Lisa Himes Publishes Law360 Analysis of Hencely v. Fluor and Contractor Immunity in Combat Zones

On June 2, 2025, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Hencely v. Fluor Corp., a case that could reshape the legal landscape for government contractors supporting U.S. military operations worldwide. The key issue is whether contractors deeply involved in military combat operations should be protected from state-law tort claims, similar to the legal protections that shield the U.S. government from battlefield-related lawsuits.

Lisa N. Himes, Of Counsel at Rogers Joseph O’Donnell P.C., authored a Law360 article (subscription required) analyzing this case. In “Justices’ Review of Fluor May Alter Gov’t Contractor Liability,” Himes examines how the Court will grapple with the 1988 precedent, Boyle v. United Technologies Corp., and possibly establish new boundaries for when contractors can claim immunity from tort suits.

Download a PDF of the article here.

The central legal question is whether the combatant activities exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act can preempt state-law claims against private contractors working in combat zones. The case stems from a 2016 suicide bombing at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, where Ahmad Nayeb, an Afghan national employed by a Fluor subcontractor, killed several individuals and severely wounded others, including U.S. Army soldier Winston Hencely. While the U.S. military knew Nayeb was a former Taliban member, they did not inform Fluor. When Hencely sued Fluor under South Carolina law for negligence, lower courts ruled that the combatant activities exception protected the contractor.

“The court’s decision in Hencely could significantly impact cases involving government contractors for decades, just as Boyle has since 1988,” Himes writes in the article.

Himes has over twenty-five years of experience in government contractor issues. She specializes in federal doctrines, including combatant activities preemption, the political question doctrine, derivative sovereign immunity, and the government contractor defense, with particular expertise in federal officer removal cases.