http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09118/965982-54.stm
Wednesday April 29, 2009
Paula Reed Ward
Staff writer Paula Reed Ward has been a reporter at the Post-Gazette since 2003 and currently covers federal courts. Before that, she worked at the Savannah Morning News in Georgia and the Pottsville Republican & Evening Herald. Having grown up in
Lawyers try to force Army contractor exec to be deposed in suit
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
By Paula Reed Ward,
An executive of an Army contractor that has been sued for wrongful death in federal court can't have it both ways, say attorneys seeking to compel his deposition.
He can't assert on a newspaper editorial page that his company -- KBR -- had nothing to do with the electrocution death of a soldier in the shower in
Attorneys who represent the parents of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth filed a motion in federal court yesterday asking a judge to order William C. Bodie, KBR interim president for government and infrastructure, to testify in the case.
Mr. Bodie wrote a rebuttal piece in the Post-Gazette earlier this month, claiming that KBR had nothing to do with Sgt. Maseth's death at
Sgt. Maseth, an Army Ranger and Green Beret, died on Jan. 2, 2008, when the electricity in the shower facility short-circuited because an electric water pump on the rooftop was not properly grounded.
The lawsuit filed by Cheryl A. Harris and Douglas Maseth alleges that their son died because KBR failed to maintain the electrical infrastructure at the former estate of Saddam Hussein.
In a piece that ran April 17, Mr. Bodie wrote, "Sgt. Maseth's accidental electrocution was an unfortunate and tragic event, but it was not caused by KBR. KBR worked quickly to remediate problems when authorized to do the work."
But attorneys representing Staff Sgt. Maseth's parents believe that the writing of that letter shows that Mr. Bodie must have some knowledge of the event, and therefore he should be deposed.
KBR attorneys have said they would not produce Mr. Bodie, calling him in an e-mail to the plaintiffs' attorneys, a "high level executive [who] would not appear to have any first-hand knowledge of any fact or issue that is relevant to this case."
Patrick Cavanaugh, who represents Sgt. Maseth's parents, disagreed.
"This statement of counsel flies in the face of Mr. Bodie's own words in his letter where he takes positions on the contractual responsibility and the wiring of Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth's building and states definitively that KBR is aware of no fact showing that KBR is responsible for Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth's death," he wrote.
KBR's attorney, Joseph L. Luciana III, did not return a phone call seeking comment. However, in an e-mail to Mr. Cavanaugh, he wrote that Mr. Bodie's letter was simply a response to a Post-Gazette editorial. Further, Mr. Bodie said the wiring at issue was installed by the Iraqis and was not the responsibility of KBR to repair or replace.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer ruled that the lawsuit against KBR can move forward. The civilian contractor claimed that the issues raised by the complaint could not be heard in federal court because they would force the judge to question military decisions.
Judge Fischer, however, said that was not the case, ruling that the lawsuit does not revolve around any military combat operations. Rather, she wrote, it turns on whether KBR was negligent in maintaining the infrastructure at the former palace complex where Sgt. Maseth died.
KBR attorneys have asked the judge for permission to appeal her ruling to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals before the case continues.
Paula Reed Ward can be reached at pward@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2620.
First published on April 28, 2009 at 12:00 am
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