Appeals court sends contractor's case to court

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DALLAS — The case of a Texas woman who alleges she was gang-raped by co-workers while working for a military contractor in Iraq will go to court instead of arbitration, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

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(Jamie Leigh) Jones worked as a clerical worker for KBR at a Halliburton office in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone and alleges she was drugged and raped by several Halliburton workers in her company barracks bedroom. She also claims she was placed under armed guard and held in a "prison-like container" for hours after reporting the alleged attack.

KBR and Halliburton, which split in 2007, have disputed Jones' account of how the companies responded to her allegations.

A lower court found Jones allegations of assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent hiring and supervision of employees and false imprisonment did not fall within the scope of the arbitration clause of the contract she signed. Two of the judges from the federal appeals court agreed, with one dissenting.

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More at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6620647.html">link.


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CNN legal analyst: Alleged Halliburton rapists may go free

Because of an employment contract signed by Halliburton employees requiring that all disputes be settled out of court, a legal analyst for CNN says employees alleged of gang raping a former employee may go free.

Former employee Jamie Leigh Jones is filing a federal lawsuit claiming she was gang-raped by employees of Halliburton in Iraq and held shipping container with a bed, then told she would be fired if she sought medical treatment.

"She signed an employment contract and there is a mandatory arbitration clause in that contract," CNN legal analyst told Kiran Chetry on CNN's American Morning Tuesday. "It says if there's any dispute arising out of your employment or related to your employment, that dispute doesn't go before a jury, doesn't go before trial judge, goes before an arbitrator."

"The bottom line is I am surprised that the Justice Department and that the prosecutors have not investigated this to its completion and brought charges and I have to say I think that is coming," Hostin said. "I think after all the press that we've seen, that is going to come, but this is a civil action, an action that she is bringing and typically when you bring a civil action, you can bring it according to The constitution or according to your rights you can bring it in a court of law. She signed that right away with her employment contract and people do it all the time."

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A bit more here too at http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CNN_legal_analyst_Alleged_Halliburton_rapists_1212.html">link.