Meadows v. Massey Coal Services, Inc.

The Petitioner, Robert L. Meadows (“Plaintiff’), appeals the March 21, 2011, order of the circuit court granting summary judgment to the Respondent, Independence Coal Company (“Independence”).1 For the reasons set forth in this Opinion, the order of the circuit court is reversed.

I. Background

In the pre-dawn hours of July 18, 2007, Plaintiff, a dump truck driver employed by Independence, was dumping rock and dirt at Independence’s Twilight, West Virginia, surface mine operation. Plaintiff alleges that it was dark and, as he backed his truck toward an earthen berm protecting a dump pit, the…