Civilian Contractors Death Sentence by Cancer due to KBR/AIG denial of medical
Injured War Zone Contractor Dan Hoagland shares his story of medical treatment denied by KBR/AIG, resulting in a death sentence by Cancer, with Sean Calleb.
Scott Bloch, Defense Base Act Attorney tells the truth about the Defense Base Act Insurance Scandal and our Defense Base Act Class Action Lawsuit.
Join our Defense Base Act Class Action Lawsuit here
July 4, 2012 Posted by defensebaseactcomp | AIG and CNA, Civilian Contractors, Contractor Casualties, Defense Base Act, Iraq, KBR	| AIG, Cancer, Chartis, Civilian Contractor, Contractor Casualty, Dan Hoagland, Defense Base Act, Defense Base Act Insurance, Delay Deny Hope that I die, KBR, Scott Bloch | Leave a comment
Judge Denies Blackwaters Motion for Arbitration
Law Offices of Scott J Bloch May 23, 2012
WASHINGTON, DC (May 23, 2012) – Blackwater Industries, which changed its name to Xe Services, and now has changed it yet again to Academi LLC, lost its initial bid to have the $240 million suit for employee misclassification sent to arbitration and dismissed from federal court in Washington, D.C.
Scott Bloch filed an amended complaint (see link above) in the class action lawsuit on behalf of four former security specialists, who were injured while working for Blackwater, in order to recover their payment of social security, unemployment insurance, and unpaid benefits and state and local withholding and unemployment insurance, and other unspecified damages. The action seeks $240,000,000 in damages for lost benefits, overtime, treble damages and punitive damages, as well as additional amounts as proved for the class of specialists.
The court has rejected that motion filed by Blackwater and required it to file another motion to determine if the same Plaintiffs agreed to have an arbitrator determine if the agreements were unconscionable, procured by duress, fraud and undue influence.
"Blackwater acted illegally and unconscionably toward these brave individuals," said Bloch. "Through their fraud as pointed out in the Amended Complaint, they avoided overtime for security workers who worked sometimes 12-16 hours a day 6 days a week. They were forced to sign agreements they never read and were not given time to read and not given copies, which took away valuable rights and were unlawful in their terms. Now the court has rejected their initial motion and required Blackwater to seek the same relief if they can prove that the Plaintiffs who never were allowed to read the original agreements agreed to have an arbitrator determine whether they properly agreed to anything. We continue to assert the illegality of the agreements and the actions of Blackwater."
Read Xe's Arbitration Bid Denied in Misclassification Suit here.
May 23, 2012 Posted by defensebaseactcomp | Blackwater, Civilian Contractors, Contractor Corruption, Contractor Oversight, Defense Base Act, Lawsuits, Legal Jurisdictions	| Academi, Arbitration, Blackwater, Blackwater Tax Class Action, DBA Insurance Fraud, Defense Base Act Insurnace Fraud, Labor Law, Scott Bloch, Tax Fraud, Taxes, Xe | Leave a comment
Department of Labor helps Employer/Carrier deny Injured Contractors Defense Base Act benefits
December 16, 2011 Posted by defensebaseactcomp | AIG and CNA, Civilian Contractors, Contractor Casualties, Defense Base Act, Follow the Money, Lawsuits, Pirates, Private Military Contractors, Private Security Contractor, Ronco Consulting Corporation, Wackenhut	| ACE, AIG, Civilian Contractors, CNA, Contractor Casualties, Defense Base Act, Defense Base Act Attorney, Defense Base Act Benefits, Department of Labor, Medical, OWCP, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, Scott Bloch | Leave a comment
Burned by the Boss: How To Tell We've Been at War Too Long
by Mark Thompson at Time's Battleland
There are lots of signs the nation, now amid its longest war ever in Afghanistan – and just finishing up a second lengthy military campaign in Iraq – has been fighting too long. Sure, the budget deficits are one sign. So is the human carnage, both among innocent civilians in both lands, but also among the 2.4 million U.S. troops who have fought there. Beyond the 6,300 Americans killed and 40,000 wounded are the broken families, PTSD and suicides the wars have triggered.
But here's a new one: 28 firefighters who went to work in the war zones for private contractors KBR and Wackenhut claim they were shortchanged by their employers.
They have filed a class-action suit on behalf of some 2,000 firefighters and maintain they routinely "were required to provide 24/7 fire protection" but paid for only 12 hours. When the firefighters complained, they allegedly were told "that they were lucky to have jobs, that they would be fired and sent back to America, and that many were waiting in line for their jobs," their suit alleges. "Various phrases were used as shorthand for threats to fire if the Plaintiffs continued to complain, such as `chicken or beef,' which referred to the dining choices one had on the flight home from Iraq."
