A federal appeals panel, meeting behind closed doors Wednesday, heard arguments over whether three cases involving KBR contractors injured or killed in Iraq should be revived and go before juries.
In the hourlong hearing, the three-judge panel at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans probed lawyers for the victims and KBR about a deadly April 2004 attack on a KBR truck convoy, in which six workers were killed, one went missing and others were injured, according to two lawyers who were present.
"The judges were extremely active" in questioning lawyers from both sides, said Tobias Cole, a Houston attorney representing Kevin Smith-Idol, a KBR contractor shot in the knee and hip during the attack.
Lawyers for the contractors argued that KBR knew the civilian convoy was heading into an active battle zone but sent it anyway, violating pledges to keep workers safe.
Herbert Fenster, an attorney for KBR and its former parent, Halliburton, declined to comment on the case Wednesday. Last spring, Halliburton completed its spinoff of KBR, a government contractor and engineering and construction firm, to focus on oil field services.
