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The court ruled 6-3 in favor of former Army Spc. Winston Hencely,
who was wounded when he stopped a man on his way to detonate an
explosive vest at a Veterans Day weekend 5K race at Bagram
Airfield in 2016.
Ahmad Nayeb instead blew himself up when he was confronted,
killing five people and wounding more than a dozen, according to
court documents.
The projectiles fractured Hencely's skull and tore through his
brain, leaving him without the full use of much of the left side
of his body. He also has abnormal brainwaves, seizures and
traumatic brain injury, his lawyers wrote.
An Army investigation faulted the company’s failure to supervise
Nayeb, an Afghan employee who built the vest on the job site
inside the base, court documents say.
Hencely sued Fluor Corporation in South Carolina, where two of
its subsidiaries are based, and made claims under the state's
law for negligent supervision, negligent entrustment of tools
and negligent retention of an employee.
The Irving, Texas-based engineering construction company argued
that it could not be sued because it was working during wartime
for the federal government, which is generally immune to
lawsuits.
The high court disagreed. The majority said companies are
protected when they are fulfilling government contracts, but
that Fluor allegedly failed to carry out its duties in
supervising Nayeb.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the opinion, joined by Justices
Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett
and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Justices Samuel Alito, John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh
dissented. Alito wrote that Hencely's lawsuit may intrude on the
government's wartime powers and decisions, including a policy
requiring contractors to maximize employment of Afghans.
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