Fleming v. United States

OPINION

JONES, District Judge.

At approximately 6:15 a.m. on December 7, 1992, an 'explosion occurred within the Southmountain Coal Company’s No. 3 Mine in Wise County, Virginia, killing six miners and seriously injuring one. The force of the explosion in the underground mine was so great that buildings, equipment, and vehicles as far as 150 feet away from the entrance of the mine were damaged in the blast.

Six years later, on December 7, 1998, suits were brought in this court on behalf of the six deceased miners, Palmer Stur-gill, Claude Sturgill, Mikell Mullins, David Carlton, Norman Vanover,…