Jones v. Halliburton Co.

583 F.3d 228, 29 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1160, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 20543, 107 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 353, 2009 WL 2940061
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 15, 2009
Docket08-20380
StatusPublished
Cited by80 cases

This text of 583 F.3d 228 (Jones v. Halliburton Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jones v. Halliburton Co., 583 F.3d 228, 29 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1160, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 20543, 107 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 353, 2009 WL 2940061 (5th Cir. 2009).

Opinions

RHESA HAWKINS BARKSDALE, Circuit Judge:

This interlocutory appeal from a partial refusal to compel arbitration concerns the arbitrability vel non of tort claims by an employee who, while working at an overseas location, was allegedly gang-raped by her co-workers in her bedroom in employer-provided housing. Halliburton Company/Kellogg Brown & Root, and various affiliates (Halliburton/KBR), contest the denial, in part, of their motion to compel arbitration of Jamie Leigh Jones’ claims concerning her alleged rape by Halliburton/KBR employees, while she was stationed at a company facility in Baghdad, Iraq. All of her claims were deemed arbitrable except for: (1) assault and battery; (2) intentional infliction of emotional distress arising out of the alleged assault; (3) negligent hiring, retention, and supervision of employees involved in the alleged assault; and (4) false imprisonment.

At issue is whether those four claims found non-arbitrable are, for purposes of Jones’ employment contract, “related to [her] employment” or constitute personal injury “arising in the workplace”. That contract incorporated Halliburton/KBR’s dispute resolution program (DRP), which required her to arbitrate all claims brought against the company falling within the scope of related-to or workplace language. In the alternative, should the alleged rape be deemed covered by the arbitration clause, at issue is whether the doctrine of unclean hands precludes granting equitable relief of specific enforcement of that clause. AFFIRMED and REMANDED.

I.

Jones began working for Halliburton/KBR in 2004 as an administrative assistant in Houston, Texas. She alleges: while so employed, she was sexually ha[231]*231rassed by her supervisor; and, because of this, she demanded to be moved to another department.

On 21 July 2005, Jones signed a contract with Defendant Overseas Administrative Services (OAS), a foreign, wholly-owned subsidiary of Halliburton/KBR, to be employed as clerical worker for the company in Baghdad. Paragraph 26 of this contract provided, in pertinent part:

You ... agree that you will be bound by and accept as a condition of your employment the terms of the Halliburton Dispute Resolution Program which are herein incorporated by reference. You understand that the Dispute Resolution Program requires, as its last step, that any and all claims that you might have against Employer related to your employment, including your termination, and any and all personal injury claim[s] arising in the workplace, you have against other parent or affiliate of Employer, must be submitted to binding arbitration instead of to the court system.

(Emphasis added.) (Jones’ initials appear at the bottom of this paragraph.) The incorporated DRP, in turn, provides:

“Dispute” means all legal and equitable claims, demands, and controversies, of whatever nature or kind, whether in contract, tort, under statute or regulation, or some other law, between persons bound by the Plan or by an agreement to resolve Disputes under the Plan ... including, but not limited to, any matters with respect to ... any personal injury allegedly incurred in or about a Company workplace.

(Emphasis added.) (As discussed infra, although the employment contract uses “arising in the workplace”, the incorporated DRP uses “incurred in or about a company workplace”. (Emphasis added.))

Jones’ job assignment placed her in the United States Army’s Central Command Area of Operations, located in the “Green Zone”, a well-known area of Baghdad. The Green Zone is a ten-square-kilometer area that was initially the center of the Coalition Provisional Authority after the Iraqi invasion, and continues to remain the center of the international presence in the city.

Four days after signing her employment contract, Jones arrived in the Green Zone on 25 July 2005 and began working at Camp Hope, which she alleges was under the direct control and authority, collectively, of the United States Departments of State and Defense, and Halliburton/KBR. Housing was provided for her as a term of her employment contract. Although she had initially requested, and claims she was promised, a private billeting area to be shared only with women, she was instead housed in a barracks, some distance from her workplace, occupied predominantly by male employees.

Jones alleges she was subjected to unwanted sexual harassment almost immediately. On 27 July, two days after arriving in Iraq, Jones complained to several Halliburton/KBR managers about her sexually-hostile living environment, and requested that she be housed in a safer location. She contends: no action was taken; and she was, instead, advised to “go to the spa”.

The next evening, on 28 July, Jones alleges that, following a social gathering outside her barracks, at which alcohol had been consumed, she was drugged, beaten, and gang-raped by several Halliburton/KBR employees in her barracks bedroom. Allegedly, when she awoke the next morning, naked and severely bruised, she discovered one of the alleged perpetrators lying in the lower bunk in her bedroom. At that time, he allegedly admitted to hav[232]*232ing unprotected sex with her. Jones received several serious injuries as a result of the alleged incident, including torn pectoral muscles, which would later require reconstructive surgery.

Jones reported the rape to another employee and was taken to see Halliburton/KBR medical personnel. A rape kit was administered at a United States Army-run hospital. Jones alleges Halliburton/KBR subsequently mishandled the rape kit. She further alleges: after her rape-kit procedure was performed, she was placed under armed guard in a container and not permitted to leave; and, despite repeated requests to be allowed to do so, she was denied access to a telephone to contact her family, until she convinced one of her guards to allow her to telephone her father.

Additionally, Jones alleges she met with Halliburton’s human resources personnel and her direct supervisor following her physical examination, where she was interrogated for several hours. She contends her KBR supervisors gave her two options: to stay and “get over it”; or to return home without the “guarantee” of a job on return. Jones’ father was eventually able to enlist Congressional assistance to secure her return to the United States.

Initially, Jones filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It conducted an investigation and determined: she had been sexually assaulted by one or more employees; physical trauma was apparent; and Halliburton/KBR’s investigation had been inadequate.

In February 2006, Jones filed a demand for arbitration against Halliburton/KBR, claiming: negligence, negligent undertaking, and gross negligence in relation to the claimed sexual harassment and assault. She later amended the demand to include claims under Title VII and the Texas Labor Code. Additionally, she filed for, and received, workers’ compensation benefits under the Defense Base Act, discussed infra.

Upon retaining new counsel, Jones filed the instant action, based on the same claims, in district court in May 2007 against: Halliburton/KBR and its various affiliates; the United States; and individual defendants, including her first supervisor in Houston, the alleged perpetrator she found lying in her bedroom, and several “John Doe Rapists”.

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583 F.3d 228, 29 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1160, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 20543, 107 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 353, 2009 WL 2940061, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-halliburton-co-ca5-2009.