NEWPORT NEWS — The family of a Navy sailor who died by suicide two years ago is suing the United States and Newport News Shipbuilding’s parent company for $60 million — contending the Navy and shipyard caused his death.
The 19-year-old sailor, Xavier Mitchell-Sandor, was one of three sailors on the USS George Washington aircraft carrier who took their own lives in April 2022. Their deaths triggered Navy investigations into the suicides and what could have prevented them.
According to the lawsuit, Mitchell-Sandor enlisted in August 2021. But after completing his initial military training in January 2022, the new seaman didn’t get assigned to a ship ready to go out to sea.
Instead, Mitchell-Sandor was sent to the Newport News shipyard, where the George Washington was in drydock undergoing its mid-life refueling and overhaul, a four-year project that ended up taking nearly six years.
“Upon his arrival to his duty assignment, Xavier discovered there were no adequate living quarters and services provided to him by the United States and/or (the shipyard), and that he was required to live aboard the drydocked aircraft carrier,” the lawsuit said.
That is, the ship’s commanding officer ordered that all junior sailors live on the vessel at least initially. Mitchell-Sandor was assigned to work as a security guard on the carrier, typically from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m.
The aircraft carrier was mostly quiet overnight, but during Mitchell-Sandor’s off hours, “there was continuous noise on board” — bells, grinding, paint and rust removal and “frequent announcements.”
“Xavier could not sleep and became severely sleep deprived,” said the lawsuit, filed by the Reardon Law Firm of New London, Connecticut. “In order to rest, Xavier slept in his car frequently because he was unable to do so on the GW.”
But the lawsuit said Mitchell-Sandor was assigned a parking lot nearly a mile from the carrier, and he “had to travel long distances by foot to obtain food and the essentials of living,” given that Newport News’ downtown is largely bereft of food options.
Moreover, the complaint said, electricity, heat, air conditioning and hot water on the ship would “routinely be shut off” without warning — with the outages lasting anywhere from a couple hours to two weeks. The sailors living on the warship also didn’t have access to TV or the internet, the complaint added.
Though Mitchell-Sandor’s family complained to the Navy about the conditions, nothing was done, the lawsuit maintains. Instead, the Navy instead “stigmatized” mental health care, looking down on sailors for trying to get help.
“Xavier grew increasingly depressed and suicidal due to the conditions onboard the GW, something he shared with shipmates and colleagues, as well as family and friends,” the lawsuit says.
After two other sailors in Mitchell-Sandor’s unit died by suicide in April 2022, he followed suit. On April 15, 2022, Mitchell-Sandor — “mentally and physically exhausted” — took his own life with his Navy-issued pistol.
“He took his own life in a state of complete despair due to the deplorable conditions inflicted upon him and other junior Naval personnel,” the lawsuit maintains.
The federal lawsuit — filed in Mitchell-Sandor’s home state of Connecticut in March but moved to U.S. District Court in Newport News this week — asserts that Mitchell-Sandor’s death was the result of the defendants’ “negligent acts” and their “failure to provide him with basic living necessities.”
The lawsuit names as defendants the United States of America and Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News Shipbuilding’s parent company. Mitchell-Sandor’s father, Janos Sandor, is listed as the plaintiff and estate administrator.
Though the shipyard was initially expected to return the USS George Washington to the Navy in August 2021 — or five months before Mitchell-Sandor was assigned to the carrier — the project wasn’t actually finished until May 2023.
The Navy’s contract with the shipyard, the lawsuit said, included $75 million for living accommodations for sailors during the project. But the complaint asserts that the yard shifted much of that money to other projects, “in violation of its contractual obligation.”
“As a result of the motivation of (Huntington Ingalls) to place profits over safety, the living conditions at the shipyard deteriorated,” the lawsuit says.
The suit alleges that the Navy failed to act when Mitchell-Sandor was “struggling to adjust to life” on the ship. Among other things, it contends, the Navy did nothing when enlisted leadership “learned Xavier was sleeping in his vehicle.”
The Navy failed to “provide additional assistance” to sailors who had to work the overnight shift, and senior sailors failed “to notify anyone that Xavier was visibly struggling.”
Moreover, the suit contends the Navy failed to provide Mitchell-Sandor with counseling or tell him about mental health resources, failed to help him find housing off the ship, and failed “to follow up with Xavier after (his) family members notified them of safety concerns.”
In addition, the lawsuit says, the Navy failed to provide adequate training to sailors on suicide prevention.
On May 29, Huntington Ingalls lawyers asked that the case be dismissed. They contended that the Connecticut federal court had no jurisdiction over the matter and asserted that the company can’t be blamed for Mitchell-Sandor’s actions.
“The Complaint does not contain a single allegation that (Huntington Ingalls) knew or had reason to know that Mr. Mitchell-Sandor had mental health issues,” said the lawyers with the firm Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, adding that his suicide “was not reasonably foreseeable,”
Moreover, they said, Huntington Ingalls “did not owe any duty to Mr. Mitchell-Sandor to prevent his suicide or to protect him from his infliction of self-harm,” the motion says, noting that the plaintiffs did not specify which contractual provisions the company allegedly breached.
“The Decedent’s act of suicide, and that tragic act alone, produced his … death,” the motion says, asserting that Mitchell-Sandor “failed to care for his own mental health” before ending his life.
“Our thoughts remain with Seaman Sandor’s family and his shipmates, and our shipbuilders, as we expressed at his passing,” Todd Corillo, a spokesperson for Huntington Ingalls, added in a statement Thursday.
“We at (Huntington Ingalls Industries) work side-by-side with our U.S. Navy teammates, and we prioritize their safety — and that of our own employees and visitors to our shipyards — as we strive every day to advance the national security mission of our customers,” Corillo wrote. “We reserve further comment due to pending litigation.”
On July 22, lawyers for all parties agreed to have the case transferred to U.S. District Court in Newport News, across the street from the shipyard.
A Navy spokeswoman at the Pentagon on Friday referred a call about the lawsuit to the Justice Department, which could not immediately be reached.
Court documents show the Navy previously declined an out-of-court wrongful death claim from Mitchell-Sandor’s family. The Navy told them service members are precluded from suing for injuries and deaths arising from their service.
The Navy concluded in a December 2022 report that the three suicides in April of that year were unrelated.
That report said that Mitchell-Sandor was sleep deprived from juggling his 12-hour workdays with 8-hour commutes to visit family and friends in Connecticut and South Carolina. It also said he had undiagnosed depression.
The Navy’s report said Mitchell-Sandor was offered several opportunities to switch living spaces on the carrier, but he declined. Yet the report said senior enlisted sailors should have encouraged Mitchell-Sandor to relocate off the ship and should have tried to better understand why he was sleeping in his car.
“This was a time for intrusive leadership,” the report said.
In April 2023, the Navy’s Fleet Forces Command issued another report into the three George Washington suicides, finding that the Navy needs to better incentivize shipbuilders to get projects done on time so sailors aren’t living for long stretches in industrial shipyards.
That report added that the area of the city around Newport News Shipbuilding needs improvement.
“There remains inadequate parking, transportation, access to food and nutritional options, training space, physical fitness facilities, and housing options available to support the number of Sailors assigned to ships and submarines in the shipyard,” the report said.
Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com