It's a safe bet the contractors will deny wrongdoing, and it's a safe bet the firefighters' claim for $100 million is excessive. But what's also clear is that any war that generates a need for private firefighting forces – and then drags on so long that the firefighters become aggrieved enough to believe they have a case that they were underpaid – is a war that has gone on too long for the firefighters, the contractors, the military and the country. Not to mention the taxpayers
Please see the original post at Time's Battleland
More on the Class Action Lawsuit against Wackenhut at www.scottblochlaw.com
December 12, 2011 Posted by defensebaseactcomp | Civilian Contractors, Contractor Oversight, Follow the Money, KBR, Private Military Contractors, Wackenhut	| Class Action, Firefighters, Iraq, KBR, Overtime Pay, Scott Bloch, Wackenhut | 1 Comment
Statement concerning filing of class action for fraud and bad faith against KBR, DynCorp, Blackwater, G4S/Wackenhut/Ronco Consulting, CNA Insurance, AIG Insurance and others who conspired to deny benefits to severely injured contractors and to harm them further
Scott Bloch files complaint for $2 billion against major government contractors like
KBR, Blackwater.XE, DynCorp, G4S/Wackenhut/Ronco Consulting and the global insurance carriers AIG, CNA, ACE and Zurich, on behalf of thousands of former employees, for unlawful, fraudulent and bad-faith mistreatment of injured employees and their families
WASHINGTON, DC (September 26, 2011) –
Since 2003, top government contractors like Blackwater, KBR, DynCorp, CSA/AECOM and ITT have been perpetrating a fraud on their employees and on the American public.
The silent warriors who work for these companies, many of them decorated former military service members, have been injured, mistreated and abandoned by the contracting companies and their insurance carriers who have been paid hundreds of millions of dollars in premiums.
"It is a grave injustice," Bloch said, "to those who rode alongside American soldiers, including Iraqi and Afghani Nationals, to be case aside without the benefits of the law. We are supposedly trying to bring them the rule of law. We are supposedly trying to encourage them in democratic institutions.
We are the ones asking them to believe in justice and individual rights.
This is a travesty to all Americans and those around the world who look to America for an example of humanitarian aid and proper treatment of workers."
This is a lawsuit for damages in the amount of $2 billion to remedy the injuries and destruction caused to the lives, finances and mental and physical well being of thousands of American families and others whose loved ones were injured while serving America under contracts with the United States.
It seeks an additional unspecified amount to punish the companies who made massive profits while causing this harm to people unlawfully and maliciously and working a fraud on the American public who paid them.
"This abusive and illegal scheme by the defendants has been allowed to go on for too long.
We are talking about loss of life, suicide, loss of homes, marriages, families split up, " Bloch said, "and the culprits are the large government contractors who should have treated their employees better, and the mega-insurance companies who were paid a hefty sum to make sure the employees were taken care of with uninterrupted benefits in the event of injuries in these war zones."
This complaint is filed due to actions and omissions of defendants, in conspiracy with others, and individually, to defeat the right of American citizens and foreign nationals to receive their lawful benefits and compensation under the Defense Base Act ("DBA"), as it adopts the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act ("LHWCA").
The lawsuit explains that those sued engaged under the RICO statute in an enterprise of fraudulent and or criminal acts to further their scheme to defeat the rights of individuals who have been injured or suffered occupational diseases, and death, while on foreign soil in support of defense activities under the DBA.
These acts were perpetrated repeatedly through bank fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, using telephones, faxes, and United States mail .
"These are heroes, decorated by America's Armed Services," said Bloch.
"Some of the foreign contractors were decorated special forces soldiers from their countries who assisted the United States in combating threats. The sheer disregard for human dignity and law is reprehensible and deserves punishment.
These families and many others who have been harmed need treatment, need compensation, need redress of the wrongs that have been perpetrated by these huge companies and insurance carriers for the last 10 years.
They have earned $100 billion per year on the backs of these people, with the blood of these plaintiffs and those whom they represent."
The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and covers individuals from all over the United States, South Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan and other counties.
Contact Scott J. Bloch, PA:
Scott Bloch, 202-496-1290
scott@scottblochlaw.com
September 26, 2011 Posted by defensebaseactcomp | Afghanistan, AIG and CNA, Blackwater, Civilian Casualties, Civilian Contractors, Civilian Police, Contractor Corruption, Contractor Oversight, Defense Base Act, DynCorp, Follow the Money, Government Contractor, Interpreters, Iraq, KBR, L-3, Legal Jurisdictions, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Private Military Contractors, Private Security Contractor, Ronco, Ronco Consulting Corporation, State Department, Traumatic Brain Injury, USACE, USAID, Veterans, Wackenhut, War Hazards Act, Whistleblower	| ACE, AIG, Blackwater, Blackwater/Xe, CNA, Contractor Casualties, CSA/AECOM, Defense Base Act, Defense Base Act Insurance, Defense Base Act Worker's Compensation, DynCorp, G4S, Humanitarian Aid, Injured Contractors, Injured War Zone Contractors, Insurance Fraud, ITT, KBR, Racketeering, RICO, Ronco, Ronco Consulting, Ronco Consulting Corporation, Scott Bloch, TCN's, US Taxpayer, Veterans, Wackenhut, Xe, Zurich | 4 Comments