Ruling bars lawsuit in Atlanta man’s Iraq convoy injury

A federal appeals court says the wife of a U.S. soldier incapacitated by brain injury in a wreck during a fuel convoy in Iraq cannot sue the civilian contractor delivering the fuel.

Sgt. Keith Carmichael, of Atlanta, was a gunner assigned to ride in a tanker truck operated by Kellogg, Brown & Root during the 2004 convoy. He was thrown and pinned beneath the truck when the civilian driver failed to negotiate a curve.

Annette Carmichael sued KBR and its former parent company, Halliburton, claiming the civilian contractor, not the military, was responsible for the accident.

In Tuesday’s 2-1 ruling, a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it found “no judicially manageable standards” to settle the suit and upheld its dismissal by a lower court.