Coal Company Had Twice Settled Court Cases By Promising Safety Upgrades

[The Straight Story]

Coal Company Had Twice Settled Court Cases By Promising Safety Upgrades
Feds and Investors Thought Legal Action Would Give Massey Energy Incentive to Improve Conditions

Over the past two years, controversial coal boss Don Blankenship has twice agreed to courtroom settlements requiring his company to clean up a checkered safety record, yet federal documents show Massey Energy mines continued to rack up serious violations in advance of the explosion that killed 29 miners this week.

The first legal agreement came when Massey Energy executives settled a lawsuit filed by corporate shareholders in May 2008, after the investors alleged that safety and environmental shortcuts at the mines were proving too costly in legal fees and fines. To settle the case, Massey agreed to form an independent safety committee, hire outside safety consultants, and enhance the safety procedures at its underground mines.

Joseph F. Rice, who represented the investors in the case, said he now wonders whether Massey complied with the court's order enforcing that agreement.

"We are in the process of determining whether they ignored that court order," Rice told ABC News on Friday. "We intend to find out what they've done. Our shareholders are concerned about what the company has or has not done after they made this agreement."

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/west-virginia-mine-disaster-coal-company-settled-court/story?id=10338909

[elehhhhna]

1. THEIR OWN SHAREHOLDERS SUED THEM OVER THIS?

wth? If that doesn't make old Don look guilty of manslaughter, what does? Talk about an open secret safety problem!

[damntexdem]

2. The evidence suggests noncompliance.

On the other hand, if there was compliance, think of how horridly unsafe the mine must have been before "safety was improved." In any case, anything they did didn't work. And now the shareholders can face the prospect of a bunch of suits on the basis of criminal negligence.