W.Va. widows: Mine inspectors must be held liable

Associated Press

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.

The widows of two West Virginia coal miners killed in a 2006 fire want the state Supreme Court to rule that private and federal mine safety inspectors can be held legally liable when workers die as a result of their negligence.

Last month, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., said it found no case law, constitutional authority or state statute to definitively answer what it called “a pure question of state law” that has yet to be specifically addressed. It urged the high court to decide the question once and for all, calling it “a matter of exceptional importance” for West Virginia.

On Wednesday, lawyers for Delorice Bragg and Freda Hatfield petitioned for that ruling, arguing the justices should explicitly address a matter of public policy and justice. Failure to squarely address the question, they contend, effectively immunizes inspectors who shirk their duties.

“Death is the gravest possible consequence for negligent conduct, and it cries out for judicial recourse” through compensatory and punitive damages in civil cases and fines, penalties and imprisonment in criminal cases, the petition argues.

The case stems from a 2010 lawsuit filed over the deaths of Don Israel Bragg and Ellery Elvis Hatfield, who were unable to escape a fire at Massey Energy’s Aracoma Alma No. 1 mine. Massey was later bought by Virginia -based Alpha Natural Resources.

A faulty ventilation system caused smoke from the fire to flood the mine’s escape route, reducing visibility. The miners also struggled to find an unmarked personnel door in the dark and tried to use their breathing devices but lacked the training to properly activate them.

Ten men made it out alive, but Bragg and Hatfield died of carbon-monoxide poisoning.