West Virginia Widows Appeal Dismissal of Lawsuit

The widows of two men killed in a coal mine fire are appealing the dismissal of a lawsuit against the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Delorice Bragg and Freda Hatfield asked the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to take the case Wednesday. U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver Jr. dismissed it last July, ruling that MSHA wasn’t liable for the men’s deaths.

The lawsuit was filed in April 2010 by the widows of miners Don I. Bragg and Ellery Elvis Hatfield. The men died in a conveyer belt fire at Massey Energy Co.’s Aracoma Alma No. 1 mine on Jan. 19, 2006.

The lawsuit accused MSHA of negligence in its regulation of the mine and argued that federal inspectors should be liable under West Virginia law.