“During wartime, where a private service contractor is integrated into combatant activities over which the military retains command authority, a tort claim arising out of the contractor’s engagement in such activities shall be preempted,” Judge Laurence Silberman said in the ruling.
This is big, and this is the kind of good news the contracting community needs. Precedents like this are what we need for further protection in the future for similar cases. I would be interested to hear what some of our legal experts that read FJ have to say about this one. –Matt
Edit: By the way, for all of Scahill’s readers that have come to FJ from his blog, welcome. If you would like to have a rational discussion about the positives or negatives of this ruling, I am all for that. That even includes Jeremy Scahill, if he is game.
I thought it was good news, because it symbolizes that we do fall under the authority of the military. Since 2007, we have fallen under UCMJ, and this ruling further enforces that concept.
Oh, and don’t forget to check out my latest post on my thoughts about the ruling. I am interested in what you guys, or any of my readers have to say about it and here is the link.
——————————————————————
Court dismisses Iraqi contractor torture case
Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:50pm EDT
By James Vicini
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A federal appeals court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit against two U.S. defense contractors by Iraqi torture victims, saying the companies had immunity as government contractors.
The lawsuit was filed in 2004 on behalf of Iraqi nationals who say they or their relatives had been tortured or mistreated while detained by the U.S. military at the Abu Ghraib prison.
(more…)