Mother hails ruling on soldier electrocution suit

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The mother of a Pittsburgh-area soldier electrocuted in his barracks shower at an army base in Iraq seven years ago says she’s grateful that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals by a military contractor seeking to shut down that and other lawsuits.

The high court offered no comment Tuesday in allowing the lawsuits against KBR Inc. over the electrocution and open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan to proceed.

Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth was electrocuted in his barracks shower at an Army base in Iraq in 2008. Cheryl Harris, his mother, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Wednesday that she never expected the case to take so long.

KBR says it wasn’t responsible for the work and warned the military about unsafe buildings, but the Pentagon refused to retrofit them.