New Defense Base Act Case Fifth Circuit - Fisher v. Halliburton

New Defense Base Act case from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.  The case is Fisher v. Halliburton, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 641 and can be found here.

The facts are straightforward:  several employees of Kellogg Brown & Root were killed in Iraq while driving logistics trucks in Iraq.  Their widows and family members brought state tort claims against their employers.  The employers sought to dismiss the suits citing the remedy and preemption provisions fo the Defense Base Act, 42 U.S.C. 1651.

The Circuit Court walked through the analysis of the applicability of the Defense Base Act, including whether the injury suffered was because of the claimant's employment, whether the Defense Base Act bars intentional torts; and whether claimants can bring fraud claims against their employer, despite the preemptive effect of the Defense Base Act.

Rejecting the widows' claims and arguments, the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of the Defense Base Act applicability to the injuries suffered by their civilian husbands in Iraq.