Remember the Fallujah massacre? What about the victims, and I don’t mean the family of the mercenaries.
Families of dead Blackwater contractors settle suit
(The Virginia Pilot) Jan. 6, 2012 – Fearing a punishing jury award in the North Carolina state court where the case was filed, Blackwater fought for years to keep it from being heard there.
The company appealed that jurisdictional issue all the way to the Supreme Court, hiring Kenneth Starr – the special prosecutor who investigated President Bill Clinton – to argue its case. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
The families appealed Fox’s order to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, setting the stage for last week’s settlement.
Beyond any financial considerations, the Fallujah victims’ families never got what they always said they wanted most: an opportunity to hold the company publicly accountable for their loved ones’ deaths.
The four men – Wesley Batalona, Scott Helvenston, Michael Teague and Jerry Zovko – were traveling in two Mitsubishi SUVs, escorting a convoy of flatbed trucks to pick up kitchen equipment from a U.S. military base. Helvenston was a former Navy SEAL once stationed in Virginia Beach. The other three were former Army Rangers.