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| Call for a FREE case evaluation: (713) 255-2055 |
| Todd Kelly, together with Ron Estefan and Stephanie Morris began the first rape/sexual assault case against Halliburton and KBR, after 5 long years of battling to get the case in front of a jury. As Todd spoke to the jury in opening statements, he began with "Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. I have waited five years to say those words to you..." |
| Jamie talks with Reporters after the first day of her Trial, June 13, 2011, as Todd looks on. |
| Todd tells reporters how happy we are to be in front of a jury as Ron Estefan looks on. |
| Todd with Jamie and her husband, Kallan |
| Todd leaving the federal courthouse with Jamie |
KBR Alleged Rape Trial Begins
June 15, 2011
By DANIEL GILBERT
HOUSTON—Lawyers for a former female
employee of defense contractor KBR Inc. argued
in federal court Tuesday that the company had
turned a blind eye to sexual harassment, fueling
an environment that she claimed led to a rape by a
colleague in 2005 while they worked together in
Iraq.
Jamie Leigh Jones claims she was raped in 2005
by a coworker while working for KBR, a former
Halliburton unit.
The attorneys for the plaintiff, Jamie Leigh Jones,
in opening statements for a civil case brought
against KBR and the alleged perpetrator, further
argued that the company defrauded her by
including a mandatory arbitration clause in her
employment contract to resolve "employment-
related" complaints. They contend that Ms. Jones
wouldn't have agreed to it had the company
disclosed the risk of sexual assault at its camp in
Iraq.
But attorneys for the defendants, in their own
opening statements, countered that Ms. Jones
has lied about the rape and her medical history,
saying an encounter occurred but that it was
consensual. KBR, they said, welcomes the
opportunity to clear its name. "We are not who
Jamie Jones says we are," said Joanne Vorpahl,
a lawyer for KBR. "She is not who she claims to
be."
The case has generated significant attention in
part because Ms. Jones's testimony before
Congress over the alleged incident led to a
change in federal law in 2009 that bars
companies that require arbitration to resolve a
range of complaints, including sexual assault and
harassment complaints by their employees, from
receiving government contracts.
KBR, until 2007 owned by Halliburton Co., was
controversial even before Ms. Jones's
Congressional testimony, due in part to concerns
about its billing practices raised in recent years
by federal auditors scrutinizing the company's
work in Iraq. KBR has denied any wrongdoing in
its billing practices.
Only now is the matter of the alleged assault
being tried in a court. A federal grand jury in
Florida investigated Ms. Jones's claims but
handed down no indictments.
The jury in the civil case will not only determine if
Ms. Jones, now 26 years old, was in fact sexually
assaulted; it will also decide whether KBR and its
subsidiaries defrauded her twice: by failing to
disclose that other women had been sexually
assaulted by its employees in Iraq when she was
hired, and also with the requirement that disputes
be resolved through private arbitration.
In court filings, KBR denied the allegations
regarding its knowledge of other women who had
been sexually assaulted by its employees.
Todd Kelly, Ms. Jones' lawyer, described his client
as a victim who escaped a supervisor in Houston
who had coerced her into having sex, only to land
in a hostile sexual environment of a barracks in
Baghdad's Green Zone. He accused KBR of
condoning sexual harassment of employees by
squelching such complaints to preserve its profit
margins. When employees complain, Mr. Kelly told
jurors, the company "forces them into arbitration"
so the complaints stay secret and KBR "doesn't
have to change its policies."
The lawsuit has long been viewed by lawyers as a
case that tested the limits of workplace
arbitration clauses. The Fifth Circuit in 2009 ruled
that Ms. Jones could pursue her case in court,
concluding that the rape allegations "do not touch
matters related to her employment."
KBR, an international engineering and
construction firm, appealed to the U.S. Supreme
Court to block Ms. Jones's lawsuit, but withdrew
the appeal in March 2010 after Congress passed
the new law.
