Burn pit lawsuits against KBR and Halliburton to proceed after court rules against defendants' motion to dismiss
On Wednesday, September 8, 2010, Honorable Roger W. Titus of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ruled that the lawsuits in In re KBR Inc. Burn Pit Litigation (09MD2083) may proceed after denying the defendants' motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
In filed complaints, American soldiers, veterans and civilians who were exposed to burn pit hazards allege that defense contractors KBR, Inc., Kellogg, Brown & Root Services, Inc., Kellogg, Brown & Root LLC and Halliburton Company ignored the terms of government contracts requiring them to provide both safe and environmentally sound means of waste disposal. The plaintiffs claim that, rather than providing appropriate waste disposal services on bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, the defendants disposed of waste in open-air burn pits whose toxic fumes and smoke caused serious illnesses, including cancer and chronic respiratory problems.
Read more about the burn pit lawsuits opinion in The Huffington Post.