The West Virginia coal mine that exploded this week and killed 25 workers has a less than pleasing legal back story. Upper Big Branch mine, operated by the Performance Coal Company, is a subsidiary of Massey Energy. That should ring a bell for lawyers and academics as the company owned by Don Blankenship, who was at the heart of the recent Supreme Court ruling in Caperton v. Massey — a case involving Blakenship’s alleged control of the West Virginia bench through massive campaign contributions.
Blankenship is widely viewed as a corrupting influence in West Virginia where he uses his considerable wealth to place judges and legislators in key positions. As if to fulfill his reputation as the Mr. Montgomery Burns of West Virginia, he is quoted by ABC as saying if you take photos, “you’re liable to get shot.” (here).
The mine involved in the recent explosion has had a history of safety infractions and citations. Since 1984, it has amassed a huge number of such citations, including 57 infractions just last month for violations that included repeatedly failing to develop and follow a ventilation plan.
Blankenship is often accused of skirting safety regulations and fighting such fines. One of his subsidiaries agreed to pay $4.2 million in criminal and civil fines just last year. He seems, however, all too willing to give money to West Virginia politicians and judges.
In the 2009 decision, Justice Kennedy wrote for a 5-4 majority that Blakenship’s massive contributions to Judge Brent Benjamin required the judge to recuse himself from cases involving Massey due to the “serious risk of actual bias.” The Due Process Clause required the recusal of Judge Brent Benjamin, according to the majority.
For the full story, click here.
Bdaman_
“Do you think that I would make a decision to take my family to eat at that restaurant after learning that they have rats and if I did and my family got sick who is to blame?”
Of course not. Do you see how much self created information you are extrapolating from your fictional scenario to the mining disaster?
So if someone buys that argument from you, are you then, not to blame as well?
Wootsy it’s a fact of life that we all make decisions to do things everyday. Thats why I brought up the Mickey D’s. Here in my local paper they tell us the health violations of our local restaurants.
Some of the reports include rat infestations. Do you think that I would make a decision to take my family to eat at that restaurant after learning that they have rats and if I did and my family got sick who is to blame? Me or my stupidity.
“Bdaman … It’s a shame these men died, it’s a shame the man died during the snowstorm. But at some point you have to take personal responsibility for your own life and stop blaming others for your own ill’s.”
Those miners have a contract with management to work in that mine. They show up and work every day. They are not the irresponsible ones. Your arguments to support or mitigate the behavior of that ‘POS’ as you call him, suck. That you would even imply those working miners irresponsible is nothing less than a sleezy maneuver to gain momentum for your less than adequate position.
“‘If anything happens to me, I’ll be looking down from heaven at you all. I love you. Take care of my baby. Tell her that daddy loves her, she’s beautiful, she’s funny. Just take care of my baby girl.’
Those were the chilling words in a note from Josh Napper, a West Virginia coal miner who was killed in the Massey mine explosion on Monday.
The note was written to Napper’s girlfriend, Jennifer, over Easter weekend — just days before his fears were realized. It was described to CNN’s John Roberts by Pam Napper, Josh’s mother.
Pam also lost her brother and nephew in the blast.
Josh’s daughter, Jenna Leigh, is 20 months old.”
From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/09/west-virginia-coal-miner_n_531392.html
All transactions have a cost.
AY put yourself in the role of the attorney for Massey. How will he defend the company to reduce the max payout of the lawsuit thats coming. The jury will have to determine whether or not the company is 100% liable for the deaths. At some point that attorney is going to bring up the calculated risk factor. If the jury finds that the company is partly to blame, say 80%, then where does the rest of the blame come in. The violations themselves would surely be brought up. If I was the attorney thats one tactic I would use. The company repeatedly received safety violations yet the miners chose to continually enter the mine. Whether or not they chose to because they needed to put food on the table or to pay the bills is irrelevant. If I go rob a bank and kill someone in the process do I use the fact that I needed to pay my bills as my defense.
Bdaman, or anyone else:
Fit this saying in the story “Wise people, even though all laws were abolished would still lead the same life.”
~Aristophanes
(ca. 450—385 BCE)
Byron,
There’s a technical name for the “inherently dangerous” argument: specious reasoning.
spe·cious \ˈspē-shəs\, adj.
1 obsolete : showy
2 : having deceptive attraction or allure
3 : having a false look of truth or genuineness : sophistic (specious reasoning)
Specious reasoning is a form of sophism.
soph·ism \ˈsä-ˌfi-zəm\, n.
1 : an argument apparently correct in form but actually invalid; especially : such an argument used to deceive
It is also logical nonsense.
An activity is inherently dangerous.
Inherent danger can’t be eliminated only mitigated.
Since it can’t be eliminated and elimination of risk is the goal of risk management, it shouldn’t be mitigated all.
Ergo the best way to reduce inherent danger is to do nothing at all.
See the problem?
Have any of you thought about peoples desire to be productive and in the mining industry people are not as valuable as the ores mined. They are a calculated statistic. People have a need to eat and feed the family’s that they have. Blaming the miner is like saying that a person did not have to cross that street to get to work and get hit by that bus. If they had only waited for it to sail through the red light after it turned the corner they would have still be with us today. I think that this mine has had 50 or 57 complaints in March 10′ alone. Hmm, maybe something is going on around here…..
