CHARLESTON (WVDN) — West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey is leading a bipartisan amicus brief in the Supreme Court of the United States in support of a veteran who was wounded in Afghanistan by a private contractor and is now fighting to hold the contracting company accountable.
Winston Hencely was injured when a suicide bomb was detonated during a Veterans Day 5k run. The explosion killed 5 people and injured 16, including Hencely. The suicide vest was set off by a former Taliban insurgent who was working as a contractor for Fluor Corporation.
Fluor hired the former insurgent, Ahmad Nayeb, in 2011 to work at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. According to a lawsuit filed by Hencely, the company failed to properly supervise Nayeb, which allowed him to use parts from their vehicle yard to make a suicide bomb vest. The lack of adequate supervision gave Nayeb the opportunity to walk unsupervised to another part of the base, where he discharged the bomb during the 5k run.
Hencely’s lawsuit against Fluor was filed in South Carolina for negligent hiring and supervision. Lower courts dismissed the case, ruling that federal contractors should be protected from lawsuits, just like the federal government, during times of combat.
The lower courts cited the Federal Tort Claims Act, which typically applies only to government employees, not private contractors. The courts extended this protection to Fluor. The brief argues the lower court effectively rewrote federal law by extending protections that Congress specifically chose not to give to private contractors. This undermines states’ traditional authority to hold wrongdoers accountable and compensate victims through their tort laws.
“The lower courts got it wrong in this case. If our soldiers are killed or wounded by private contractors, they need to be held accountable,” Attorney General McCuskey said. “West Virginia and our partner states have come together to help this brave soldier get the justice he deserves.”
If allowed to stand, this ruling could shield private military contractors from accountability in federal courts nationwide, potentially leaving injured service members and civilians with no legal recourse when contractors act negligently.
The coalition is asking the Supreme Court to reverse the lower court’s decision and allow Hencely’s lawsuit against Fluor to move forward.
Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas joined the West Virginia-led brief.
Read a copy of the brief here.
