Investors Ask West Virginia Supreme Court to Reopen Case Against Massey

Institutional shareholders in the former Massey Energy Co. want the state Supreme Court to revive a lawsuit they filed two weeks after the Upper Big Branch mine disaster. Lawyers for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, Amalgamated Bank and Manville Trust are asking the justices to overturn a 2011 dismissal order and send their case back to Kanawha County Circuit Court. Oral arguments are set for Wednesday morning in Charleston.The lawsuit accused Massey of violating a 2008 settlement agreement aimed at making its operations safer. The shareholders had originally sued Virginia-based Massey in 2007, saying it routinely failed to comply with environmental and worker safety laws. Under the settlement, Massey said it would embrace a new corporate governance agreement and make safety a priority. Then the mine near Montcoal exploded in April 2010, killing 29 men in the worst U.S. mining disaster in four decades. Two men are already behind bars for their actions at the mine, and the disaster is the focus of a continuing criminal investigation by the Justice Department.