Fed judge upholds Army electrocution lawsuit - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Fed judge upholds Army electrocution lawsuit

PITTSBURGH — A federal judge in Pittsburgh refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the parents of a Pittsburgh-area soldier who was electrocuted in an Army barracks shower in Iraq last year.

U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer rejected arguments by an electrical contractor, KBR Inc., that it was not responsible for Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth’s death in January 2008.

Army investigators determined a water pump shorted out and electrified water flowed into Maseth’s shower. Maseth is one of 18 people electrocuted in the Iraqi theater whose deaths are being investigated by the military.

Attorneys for KBR said they were disappointed by the decision, which will allow the lawsuit filed in Pittsburgh to go forward.

Maseth was 24 when he died.

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