Ms. Jones, 20 years old at the time of the alleged
attack, lasted just six days as an administrative
assistant in Iraq for KBR. During that time, she
says, she was drugged and raped by at least one
coworker in her barracks bedroom. She claims
that she was placed under armed guard in a
trailer for hours after reporting the rape to a
supervisor, a claim KBR denies.
Ms. Jones originally said that she had been raped
by multiple co-workers on a July night in 2005, but
Mr. Kelly said he has sufficient evidence to bring a
civil claim against only one: Charles Bortz, a
firefighter for KBR at the time. Mr. Bortz, who has
denied wrongdoing on all allegations, hasn't been
criminally charged for the alleged assault.
Andrew McKinney, a lawyer for Mr. Bortz, told
jurors that his client and Ms. Jones had been
flirting on the night in question and that they later
had consensual sex. He said that the medical
evidence wasn't consistent with a violent rape,
and that an independent psychiatrist had
diagnosed Ms. Jones with a "narcissistic and
histrionic" personality disorder. Mr. Bortz has filed
a counterclaim of defamation against Ms. Jones
for accusing him of the rape. She has denied the
allegations.
The trial is expected to last for up to four weeks.
June 15, 2011
By DANIEL GILBERT
HOUSTON—Lawyers for a former female
employee of defense contractor KBR Inc. argued
in federal court Tuesday that the company had
turned a blind eye to sexual harassment, fueling
an environment that she claimed led to a rape by a
colleague in 2005 while they worked together in
Iraq.
Jamie Leigh Jones claims she was raped in 2005
by a coworker while working for KBR, a former
Halliburton unit.
The attorneys for the plaintiff, Jamie Leigh Jones,
in opening statements for a civil case brought
against KBR and the alleged perpetrator, further
argued that the company defrauded her by
including a mandatory arbitration clause in her
employment contract to resolve "employment-
related" complaints. They contend that Ms. Jones
wouldn't have agreed to it had the company
disclosed the risk of sexual assault at its camp in
Iraq.
But attorneys for the defendants, in their own
opening statements, countered that Ms. Jones
has lied about the rape and her medical history,
saying an encounter occurred but that it was
consensual. KBR, they said, welcomes the
opportunity to clear its name. "We are not who
Jamie Jones says we are," said Joanne Vorpahl,
a lawyer for KBR. "She is not who she claims to
be."
The case has generated significant attention in
part because Ms. Jones's testimony before
Congress over the alleged incident led to a
change in federal law in 2009 that bars
companies that require arbitration to resolve a
range of complaints, including sexual assault and
harassment complaints by their employees, from
receiving government contracts.
KBR, until 2007 owned by Halliburton Co., was
controversial even before Ms. Jones's
Congressional testimony, due in part to concerns
about its billing practices raised in recent years
by federal auditors scrutinizing the company's
work in Iraq. KBR has denied any wrongdoing in
its billing practices.
Only now is the matter of the alleged assault
being tried in a court. A federal grand jury in
Florida investigated Ms. Jones's claims but
handed down no indictments.
The jury in the civil case will not only determine if
Ms. Jones, now 26 years old, was in fact sexually
assaulted; it will also decide whether KBR and its
subsidiaries defrauded her twice: by failing to
disclose that other women had been sexually
assaulted by its employees in Iraq when she was
hired, and also with the requirement that disputes
be resolved through private arbitration.
In court filings, KBR denied the allegations
regarding its knowledge of other women who had
been sexually assaulted by its employees.
Todd Kelly, Ms. Jones' lawyer, described his client
as a victim who escaped a supervisor in Houston
who had coerced her into having sex, only to land
in a hostile sexual environment of a barracks in
Baghdad's Green Zone. He accused KBR of
condoning sexual harassment of employees by
squelching such complaints to preserve its profit
margins. When employees complain, Mr. Kelly told
jurors, the company "forces them into arbitration"
so the complaints stay secret and KBR "doesn't
have to change its policies."
The lawsuit has long been viewed by lawyers as a
case that tested the limits of workplace
arbitration clauses. The Fifth Circuit in 2009 ruled
that Ms. Jones could pursue her case in court,
concluding that the rape allegations "do not touch
matters related to her employment."
