Massey Energy facing multiple lawsuits in wrongful death of 29 miners

Massey energy is facing a variety of lawsuits since the horrific explosion that killed 29 West Virginia coal miners in an accident that probably could have been prevented had the company paid more attention to safety.

A wrongful death lawsuit was filed in Raleigh County Circuit Court by the widow of one of the victims, Marlene Griffith.  Massey energy is named in the suit, as is the Massey subsidiary responsible for operating the Upper Big Branch Mine, Performance Coal.

According to the lawsuit, poor working conditions at the mine and the negative history of safety violations were negligently handled by Massey, and lead to the wrongful death of its employees in the worst coal mining disaster in the last 40 years.

Massy is also facing lawsuits from institutional investors, upset over reports of major known safety violations at the mine that may have contributed to the explosion that killed so many miners and wrecked Massey’s financial outlook.

The board of directors for the Massey Energy Company was first sued by the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust on April 15.  Since then they have also been sued by the New Jersey Building Laborers Pension Fund, the International Union of Operating Engineers Pension Fund of Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware, and the Louisiana Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System.

The lawsuits against the board of directors at Massey are all similar, and basically allege that failures by Chairman Don Blankenship and other board members are to blame for the massive explosion.  No doubt Blankenship’s reputation for caring more about profits than people had something to do with it, too.