KBR defeats appeal in U.S. over Nepal, Iraq trafficking claims

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday refused to hold KBR Inc (KBR.N) liable for alleged human trafficking, in connection with the 2004 kidnapping and murder by insurgents of 12 Nepali men being transported in Iraq to work for a subcontractor at a U.S. military base.

By a 2-1 vote, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld a lower court judge’s 2014 dismissal of civil claims against KBR, an engineering firm and military contractor sometimes known as Kellogg Brown & Root, by surviving family members and a Nepali worker who was not captured.

Circuit Judge Edward Prado said dismissal was proper because KBR’s alleged misconduct lacked a sufficient connection with the United States to justify letting the lawsuit proceed there.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In their 2008 lawsuit, the plaintiffs accused Houston-based KBR and its Jordanian subcontractor Daoud & Partners of recruiting victims in Nepal by promising them jobs at a luxury hotel in Amman, only to send them to Iraq instead.

 

 

 

Read the whole story from Reuters.

Featured image courtesy of CBS News.