KBR, an international engineering and
construction firm, appealed to the U.S. Supreme
Court to block Ms. Jones's lawsuit, but withdrew
the appeal in March 2010 after Congress passed
the new law.
Ms. Jones, 20 years old at the time of the alleged
attack, lasted just six days as an administrative
assistant in Iraq for KBR. During that time, she
says, she was drugged and raped by at least one
coworker in her barracks bedroom. She claims
that she was placed under armed guard in a
trailer for hours after reporting the rape to a
supervisor, a claim KBR denies.
Ms. Jones originally said that she had been raped
by multiple co-workers on a July night in 2005, but
Mr. Kelly said he has sufficient evidence to bring a
civil claim against only one: Charles Bortz, a
firefighter for KBR at the time. Mr. Bortz, who has
denied wrongdoing on all allegations, hasn't been
criminally charged for the alleged assault.
Andrew McKinney, a lawyer for Mr. Bortz, told
jurors that his client and Ms. Jones had been
flirting on the night in question and that they later
had consensual sex. He said that the medical
evidence wasn't consistent with a violent rape,
and that an independent psychiatrist had
diagnosed Ms. Jones with a "narcissistic and
histrionic" personality disorder. Mr. Bortz has filed
a counterclaim of defamation against Ms. Jones
for accusing him of the rape. She has denied the
allegations.
The trial is expected to last for up to four weeks.
June 17, 2011, 4:15 PM ET.
Jamie Leigh Jones Takes the Stand in Houston Rape Trial.
Associated Press
Jamie Leigh Jones claims she was raped in 2005 by a
coworker while working for KBR, a former Halliburton unit.
Earlier this week, we noted the start of the high-profile Houston
trial in which Jamie Leigh Jones (pictured) claims she was
raped by at least one coworker while working in Iraq in 2005 for
defense contractor KBR.
Jones claims that the company turned a blind eye to sexual
harassment, creating a dangerous work environment in Iraq.
KBR denies Jones’ claims. The company tried for years to force
the case into arbitration – an effort that ultimately was rejected
by the Fifth Circuit and that led to federal legislation limiting the
scope of employment arbitration clauses. (Here’s a WSJ piece
from earlier in the week about the opening statements in the
trial.)
Yesterday, we sat in on the trial, as Jones took the stand on
direct examination, recounting her memory of the incident in
question and the aftermath.
On July 28, 2005, she said, she awoke in the top bunk bed of her
barracks room in Baghdad, naked. She was 20 years old at the
time and testified that she immediately realized something was
wrong. She couldn’t remember how she got on the bunk bed,
for one, and she never slept naked, she testified. She was in
“really bad” pain and noticed bruises on her inner thighs and on
her wrist, she testified.
She said she soon realized she had been raped, even before
she reentered her room and saw what she had not seen on her
way out: a male coworker, a firefighter, lying in the bunk
beneath hers. He told her they’d had unprotected sex, she
testified. It was her third day in Iraq.
Now 26, Jones told the jury of eight men and three women that
she had been drinking with the firefighter, Charles Bortz, and
other coworkers the previous night. The last thing she recalls
was being handed a drink, and another firefighter saying, “Don’t
worry. I saved all my roofies for Dubai.”
She sipped it anyway, she testified, because she trusted them.
“They were firefighters, first-responders,” she testified. “They’
re heroic. They go up to burning buildings to save lives.”
Jones said she later realized she was drugged.
Bortz, through his lawyer and in court papers, disputes Jones’
account and maintains that the sexual encounter was
consensual. Bortz, who has not been criminally charged in
connection with the incident, has filed a counterclaim for
defamation, which Jones opposes.
KBR said in a statement that the case “presents very disturbing
allegations that we take very seriously. We welcome the
opportunity to present what really happened in Iraq in July
2005.”
Lawyers for the defendants hinted in their opening statements
that they would attack Jones’ credibility, pointing to e-mails she
sent after the alleged rape that they say contain no trace of
trauma.
Anticipating these arguments, Jones testified that she delayed
reporting the alleged assault while she searched through her
mental fog for an alternative explanation.
