BECKLEY —
Sixteen men who survived the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine disaster say they have suffered severe and disabling injuries, and they’re suing in federal court to seek compensation.
The miners say they have traumatic brain injuries and psychological damage including post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as hearing loss and other injuries from the forces of the blast.
Two of the men, Tommy Davis and Dakota Davis, lost several family members in the explosion. Other miners, including 18-year-old Jason Stanley, had to move the bodies of the 29 killed in the worst U.S. mining disaster in four decades.
The State Journal says the miners have filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Beckley, asking Judge Irene Berger to include them in a non-prosecution agreement reached between Virginia-based Alpha Natural Resources and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Alternatively, they say, that agreement should be set aside.
Alpha has not filed a formal response to the complaint but said Friday it has “no factual or legal merit.”
“We will move to have it dismissed,” spokesman Ted Pile said.
The more than $200 million deal spared Alpha criminal prosecution in a case it inherited when it bought the former operator, Massey Energy, and wiped the slate clean of past violations at Upper Big Branch and other Massey operations.
It did allow for individual prosecutions, however, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office has an active investigation.
The sentencing of former superintendent Gary May is on hold until October, to give prosecutors more time to develop his cooperation. May pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy to defraud the federal government and is the highest-ranking mine official charged so far in the blast.
Ex-security chief Hughie Elbert Stover, meanwhile, is appealing his conviction and a three-year sentence for lying to investigators. His case will be argued in September.
The non-prosecution agreement included compensation of $1.5 million to each of the dead miners’ families.
The 16 survivors say federal prosecutors are doing “an exemplary job,” but that Alpha arbitrarily decided which injured miners also deserved compensation. The company has settled with nine miners, the complaint says, some of whom suffered less significant injuries.
The complaint says the plaintiffs “are totally disabled and without financial support, and/or have been forced to return to the mines to support their families, which has caused each of these victims additional and severe emotional distress.”
“The failure of Alpha and Massey to attend to their specific needs has, at a minimum, created a danger for these victims and their co-workers,” it says.
The other plaintiffs are Kenneth Woodrum, Kevin Brown, Tommy Estep, Dustin Ross, David Shears, Ryan Powers, Patrick Hilbert, Morris Hulgan, Charles Gray, Adam Farthing, Jason Dancy, Derek Williams and Larry Richmond.
West Virginia
UBB survivors seeking compensation
16 taking case to federal court
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