CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER
Lawsuits
Filed over KBR Iraq Burn Pits
23 Corporate Crime Reporter 18, May 7, 2009
There is a kind of leukemia called AML – acute myeloid leukemia.
A large number of Iraq war vets have died in recent years of AML.
Why?
That’s the question being asked by Elizabeth Burke.
Burke is a partner at Burke O’Neil in Washington, D.C.
She’s representing more than 70 former military personnel, contractors, and their survivors suing KBR.
The lawsuits allege that the Houston-based Iraqi contractor jeopardized the health and safety of American soldiers and contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan by burning vast quantities of unsorted waste in enormous open-air burn pits with no safety controls.
KBR is accused of allowing thick, noxious smoke – coming off of flames sometimes colored blue or green by burning chemicals – to hang over U.S. bases and camps across Iraq and Afghanistan since 2004.
Round-the-clock hazardous emissions from the burn pits allegedly caused serious respiratory illnesses, tumors and cancers in the plaintiffs.
“U.S. soldiers and other residents of the military bases and camps have become seriously ill, been diagnosed with serious and potentially fatal diseases and in some cases have died from the physical injuries and diseases caused by the exposure to hazardous smoke and fumes,” the lawsuit alleged.
The burn pits are so large that tractors are used to push waste onto them and the flames shoot hundreds of feet into the sky, according to the lawsuits.
KBR allegedly burned waste such as biohazard materials including human corpses, medical supplies, paints, solvents, asbestos, items containing pesticides, animal carcasses, tires, lithium batteries, styrofoam, wood, rubber, medical waste, large amounts of plastics, and even entire trucks.
“KBR knew or should have known that operating vast open-air burn pits jeopardized the health and safety of thousands of Americans,” Burke told Corporate Crime Reporter last week.
KBR is being represented by Vinson & Elkins partner Kenneth Held.
“AML is typically a young person’s disease or a very old person’s disease,” Burke said. “It’s very rare that it strikes heathy young men. We know that there are about 100 Iraq veterans who were between the ages of 25 and 45, who came back from Iraq, were diagnosed with AML.
“And all of them are gone. So, something has caused a chromosomal abnormality that is triggering this AML.”
“When we talked to epidemiologists, they were just stunned by the numbers they were seeing.”
The plaintiffs include:
* Robyn Sachs, of Buffalo, N.Y., whose husband Christopher J. Sachs, died in November 2008 of complications of leukemia allegedly caused by his prolonged exposure to KBR burn pit smoke, fumes and ash during his military service in Iraq.
* Melissa Ochs and Joanne Ochs, of Fuquay Varina, N.C., the surviving spouse and mother, respectively, of Iraq and Afghanistan veteran Steven Ochs, who died, in July 2008, from the same type of leukemia as Mr. Sachs, allegedly caused by exposure to KBR burn pits.
* Albert Paul Bittel III, of Golden, Mo., an Army veteran who was stationed at Balad Air Force Base in Iraq, where he and his squad were exposed to KBR burn pit emissions. Upon his return from Iraq, he was diagnosed with cancer of the testicles, stomach and lymph nodes. After surgeries, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, he continues to suffer from memory problems and chronic numbing and swelling of his feet and hands and was forced to end his military career.
* James Morgan, of Statesville, N.C., who served in Iraq and was stationed at a guard tower located directly above KBR’s Balad Air Force Base burn pit, suffered from chronic cough and respiratory problems before developing lung cancer which has spread to his back.
* Michael Auw, of Hesperia, Calif., a disabled former soldier who was a guard in the tower located directly above the enormous burn pit at Balad Air Force Base and who is now completely disabled due to severe neurological damage as a result of constant extreme exposure to toxic emissions from the burn pits.
* Michael Douglas Moore, of Hinesville, Ga., a former soldier who was stationed at and then medically evacuated from Balad Air Force Base after burn pit emissions exposure. His exposure to the burn pit emissions caused severe respiratory disease and he later underwent jaw surgery to address related breathing problems and sleep apnea and was left with facial scars and lasting medical effects.
Other
named plaintiffs are Richard Ronald Guilmette, of Enterprise, Ala.,; Albert
Paul Bittel III, of Golden, Mo.; Cory Casalegno, of San Diego, Calif.; Michael
Douglas Moore, of Hinesville, Ga.; David U. Lackey, of Moline, Ill.; Randall
L. Robinson, of Cherry Valley, Ill.; Dean Guy Olson, of Owatonna, Minn.; Fred
Robert Atkinson, Jr., of Plattsburgh, N.Y.; Jennifer Montijo, of Watertown,
N.Y.; Steven A. Flowers, a New York resident who is serving abroad; David Newton,
of Spring Lake, N.C.; Chris Boggiano, of Huntersville, N.C.; Benny Lyle Reynolds,
Jr.; of Fort Bragg, N.C.; Earl Chavis, of Pembroke, N.C.; SMSgt Glen S. Massman
of Warren AFB, Wyo.; and Ssgt Wendy L. McBreairty, of Cheyenne, Wyo.
The claims against the defendants include wrongful death, negligence, battery,
breach of duty to warn, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and breach
of contract. The legal team for the plaintiffs intends to seek class certification
of the lawsuits to cover costs of medical monitoring, future medical expenses,
and other damages for other individuals exposed to KBR burn pit emissions.
“KBR promised to minimize the environmental effects of the burn sites they operated in Iraq and Afghanistan and to minimize smoke exposure to people in and near the bases and camps.
Instead, by forsaking safety for money, KBR willfully endangered these men and women who honorably served their country in military service or in support of the military,” Burke said.
[For
a complete transcript of the Interview with Elizabeth Burke, see 23 Corporate
Crime Reporter 18(12), May 4, 2009, print edition
only.]
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