Byron 1, April 9, 2010 at 8:15 am
I personally fail to see how I am laying blame on the miners by saying mining is a risky business. It is a risky business and miners know the risks, explosion, collapse, gas leaks, water, etc.
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Byron I guess thats why they put food, water and a chamber so that if the inevitable happens they have a place where they may increase the chance of survival. I would imagine that if you were a first timer going down the shaft and someone pointed to that area the risk involved would be apparent.
Goneville:
I personally fail to see how I am laying blame on the miners by saying mining is a risky business. It is a risky business and miners know the risks, explosion, collapse, gas leaks, water, etc.
Your logic is missing and you are using the deaths of these men for your own purpose, which is your personal entertainment. Talk about despicable, but then I wouldn’t expect any less from you based on your incarnation as 30% and Gerty.
But go ahead and use their deaths for your continued pleasure and entertainment as you did on the thread about the individual who died in the snow storm, you must really be a piece of work. I could never in my darkest place do what you have done now on 2 threads, unbelievable the depth of your depravity to use these men’s death for personal entertainment, despicable.
You have used someone’s death to make a political point. You really are a Nazi underneath it all, I had you pegged from the get go.
Look goonville, doc shabit gerty 30%er who ever your nom de plume is gonna be next week. Go back and read what you wrote about the man who had a heart attack during the snowstorm. Then look at how you copy and paste each comment and then provide your rebuttal. Old habits are hard to die. It’s a shame these men died, it’s a shame the man died during the snowstorm. But at some point you have to take personal responsibility for your own life and stop blaming others for your own ill’s.
Byron 1, April 8, 2010 at 10:45 pm
“is this the statement I made that upsets you?”
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First, nice try but I’m not “upset”. I simply found your statements repulsive, as did others. I doubt the people of Montcoal West Virginia would find your comments so amusing, or valid. And the would be the ones you’d want to worry about being “upset”. I’m simply calling out your statements.
Also I already posted the comments of yours I referred to. I always do, so pretending to ask me which comments I’m referring to shows how you’ll try and drag this back down into that murky water in which you dwell. Rather than address the ones I already posted, you’ll just launch the entire thing all over again. That seems to be your typical strategy. So if you need illumination I can repost the comments again. Not all your rigmarole but the actual statements you slip in to sell your right wing talking points.
And you also defended Bdaman who actually laid blame on the miners head, as he’s doing now. You claimed he wasn’t saying it was the miners fault, when he actually came right out and said just that. Like he just repeated above.
The fact that you both qualify your comments blaming the miners by stating that Massey or the government are also to blame does not altar the foul nature of the comments.
Laying blame on the heads of the 25 men who just died days earlier is a sick thing to do and should be beneath anyone here.
Pete Moran:
I also said this:
It is also very bad that the owner of the mine did not value his men enough to make sure they had a safe working environment.
That was my point, the owner was negligent and mining is a risky business even if every safety precaution is taken. You cannot eliminate risk, it is impossible there are too many things that can go wrong. An ethical owner would have taken the steps to ensure as safe an environment as humanly possible for the men in his charge. The apparent fact that he didn’t shows what type of a man he is, not a very good one.
“Mining is a very dangerous business and those miners knew the risks and did so of their own volition to provide for their families….”
Is a true statement, but in a supposedly regulated environment one might go on to say;
…expecting that all required endeavours were being made to ensure the lowest possible risk.
Otherwise, this is the very definition of negligence I would think.
As far as miners taking risk, they do it every day. Granted this was more risk than they had bargained for due a POS for a boss. But even without the faulty ventilation there still could have been an explosion. The only way to know for sure is to have an in depth investigation and find out what exactly did go wrong and determine if there is any negligence and whether or not it is criminal in nature. From what I have read it sure appears there is criminal negligence but I am no expert on mining or mine safety.
is this the statement I made that upsets you?:
“Mining is a very dangerous business and those miners knew the risks and did so of their own volition to provide for their families. Too bad more people don’t have loved ones with that amount of character. It is also very bad that the owner of the mine did not value his men enough to make sure they had a safe working environment.”
Is or is not mining one of the most risky occupations on the planet? If it is then that is a correct statement. And your inference as to what I meant is illogical, I meant exactly what I said. No more no less. Mining is a risky business. If you wish to infer more be my guest.
I said all three are to blame. The owner, the govt. and the miners.
The owner might be 80% liable and the govt. 10 and the miners 10.
Make no mistake, those miners knew of the unsafe working environment that they were working in and don’t tell me they had no choice.
Yea but you also implied the miners died because they chose to take the risk. Saying “they knew the risk” was a callous and ignorant thing to say the day after 25 men just died in a mine, and not even entirely true.
I doubt they knew that the ventilation system was rigged to recirculate the air back into the shaft.
And you also defended Bdaman, who actually came out and said it was their fault.
If you want to tone it down now or backpedal, be my guest. It would after all be the right thing to do. But your earlier comments were abhorrent, and deserved to be called out.
goneville:
I read about that as well, as I said above by all rational standards he is a POS.
And lets not forget that in 2000 he dumped 300 million gallons of arsenic, mercury and sulfur into some streams in Martin County WV, creating at the time the worst environmental disaster in US history.