According to court documents, a woman has filed a lawsuit against several companies for her husband’s West Virginia coal mine death. The woman’s lawsuit alleges the companies acted negligently, and their combined negligence resulted in his fatal mine accident. The complaint was filed in Kanawha Circuit Court on Feb. 4.
The complaint alleges that three of the companies, Midland Trail, Patriot Coal Services and Patriot adjusted filter presses without first discussing the adjustments with Tons Per Hour and Conn-Weld. Additionally, she claims that the companies changed components in such a manner that press operation was impacted. Following these adjustments, she alleges that slurry suddenly sprayed from the “B” press with such force that it tore off insulation in the roof on Feb. 6, 2013. She also indicates that the “A” press was also malfunctioning and that readouts on screens were providing inaccurate information.
The woman’s husband was called into the facility to troubleshoot the malfunctioning presses. According to the documents, the man arrived around 3:00 p.m. A catastrophic failure then occurred, causing two hydraulic rams to hurtle into the man while he was standing on a walkway. He was killed as a result. The grounds of her civil complaint are based on negligence and alleged breaches of implied and express warranty.
When a person dies in a car accident due to the negligence of others, his or her family may want to consider filing a wrongful death civil lawsuit against the responsible parties. Through a lawsuit, the family may be able to hold those responsible civilly liable. Wrongful death lawsuits may result in the recovery of compensatory damages designed to compensate families for all of their economic and noneconomic losses. In egregious cases, people may also be able to recover punitive damages.
Source: The West Virginia Record, “Woman sues mining companies for husband’s death,” Kyla Asbury, March 27, 2015
