Lawsuit in outsourced U.S. war is moved out of court

By Bernd Debusmann, Special Correspondent

Reuters
Friday, May 25, 2007; 11:43 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After years of high-stakes legal wrangling, a lawsuit stemming from the gruesome deaths of four U.S. contractors in Iraq is moving behind closed doors in an action seen as an important precedent for the booming private security industry.

The suit, for wrongful death and fraud, was filed in January 2005 against Blackwater Security Consulting, one of scores of companies now fielding close to 130,000 civilians who work alongside the U.S. military in Iraq. Generally their contracts stipulate the contractors assume all risks -- injury, death, disability -- and waive their right to sue.