe arrival and delivery of a second H-KBR fuel convoy. As stated in earlier news reports, the lawsuit alleges that the doomed convoy was deployed for the sole purpose of KBR fulfilling its quotas of daily fuel deliveries, apparently specified under its U.S. government contract, without regard for the lives, safety, and well-being of its unarmed civilian employees.
The civil action filed on behalf of April Johnson, by the California-based Newport Beach law firm of Lopez, Hodes, Milman & Skikos, alleges that Halliburton ordered the convoy in which Johnson was a driver, to take what was later discovered by the drivers to be a longer and extremely dangerous route to the airport's North Gate, along a highway that had been designated by both U. S. Military Forces and Halliburton/KBR's Central Command as a "black" zone - actively engaged in enemy attacks and military combat. Halliburton knew when it deployed its civilian drivers that that portion of the highway was to be avoided at all costs, especially by unarmed civilians driving U.S. military tankers. While Johnson's convoy was ordered to drive military camouflaged vehicles, ensuring the convoy would appear as a U.S. military operation and an enemy target, another KBR fuel delivery convoy simultaneously deployed to BIAP, was provided with European made Volvo and Mercedes civilian vehicles. This second convoy was directed to embark upon a shorter, more direct route and arrived at BIAP safely and without incident.
Halliburton knowingly failed to inform the drivers in Hamill's convoy before their departure of the "Black" status alert and instead informed the drivers that the road conditions were at a low "amber" status. Prior to being sent to Iraq, Halliburton assured the civilian drivers that they would not be driving "military-type " vehicles to transport fuel or supplies, as it was known that there existed a high level of insurgent hostility toward the U.S. military presence in Iraq.
In Houston, Texas, December 2003, Halliburton, KBR, and Service Employee's International, Inc. ("SEII") (Halliburton's Cayman Island subsidiary) recruited civilian employees from the U.S. to work in Iraq under assurances that the civilian workers would be placed in "100% safe" working conditions and engaged in peaceful rebuilding missions. Halliburton guaranteed that trained U.S. military personnel, with both aerial and mechanized armed support, would provide protection for all Halliburton/KBR civilian operations in Iraq. Civilian employees were promised that they could refuse to participate in any hazardous or dangerous operations. Halliburton touted a strong safety record, citing only 3 civilian deaths to date, and claimed that all three deaths were due to the employees' own negligence. The civil action against Halliburton and KBR alleges, and will seek to demonstrate, that Halliburton fraudulently misrepresented the employees' working conditions in Iraq and that in fact, Halliburton's civilian employee deaths in Iraq were far greater than reported.
Halliburton's controversial 2001 contract with the U.S. Department of Defense requires daily truck runs and rear support capacity to the U.S. military. The most controversial aspect of Halliburton's government contract is the "cost-plus" term, which reimburses Halliburton for all operating costs with a 1%-3% off-top profit. Plaintiff's lawsuit alleges that the lack of oversight of Halliburton's actions under the contract contributed to Halliburton's conduct in intentionally placing their employees in harm's way. Halliburton's alleged waste, corruption, overspending, and intentional mismanagement resulted in the tragic death of six civilians from enemy attacks and reimbursement and monetary compensation to Halliburton for two truck convoys.
As of April 7, 2004, Halliburton had been conducting routine fuel deliveries to Camp Webster, Iraq. Email and telephonic communications from the U.S. military notified and warned Halliburton's central command center at that time that the enemy attack "threat' level along travel routes in Iraq were heightened to "Black" status alert. A Black level alert prohibits all road travel, especially by unarmed civilians in U.S. military vehicles. The "Black" alert was known by Halliburton to be in effect on April 9, 2004, and remained in effect in southern Iraq until April 16, 2004.
April 9, 2004 marked the holy day of Araba'in , considered to be one of the most dangerous dates for American forces in Iraq. All military forces and civilian personnel in Iraq were urged to exercise great caution and refrain from all travel. Claiming that fuel levels at Baghdad International Airport were "critically low," Halliburton ignored the "Black" alert, and deployed two civilian truck convoys to deliver fuel to the international airport, located in southern Iraq. One convoy was sent in U.S. military camouflaged vehicles, making the convoy a certain target for enemy attacks. The second convoy was sent in civilian fuel delivery vehicles, identifying the convoy as nonmilitary.
Receiving nothing more than hardhat helmets, bulky bulletproof vests, and outdated radio equipment, the unarmed civilian drivers, led by Tommy Hamill, unaware that their employer had planned and intended their tragic fate, boarded their unarmored, U.S. military camouflage-painted tankers, and departed to the airport along a route known by their employer and the U.S. military to be the location of constant enemy attacks.
Contrary to Halliburton's promises to the drivers, only some of the truck drivers were escorted by military personnel. Moreover, the drivers' escorts were not experienced back gunners but were instead new reservists stationed in the trucks' passenger seats. Finally, Halliburton knowingly sent its drivers without maps to travel an extremely dangerous route that was unknown to most of the drivers, causing the convoy to become a lost and extremely vulnerable target to enemy attacks.
As they traveled further into southern Iraq toward the airport, the men in the 26-vehicle convoy suddenly found themselves among smoldering vehicles that had been previously attacked by enemy forces within hours of the decoy convoy's arrival. Almost instantly, the men and their trucks were ambushed from all sides by hundreds of enemy fighters toting rocket propelled grenades and anti-aircraft weapons, with women and children firing weapons or being used as human shields. The convoy's surprise and lack of gun power rendered the men helpless to defend themselves or to quickly escape the onslaught. The poor radio equipment made it impossible to communicate any warning of the attack to the rear drivers. A recently released government report of a U.S. Army investigation into the incident cites Halliburton's misdeeds and the failure of adequate communication devices as substantial contributing factors to the loss of life and serious injuries suffered by the men of the ill-fated convoy.
In the end, six unarmed men lay dead, nine were seriously wounded, one driver remains missing and is presumed dead, and the lead driver, Tommy Hamill was captured and held captive before his escape. Halliburton's greed and decision to place its own employees in harm's way resulted in Halliburton reaching its financial goals. According to the lawsuit, the drivers and the families of the men killed in the attack have suffered pain and loss of life due to Halliburton's intentional and egregious conduct towards its own employees, whom it promised to keep "100% safe" while working in Iraq. Instead of ensuring their safety, Halliburton turned one of its civilian driven convoys into an enemy decoy with no concern for the lives of the drivers, forcing them to unwittingly become silent American heroes and casualties of war. The lawsuits seek to bring justice to the dead men and their families as well as to the men who were forced to fight for their lives and survive against all odds.
Ramon Rossi Lopez, plaintiff's counsel in the Johnson case, advises that his firm represents most of the drivers who survived the attack as well as the families of the drivers killed or missing due to the attack. Mr. Lopez's firm intends to file most of the cases in state court in Houston, Texas, where Halliburton's and KBR's corporate headquarters are located.
