Bracewell Team Wins in Fourth Circuit of Appeals on Behalf of KBR

HOUSTON – Bracewell LLP successfully defended KBR, Inc. on appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit against claims asserted by and on behalf of hundreds of thousands of service members and civilian employees alleging they were injured by KBR’s use of burn pits to dispose of solid waste at military bases across Iraq and Afghanistan.

The appeal involved more than 60 class-action and other lawsuits across the United States, which were filed in 43 jurisdictions and then consolidated. On June 20, 2018, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s conclusion that the military’s extensive control over KBR’s waste-management services required the dismissal of these suits.

Because the military exercised actual and pervasive control over KBR’s work, the decisions that plaintiffs challenged were deemed “de facto military decisions” not appropriate for judicial review. As a result, the panel held that the political question doctrine barred these cases.

KBR is one of the primary contractors for the US military and provide a broad range of support services to military operations in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Bracewell lawyers involved in this appeal (In re: KBR, Inc., Burn Pit Litigation, No. 17-1960) included:

Partners: Warren W. Harris, Yvonne Y. Ho and Jeffrey L. Oldham