Families to sue in 6 Crandall Canyon Mine deaths

Attorneys representing the families of six victims of the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster said they will file a lawsuit in 3rd District Court this morning against companies involved with the mine. Two men injured during rescue attempts also are named as plaintiffs.

Attorneys first filed notice of their intent to sue in January.

The lawsuit demands "unspecified compensatory damages" and asks for "substantial punitive damages" as well.

The suit will allege several companies — including two owned by mine co-owner Robert "Bob" Murray — have responsibility for the catastrophic "bounce" on Aug. 6 that killed six men and injured several others. A bounce happens when coal under pressure flies off a wall, roof or floor of a mine.

The six men killed were Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Manuel Sanchez.

Three more men — Dale Black, Gary Jensen and Brandon Kimber — were killed Aug. 16 while trying to rescue the six. Those three are not included in the suit.

The lawsuit claims Murray knew about specific dangers in the mine much earlier than he has stated publicly.

A March 11 coal bounce led to the closure of the mine's North Barrier under conditions virtually identical to those in the South Barrier area, where miners were trapped five months later by the Aug. 6 bounce, according to the complaint.

Murray knew about the earlier bounce "on the very day it occurred, contrary to his later claims that he had not heard of it before the fatal August 6 bounce," attorneys for the Salt Lake City law firm Dewsnup King & Olsen said in a statement that summarizes the suit.

Plaintiffs include heirs of all six miners killed on Aug. 6 and two of the rescuers who were injured on Aug. 16. They allege the "defendants were guilty of negligent, reckless and intentional violations of numerous good mining practices and regulations, which led to deaths and injuries."

The complaint alleges "retreat mining" of barrier pillars in the mine's West Mains area was unreasonably dangerous and that "mine owners engaged in retreat mining of the barrier pillars contrary to long-standing plans by the mine's prior owners not to remove those barrier pillars due to safety risks," according to the attorneys' statement.

Plaintiffs are also claiming that mine owners engaged in mining practices at or near the time of the Aug. 6 bounce that were forbidden by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) when the agency approved the mining plan in place for Crandall Canyon.