HOUSTON—A woman who says co-workers raped her while she was a contractor in Iraq should have her case tried in court, not settled in private arbitration, her lawyer told a federal judge Wednesday.
In a federal lawsuit, Jamie Leigh Jones says she was drugged, raped and held against her will in a storage locker while working for KBR Inc., then a subsidiary of
As part of her employment, Jones agreed to settle claims against the company in arbitration. But she never imagined such claims would include being imprisoned in a storage locker, said one of her attorneys, L. Todd Kelly.
Attorneys for Halliburton and KBR argued that the contract Jones signed binds her to settle all claims -- including claims of sexual assault -- against her former employer through arbitration.
Halliburton attorney W. Carl Jordan said that because the purported attack is said to have happened in Halliburton-provided barracks, it ties any claims Jones makes to her employment.
Attorneys for Halliburton, KBR and other subsidiaries that have been sued have disputed Jones' allegations. KBR split from Halliburton last year.
U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison is expected to rule at a later date.
Jones sued in May, saying she was raped by co-workers at Camp Hope, Baghdad, in 2005.
The Associated Press usually does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, but Jones' face and name have been broadcast in media reports and on her own Web site.
According to the lawsuit, Jones endured harassment by some of the men living in her barracks and was drugged and raped on July 28, 2005. Her attackers were firefighters for Halliburton and KBR, the suit alleges.
Jones said she was kept in a shipping container for a day so she wouldn't report the assault.
Jordan rebutted Jones' claim that she was held against her will, saying she received medical care and was able to call her family.
"Ms. Jones has changed her account several times," Jordan said.
Kelly argued that the attack was not related to Jones' employment and that she was not "a 24-hour employee."
"If she had been on call or required to work out of her living space, then she could be seen to be in her work area," he said.
In January, a judge in a similar lawsuit, filed in federal court in Houston by another female contract worker, ruled the case should be settled through arbitration.
In December, Jones detailed her allegations to a congressional subcommittee.
Several members of Congress have criticized the Justice, State and Defense departments for the way the case was handled. Congress has pressured the Bush administration to force U.S. contractors in Iraq to offer better their employees better protection from crimes.
Paul Bresson, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said Wednesday that his agency is investigating Jones' case but declined to comment further.
