The Cochran Firm Legal Blog

The Department of Defense has decided it will not file criminal charges over the death of a Green Beret from Pennsylvania who was electrocuted in the shower by faulty wiring. In January 2008, the 24-year old staff sergeant was taking a shower in his Baghdad quarters when he was electrocuted by an improperly grounded water pump at the building. The wiring at the quarters, a converted palace of Saddam Hussein, was performed by KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton and one of the largest recipients of lucrative military contracts. Although the wiring was found to be responsible for the soldier's death, the company was absolved of criminal charges because the Army did not set explicit standards such as "electrical equipment should not electrocute soldiers" and did not exhaustively inspect the company's work.

After 18 US soldiers were electrocuted by defective wiring in Iraq, the Department of Defense initiated a task force to assess fire and electrical safety issues. The task for has inspected more than 67,000 pieces of equipment and facilities, and fixed nearly 14,000 deficiencies, meaning that approximately 1 in 5 wiring jobs performed by military contractors was done poorly. At one point, one of the inspectors declared that shoddy wiring was everywhere, and nearly a third of the buildings inspected had such serious problems that the wiring had to be fixed within four hours or the building evacuated.

Although criminal charges have been dismissed, the family of this soldier is pursuing a premises liability lawsuit against the contractors. If you have lost someone to the negligence of a corporation, you need an ally prepared to take on the largest foes. The Cochran Firm is prepared to be that ally. Contact the personal injury lawyers at our Philadelphia, Pennsylvania office today to schedule a free consultation.

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