Tag: Defamation Suit

Former Coal Baron Blankenship Sues Media, Claims Defamation

Former coal baron Don Blankenship is suing several news outlets and media personalities, claiming he was defamed during his failed bid for a U.S. senate seat in West Virginia.

Blankenship’s suit was filed Thursday in Mingo County, West Virginia. It names The Associated Press among other large media companies.

Blankenship says news organizations waged a concerted plot to destroy him by erroneously labeling him as a convicted felon or saying he was imprisoned for manslaughter.

Blankenship is the former CEO of Massey Energy, which owned a mine where a 2010 explosion killed 29 workers. He spent a year in federal prison after being convicted of conspiring to break mine safety laws, a misdemeanor.

 
Blankenship is seeking $12 billion in damages.

Judge Declines to Dismiss Murray Defamation Lawsuit

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a defamation suit against The New York Times by Murray Energy Corp. over an April editorial that described the coal mining company as “a serial violator” of federal health and safety rules.

The suit also alleges defamation for saying owner Bob Murray “earned infamy when he falsely insisted that the 2007 collapse of his Crandall Canyon mine, which killed six miners, was due to an earthquake, not dodgy mining practices.”

Judge John Preston Bailey writes the claims are sufficiently plausible for the case to proceed, though both sides agree “that the serial violator statement is, to an extent, a true statement.”

Separately, Baily sent a Murray defamation suit against HBO “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver back to a West Virginia state court.

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