The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

June 17, 2008

Logging death ruling overturned

Justices send case back to Fayette court

Matthew Hill

A wrongful-death case ruled upon by Fayette County Circuit Judge Paul Blake almost two years ago was “reversed and remanded” to his courtroom by the state Supreme Court this week.

In their written ruling on Monday, the justices concluded that the summary judgment granted by Blake in favor of Clonch Industries Inc., R.M. Logging Inc. and John Robinson — a company foreman for R.M. Logging — was “premature and constituted error.”

They placed the case back in Blake’s hands for a ruling on two fundamental aspects of the case that were still pending when he entered his order of summary judgment in favor of the defendants on Sept. 20, 2006.

According to court documents, Clarence T. Coleman, 24, was working for the logging company when a tree fell on his head and killed him while he was working in the Cannelton Hollow area near Smithers on Dec. 2, 2003.

The administrators of Coleman’s estate filed suit against R.M. Logging and Robinson on June 17, 2005, citing what they believed to be unsafe working conditions. They claimed that Coleman’s death resulted from those conditions. The defendants maintained that each of their employees received supervised training.

In August 2006, the defendants filed a motion to exclude the testimony of safety consultant Homer S. Grose, asserting that his expertise was limited to the mining industry rather than the logging industry.

The high court has ordered Blake to rule on that motion, as well as enter an order permitting the plaintiffs a reasonable time period for discovery with regard to Kelcey Nicholas — Coleman’s co-worker and a purported witness to his death. The plaintiffs had initially moved for a 60-day continuance of the scheduled Sept. 25, 2006 trial date.

According to the Supreme Court, neither of those motions was addressed in Blake’s summary judgment.

— E-mail:

mhill@register-herald.com

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