U.S. judge tosses suit in mine explosion in W.Va.
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A federal judge in West Virginia tossed out a lawsuit filed by relatives of 78 miners killed in a 1968 mine explosion.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported U.S. District Judge Irene Keeley in Clarksburg ruled Friday laws at the time stipulated there was a two-year window to file a lawsuit after the disaster.
The latest lawsuit filed in 2014 was based on a federal mine inspector’s memo written two years after the explosion at Southpointe-based Consolidation Coal Co.’s No. 9 mine in Farmington indicating an alarm had been disabled. The families, who earlier received $10,000 from the company, said they did not find out about the memo until 2008.
The disaster led to passage of the federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act.