The case claims that from October 1, 2019, to April 22, 2020, “Guillén suffered mental anguish, fear, emotional distress, physical injury, and death as a result of sexual harassment, rape, sodomy, and physical assault.” The family is seeking $10 million in Guillén’s wrongful death and $25 million in personal injury claims.
“Historically you couldn’t sue the DOD if you’re a victim of sexual harassment/assault due to the DOD’s broad misapplication of the Feres Doctrine, a 1950’s Supreme Court decision that never included or addressed sexual assault, yet the DOD continued to use that case to evade accountability,” Khawam told CNN. “This week the 9th Circuit held that sexual assault is not incident to service, and therefore the Feres Doctrine should not apply to service members who are sexually assaulted.”
“Our service members deserve the same rights and protections we all have. They have been denied these basic protections for too long. They signed up to take a bullet for our country, not to be sexually assaulted while serving. The 9th Circuit’s ruling is a major step in seeking Justice for Vanessa, and all victims of sexual assault,” she added.
When asked for comment Saturday, U.S. Army Sgt. Pablo Saez said, “As a matter of policy, the Army does not comment on ongoing litigation.”
The case brought outrage at the Army’s failure to fully deal initially with the sexual harassment she reported experiencing and its lack of attention to her case once she went missing.
CNN’s Aaron Pellish, Barbara Starr, Amir Vera, Lori Daniel and Caroline Kelly contributed to this report