Cumberland Valley Contractors, Inc. v. Bell County Coal Corp.

MINTON, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION.

As a general rule, a party cannot contract away liability for damages caused by that party’s failure to comply with a duty imposed by a safety statute. This case presents the question of whether this general rule applies to void a liability-shifting clause in a contract between parties to a coal mining agreement where one side claims economic damages resulting from the other’s failure to comply with statutory mine-mapping duties presumably imposed to further mine safety. We find that the clause was clearly written as part of an arm’s-length transaction between…