According to the Associated Press, the Kentucky Supreme Court said last week in a unanimous decision that Stella Morris, the widow of 29-year-old David “Bud” Morris Jr, could proceed against H&D Mining.
H&D is the owner of the No. 3 operation where Morris died in December 2005 after being run over by an overloaded ram car. Morris’s legs were cut off in the incident; he later died from his injuries.
The AP noted that H&D had initially filed a motion to have the suit dismissed. That motion was denied by both the trial judge and the state’s Board of Appeals before the Supreme Court also turned it down.
According to a 2008 report into the accident, as Morris bled to death, mine co-controller Gar Wayne Bentley was said to have instructed another miner to "get him out of here" rather than administer care.
While the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing acknowledged the violations of mine safety regulations were unintentional, it claims Bentley should have done more to assist Morris.
Specifically, those violations included a failure to follow appropriate care standards, failure to administer the needed medical treatment, and failure to respond promptly to an emergency.
Kentucky state officials cited Bentley’s negligence as cause to be stripped of his certifications and ownership privileges.
Under a settlement agreement, he was barred from owning or operating a coal mining operation in the state and has been permanently stripped of his emergency technician's licence and underground miner's certificate.
The initial complaint was received by the office from Morris's widow, who requested the state Mine Safety Review Commission discipline Bentley.
H&D Mine No. 3, located in Harlan County, employed 31 workers at the time of the accident and extracted about 1500 tons daily from the Owl seam using one continuous miner and two shuttle cars.
The last regular inspection of the operation prior to the December 30, 2005 incident was completed just days earlier, on December 21. The mine’s non-fatal days lost incident rate before the accident was 10.98, versus the then-average 5.32 nationally for underground operations.