“I wanted to be sure before I called this man a rapist,” she said.
“It took hours before I was cognizant enough to make that
decision.”
“I didn’t want this to be my reality,” she said.
On Monday, Jones continues her testimony and is due to be
cross-examined.
Jamie Leigh Jones Takes the Stand in Houston Rape Trial.
Associated Press
Jamie Leigh Jones claims she was raped in 2005 by a
coworker while working for KBR, a former Halliburton unit.
Earlier this week, we noted the start of the high-profile Houston
trial in which Jamie Leigh Jones (pictured) claims she was
raped by at least one coworker while working in Iraq in 2005 for
defense contractor KBR.
Jones claims that the company turned a blind eye to sexual
harassment, creating a dangerous work environment in Iraq.
KBR denies Jones’ claims. The company tried for years to force
the case into arbitration – an effort that ultimately was rejected
by the Fifth Circuit and that led to federal legislation limiting the
scope of employment arbitration clauses. (Here’s a WSJ piece
from earlier in the week about the opening statements in the
trial.)
Yesterday, we sat in on the trial, as Jones took the stand on
direct examination, recounting her memory of the incident in
question and the aftermath.
On July 28, 2005, she said, she awoke in the top bunk bed of her
barracks room in Baghdad, naked. She was 20 years old at the
time and testified that she immediately realized something was
wrong. She couldn’t remember how she got on the bunk bed,
for one, and she never slept naked, she testified. She was in
“really bad” pain and noticed bruises on her inner thighs and on
her wrist, she testified.
She said she soon realized she had been raped, even before
she reentered her room and saw what she had not seen on her
way out: a male coworker, a firefighter, lying in the bunk
beneath hers. He told her they’d had unprotected sex, she
testified. It was her third day in Iraq.
Now 26, Jones told the jury of eight men and three women that
she had been drinking with the firefighter, Charles Bortz, and
other coworkers the previous night. The last thing she recalls
was being handed a drink, and another firefighter saying, “Don’t
worry. I saved all my roofies for Dubai.”
She sipped it anyway, she testified, because she trusted them.
“They were firefighters, first-responders,” she testified. “They’
re heroic. They go up to burning buildings to save lives.”
Jones said she later realized she was drugged.
Bortz, through his lawyer and in court papers, disputes Jones’
account and maintains that the sexual encounter was
consensual. Bortz, who has not been criminally charged in
connection with the incident, has filed a counterclaim for
defamation, which Jones opposes.
KBR said in a statement that the case “presents very disturbing
allegations that we take very seriously. We welcome the
opportunity to present what really happened in Iraq in July
2005.”
Lawyers for the defendants hinted in their opening statements
that they would attack Jones’ credibility, pointing to e-mails she
sent after the alleged rape that they say contain no trace of
trauma.
Anticipating these arguments, Jones testified that she delayed
reporting the alleged assault while she searched through her
mental fog for an alternative explanation.
“I wanted to be sure before I called this man a rapist,” she said.
“It took hours before I was cognizant enough to make that
decision.”
“I didn’t want this to be my reality,” she said.
On Monday, Jones continues her testimony and is due to be
cross-examined.
By MARK SCHONE
June 21, 2011
A woman who says she was drugged and gang-raped while working for military contractor KBR in Iraq will face down an
attorney for KBR in a Texas courtroom today.
Jamie Leigh Jones, now 26, was working her fourth day on the job in Baghdad in 2005 when she says she was assaulted
by seven U.S. contractors and held captive by two KBR guards in a shipping container. Jones, whose story was featured
in an award-winning ABC News "20/20" investigation, is one of a group of women who claim they were harassed or
assaulted while working for KBR and former parent company Halliburton in Iraq. She is suing KBR, former parent
company Halliburton and KBR firefighter Charles Bortz, who she claims was one of the rapists.
Jones, who took the stand for the first time Thursday, testified Tuesday that she was "scared to death" the morning after
she was attacked, and said she was held against her will without food or water by KBR officials when she reported the
alleged assault. "As I'm banging on the door, I say, 'I need to get out of here. I need to contact my dad,'" testified Jones.
