West Virginia to Decide Mine Inspectors’ Liability

The West Virginia Supreme Court has set a Oct. 17 date to consider whether Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors can be held liable for coal miners’ deaths.

A federal appeals court in Richmond last month ruled that West Virginia’s high court should take up the issue because there’s no case law, constitutional authority or state statute to definitively answer the question.

The widows of miners Don Bragg and Ellery Hatfield sued MSHA in April 2010. The men died when they were trapped in a fire in 2006 in Massey Energy’s Aracoma mine. The lawsuit alleges that MSHA was negligent and that the inspectors who had failed to find problems in the mine should be held liable under West Virginia law.

The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., said that the state Supreme Court should decide whether MSHA inspectors can be held liable for coal miners’ deaths, calling it “a matter of exceptional importance for West Virginia.”

A faulty ventilation system caused smoke from the fire to flood the 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.

U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver dismissed the case last year, saying inspectors can’t be deemed negligent under state laws as they are currently written. Essentially, he reasoned, if a private party can’t be held liable, neither can federal inspectors.