According to the Associated Press, Pennsylvania-based MSA has named Alpha and former Massey chairman Don Blankenship in documents filed last week in Mingo County Court stating that Massey officials were non-compliant with federal mandates outlining proper ventilation maintenance and limits for workers’ exposure to pneumoconiosis-causing coal dust.

Alpha has been named as a third party defendant, the news service said, for an existing lawsuit filed by ex-Massey foreman Dusty Dotson against MSA. Dotson reportedly developed black lung disease after working underground for years.

"For years, our company has been the target of these lawsuits, and we think that target has to shift," MSA spokesman Mark Deasy told the AP.

"You have to look at the root cause."

The respirator maker cited Massey’s repeated violations for both coal dust concentrations and ventilation at the operations where Dotson had worked.

"If defendant Dotson is injured as he alleges, said injuries are the direct and proximate result of unlawfully hazardous working conditions to which defendant employers subjected plaintiff Dotson," the Associated Press reported of MSA’s complaint documentation.

While federal regulators are looking at the development of new laws related to black lung disease prevention, no final rule has yet been released.

Alpha officials did not comment to the news service, and an ILN request for comment from a company spokesperson was not received by press time.