Jones said she woke up that morning with no memory of what had happened after a night of drinking, but then began
"putting the pieces together."
"I knew I had been raped," said Jones tearfully.
Bortz, who was never criminally charged, has denied raping Jones, and has countersued. His attorney cross-examined
Jones Monday, questioning her about her sexual history and suggesting that her liaison with Bortz was consensual. He
also said she had offered differing versions of how the alleged rape occurred. Jones denied that the sex was
consensual.
KBR's attorneys, representing both KBR and former parent company Halliburton, are expected to begin their
cross-examination of Jones today.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for KBR said the company is proud of its work in Iraq, takes employee safety "very
seriously" and looks forward to establishing the true facts of Jones's claims at trial.
"Ms. Jones and her lawyers have made many different and varied assertions," said the spokesperson. "Ms. Jones and
her counsel are not what they claim and KBR is not what they assert."
Attorneys for Jones declined comment on the specifics of their clients' testimony. "We are proud to be representing a
woman who is brave enough to put her personal life in front of a jury in an effort to seek justice," said attorney
Stephanie Morris.
Jones began working at KBR as an administrative assistant in 2004 at age 19. She says she went to Iraq to get away from
her KBR supervisor in Texas, who she claimed had pressured her into a sexual relationship. She said she had gone
along with the relationship because she was living with her mother, who needed money for medical care, in a
one-bedroom apartment.
On July 28, 2005, the night of the alleged assault in Baghdad, claims Jones, she recalls standing outside her barracks in
the Green Zone with several Halliburton firefighters when one male offered her a drink, saying she shouldn't worry
because he had "saved all his roofies for Dubai." "Roofies" is a slang name for rohypnol, the so-called "date-rape" drug.
"I naively took the drink. I remember nothing after taking a couple of sips," Jones testified before the U.S. Senate in
2009. "When I awoke in my room the next morning, I was naked, I was sore, I was bruised and I was bleeding. I was
groggy and confused and didn't know why."
Jones, suspecting she had been raped, went to the bathroom to assess her injuries. When she returned, she says she
found Bortz still there, lying naked in her bed. After reporting the incident to a KBR operations coordinator, Jones was
taken to a Combat Army Support Hospital, where she says a rape kit revealed she had been raped vaginally and anally by
multiple perpetrators.
Jones says she was then locked in a shipping container with two armed guards stationed outside and not permitted to
leave or contact anyone. Eventually she convinced a guard to let her use his cell phone. She called her father, who
contacted Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX), who then dispatched State Department officials to ensure her release and
return to the U.S. The State Department declined to charge Bortz after an investigation.
Like other alleged victims, Jones had signed a contract requiring her to deal with sexual assault allegations through
arbitration. But in September 2009 a federal appeals court ruled that the case could go to court instead of arbitration. In
October 2009, Jones testified before Congress in support of the Franken Amendment, now passed, which prohibits
contractors with Pentagon contracts from using arbitration as opposed to the courts against ex-employees claiming
sexual assault. "I had no idea that the clause was part of the contract, what the clause actually meant, or that I would
eventually end up in this horrible situation," testified Jones.
When Jones's lawsuit finally reached a federal courtroom in Houston on June 14, it was almost six years after the
alleged incident.
KBR, which split from Halliburton in 2007, has extensive contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Jones's attorney Todd Kelly,
who has so far represented five former KBR employees who have alleged sexual assault or harassment, told ABC News
in April that in all about 40 women have contacted his office about alleged incidents that occurred while they were
working overseas for KBR or at one of its facilities.
June 21, 2011
A woman who says she was drugged and gang-raped while working for military contractor KBR in Iraq will face down an
attorney for KBR in a Texas courtroom today.
Jamie Leigh Jones, now 26, was working her fourth day on the job in Baghdad in 2005 when she says she was assaulted
by seven U.S. contractors and held captive by two KBR guards in a shipping container. Jones, whose story was featured
in an award-winning ABC News "20/20" investigation, is one of a group of women who claim they were harassed or
assaulted while working for KBR and former parent company Halliburton in Iraq. She is suing KBR, former parent
company Halliburton and KBR firefighter Charles Bortz, who she claims was one of the rapists.
