Miners' movie threatens their workers' comp

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Workers' compensation benefits for seven of the nine miners trapped last summer at Quecreek Mine are being threatened because of a television movie deal they signed with The Walt Disney Co., an attorney said.
Howard Messer, an attorney representing all but two of the nine trapped miners, said an insurance company representing Black Wolf Coal Co., which operates the Quecreek Mine north of Somerset, is petitioning to have his clients' workers compensation benefits reduced or suspended because of money they were paid by Disney.
Each of the nine men received $150,000, in part for a television movie that aired in November. The deal covered movie and book rights.
A spokesman for the state Department of Labor and Industry, which oversees the Bureau of Workers Compensation, said seven of the nine are having claims litigated.
The miners' plight grabbed the attention of the nation last summer after they breached a flooded, abandoned mine shaft on July 24.