A US jury in Oregon has awarded 12 National Guardsmen more than $103 million from the contractor KBR for failing to protect them from exposure to cancer-causing chemicals in Iraq.
Each Guard soldier was awarded damages for reckless and outrageous indifference to their health.
The Oregon Guardsmen were providing security for civilian workers restoring an oil industry water plant in 2003 in southern Iraq after the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. The plant water was used to push oil to the surface.
The plant was contaminated with sodium dichromate, a chemical used to fight corrosion.
The lawyer for the contractor KBR says it would appeal.