Jones, who took the stand for the first time Thursday, testified Tuesday that she was "scared to death" the morning after
she was attacked, and said she was held against her will without food or water by KBR officials when she reported the
alleged assault. "As I'm banging on the door, I say, 'I need to get out of here. I need to contact my dad,'" testified Jones.
Jones said she woke up that morning with no memory of what had happened after a night of drinking, but then began
"putting the pieces together."
"I knew I had been raped," said Jones tearfully.
Bortz, who was never criminally charged, has denied raping Jones, and has countersued. His attorney cross-examined
Jones Monday, questioning her about her sexual history and suggesting that her liaison with Bortz was consensual. He
also said she had offered differing versions of how the alleged rape occurred. Jones denied that the sex was
consensual.
KBR's attorneys, representing both KBR and former parent company Halliburton, are expected to begin their
cross-examination of Jones today.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for KBR said the company is proud of its work in Iraq, takes employee safety "very
seriously" and looks forward to establishing the true facts of Jones's claims at trial.
"Ms. Jones and her lawyers have made many different and varied assertions," said the spokesperson. "Ms. Jones and
her counsel are not what they claim and KBR is not what they assert."
Attorneys for Jones declined comment on the specifics of their clients' testimony. "We are proud to be representing a
woman who is brave enough to put her personal life in front of a jury in an effort to seek justice," said attorney
Stephanie Morris.
Jones began working at KBR as an administrative assistant in 2004 at age 19. She says she went to Iraq to get away from
her KBR supervisor in Texas, who she claimed had pressured her into a sexual relationship. She said she had gone
along with the relationship because she was living with her mother, who needed money for medical care, in a
one-bedroom apartment.
On July 28, 2005, the night of the alleged assault in Baghdad, claims Jones, she recalls standing outside her barracks in
the Green Zone with several Halliburton firefighters when one male offered her a drink, saying she shouldn't worry
because he had "saved all his roofies for Dubai." "Roofies" is a slang name for rohypnol, the so-called "date-rape" drug.
"I naively took the drink. I remember nothing after taking a couple of sips," Jones testified before the U.S. Senate in
2009. "When I awoke in my room the next morning, I was naked, I was sore, I was bruised and I was bleeding. I was
groggy and confused and didn't know why."
Jones, suspecting she had been raped, went to the bathroom to assess her injuries. When she returned, she says she
found Bortz still there, lying naked in her bed. After reporting the incident to a KBR operations coordinator, Jones was
taken to a Combat Army Support Hospital, where she says a rape kit revealed she had been raped vaginally and anally by
multiple perpetrators.
Jones says she was then locked in a shipping container with two armed guards stationed outside and not permitted to
leave or contact anyone. Eventually she convinced a guard to let her use his cell phone. She called her father, who
contacted Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX), who then dispatched State Department officials to ensure her release and
return to the U.S. The State Department declined to charge Bortz after an investigation.
Like other alleged victims, Jones had signed a contract requiring her to deal with sexual assault allegations through
arbitration. But in September 2009 a federal appeals court ruled that the case could go to court instead of arbitration. In
October 2009, Jones testified before Congress in support of the Franken Amendment, now passed, which prohibits
contractors with Pentagon contracts from using arbitration as opposed to the courts against ex-employees claiming
sexual assault. "I had no idea that the clause was part of the contract, what the clause actually meant, or that I would
eventually end up in this horrible situation," testified Jones.
When Jones's lawsuit finally reached a federal courtroom in Houston on June 14, it was almost six years after the
alleged incident.
KBR, which split from Halliburton in 2007, has extensive contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Jones's attorney Todd Kelly,
who has so far represented five former KBR employees who have alleged sexual assault or harassment, told ABC News
in April that in all about 40 women have contacted his office about alleged incidents that occurred while they were
working overseas for KBR or at one of its facilities.
