Will There Ever Be Justice for Halliburton Rape Victim Jamie Leigh Jones?

A month ago, I wrote about a former female Halliburton/KBR employee who was forced to arbitrate a legal claim of sexual assault and sexual harassment that occurred in Iraq, rather than having a public trial before a jury.

Well, one month later, it may happen again:

In a federal lawsuit, Jamie Leigh Jones says she was drugged, raped and held against her will in a storage locker while working for KBR Inc., then a subsidiary of Halliburton Co., in 2005.

As part of her employment, Jones agreed to settle claims against the company in arbitration. But she never imagined such claims would include being imprisoned in a storage locker, said one of her attorneys, L. Todd Kelly.

Attorneys for Halliburton and KBR argued that the contract Jones signed binds her to settle all claims -- including claims of sexual assault -- against her former employer through arbitration.

Halliburton attorney W. Carl Jordan said that because the purported attack is said to have happened in Halliburton-provided barracks, it ties any claims Jones makes to her employment.

"Now folks, we're not encouraging you to commit sexual assault but if you do, please have the deceny to do so on company premises"