This is an update on our case, Bixby v. KBR, U.S. District Court Case No. CV 09-632-PK (D. Or.). In the case, soldiers serving in the Oregon National Guard claim that KBR defendants are responsible for their exposures to hexavalent chromium, a cancer-causing toxic chemical. The soldiers claim that KBR… Continue Reading →
I haven’t seen the complaint yet, but multiple media reports indicate that the U.S. Department of Justice filed a False Claims Act case against KBR, Inc. and its subcontractors over allegedly improper bills for security in Iraq. Here is the CNN report. I’m taken… Continue Reading →
Sometimes the best legal advice to a recalcitrant client about their case is, “Stick a fork in it; it’s done.” And so it goes with KBR and the horrifying case of Jamie Leigh Jones. When Ms. Jones claimed that she was drugged and raped while working in… Continue Reading →
There have been two important developments in our win over BP. The case involves illegal debit card charges for gas purchases at Oregon ARCO stations. Details on the history are here with a few additional posts here. A bit of a summary first. Our claim process was a smashing… Continue Reading →
It’s a good day for the Oregon Qarmat Ali veterans. Today, the Court confirmed the jury verdict in favor of the first 12 Oregon Army National Guard veterans who suffered contamination injuries at the Qarmat Ali Water Treatment Plant in Iraq in 2003. Here is a link to the PDF… Continue Reading →
From a recent blog comment and email, I realized that we did not update our blog on this case. The Court of Appeals denied our motion to dismiss. As a result, the case is on hold, and the January trial date is off. The news came while I was in… Continue Reading →
It happens every election cycle that non-law friends and others may be casting about on races on which they may not be familiar. Sometimes I weigh in–especially when bad ballot measures or obvious choices make me speak. I wear my biases on my sleeve. I represent consumers in hard, complicated… Continue Reading →
Ten years after the 9/11 tragedy, I am thinking today of the first responders and veterans who volunteered for service. They did so understanding the dangers and the risks, and they did so as a matter of duty and conscience. In answering the call, they put themselves in harm’s way. Continue Reading →
I’m not a flag waver. Never have been. Like the vast majority of Americans, I have treated Veterans Day as one of those days in the fall that I might have off from work. No thought to the meaning; no thought to the sacrifices that lie beneath. That changed in… Continue Reading →
I’m at home this evening with two computers going side by side. On the desktop, I have a several thousand page PDF of Army FOIA documents open, as I wade through KBR discovery. My laptop is up with a running digest of the interesting tidbits. It’s my own odd-duck style… Continue Reading →