The fire in January 2006, just days after the Sago mine explosion took 12 lives, killed Don Bragg, 33, and Elvis Hatfield, 47. The widows claimed in their suit against Massey and its chief executive, Don Blankenship, that it put profits ahead of worker safety.
Massey spokesman Troy Andes confirmed in a statement Monday that the case had been settled and was pending the review of Logan Circuit Judge Roger Perry.
“While the details of the agreement are confidential, this action will dismiss the claims against all defendants and close the matter before the Logan County court,” he said.
“The members of Aracoma Coal Company and Massey Energy continue to grieve the loss of Don Bragg and Elvis Hatfield. Our thoughts and prayers remain with their families.”
The widows’ attorney, Bruce Stanley, told the Associated Press at the start of the trial that the two had “died over money” and presented memos from Blankenship and other Massey executives to crews at all of its mines to concentrate on production and “stay on coal” instead of non-production-related duties.
Legal representatives for the mine said that errors had occurred, but that evidence did not prove that the company or its management did not care or had intended for Bragg and Hatfield to be seriously injured or killed.
“Mistakes were made, poor decisions were made. There's no question that things could have been done better and in hindsight things could have been done differently," Aracoma lawyer Niall Paul told the news service.
Massey attorney Jim Crockett Jr added that neither it nor AT Massey had caused or ordered the issues that went wrong at the operation.
“It happened in spite of them and not because of them," he said.
