Two mothers from Utah and Arkansas filed suit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City against a North Carolina-based security contractor over the 2005 deaths of their sons in Iraq. The mothers allege that neither son's estate has been paid the life insurance money they say was promised by the contractor.
Brandon James Thomas, 27, a graduate of Cottonwood High School, and Todd James Venette, an Arkansas resident, were killed May 7, 2005, during a "terrorist ambush" in Iraq, according to legal documents. Thomas was in the Army and Venette was a Marine.
Both men, however, were working for Donald M. Feeney Jr.'s company CTU Services Iraq at the time they and two others were killed in the attack. According to court papers, the two men were hit by a suicide bomber while providing security in Baghdad for three retired U.S. military generals who were working for executives with Kellogg Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton Company.
Carol Thomas Young is seeking $250,000 from Feeney. The suit states that Thomas listed a brother as a 50 percent beneficiary, with the other half of the benefit going to his parents.
Deborah Ann Casida, Venette's mother, is asking for $150,000. Casida said in the suit that her son had asked that his insurance money go to his mother and father, Paul Venette.
Both mothers are also suing Feeney for the wrongful death of their sons and are asking for damages in an amount to be determined during a trial. The mothers are saying Feeney was negligent for not making the May 7, 2005, transport more of a "lower profile" operation. They also allege Feeney did not provide sufficient armor and protection for their sons.
E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com