Miner Suffers Boulder-Related Injury

A man has filed a personal injury suit against his employer and a co-worker after he was allegedly injured while working at a strip mine on the border of Kanawha and Boone counties in West Virginia.

According to suit filed against Catenary Coal Company and Joey Bartley by Frank Harper on March 13, he was working at the Samples Mine in Leewood, West Virginia, which is owned by Catenary, when the injury occurred.

Harper filed suit in both Kanawha Circuit Court and Boone Circuit Court because he was unsure exactly where the injury occurred.

The suit says that on March 23, 2007, Harper was driving a Dresser 830E truck and Bartley was operating a LeTourneau 1350 front end loader during their work at the mine. Sometime during the work, Bartley loaded a large boulder onto Harper’s truck, which was either empty or lightly loaded.

Harper claims the boulder’s weight caused him to be jerked back and forth against the truck’s door, causing him multiple injuries.

According to Harper, Catenary had received several complaints about the negligent manner in which Bartley loaded trucks prior to the incident, but refused to discipline or reassign him.

Harper says that he has been unable to work since the incident and seeks various damages.