Halliburton: You'll Get a Medal If You
Don't Sue
TPmuckraler.com By Justin Rood September 18, 2006 Halliburton will help its combat-zone employees get the honors and recognition they deserve -- if they promise not to sue the company. That's according to new documents released today by Senate Democrats. Ray Stannard was a truck driver in Iraq for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. In 2003, he was part of a fuel convoy that was ambushed by insurgents. Seven Americans died in the attack and 26 were injured, including Stannard. He is suing the company. His company knew the convoy's route was dangerous and unprotected, he says, but sent the convoy through anyway. "What they did was murder," Stannard told CBS News recently. "And I stick by that." The circumstances of his injuries qualified Stannard for the U.S. Defense of Freedom medal, the civilian equivalent to a soldier's Purple Heart. In offering to forward Stannard's medical records to the Department of Defense so they could confirm and appove his award, KBR required him to sign a release form. (You can see the document here.) The document, sent to Stannard in November 2004, appears to be boilerplate -- but for one curious paragraph that appears to indemnify KBR from any wrongdoing that may have led to Stannard's injuries:
Stannard didn't sign the form. He received the medal. And he filed suit against the company the following May. Commentary: |