Massey Energy Bought Workers Comp Insurance Coverage Shortly Before Mine Explosion

[kpete]

Source: After Downing Street


Massey Energy Bought Workers Comp Insurance Coverage Shortly Before Mine Explosion
Submitted by dlindorff on Fri, 2010-04-09 12:02.

By Dave Lindorff

Massey Energy Corp., owner of the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia where at least 25 miners were killed April 5 in a methane gas explosion, apparently arranged for and purchased disability compensation insurance coverage only a month before the disaster, according to one source with inside knowledge about the company’s risk management operations.

Prior to that, the company, known for its aggressive challenges to workers’ comp claims, was self-insured for workers compensation.

But given the number of safety violations at its mines--there were 53 in March alone, 495 in 2009 and 1300 since 2005, at just the Upper Big Branch Mine and 2,074 over the past year at other mines owned by Massey across the Appalachian region--perhaps the money spent buying insurance to cover workers’ injury claims might have been better spent fixing chronic problems with methane gas build-ups in the mine. Then again, maybe the company felt that violation citations were no big deal--it has reportedly challenged two out of three instead of fixing them as a matter of course.

The company certainly has not shown particularly good judgement when it comes to its insurance decisions. Last year, despite noting in its annual report that its operations were “subject to certain events and conditions that could disrupt operations, including fires and explosions,” Massey Energy decided not to purchase business interruption insurance, according to Business Week magazine. With some analysts suggesting that the accident at the big West Virginia mine, where metalurgical coal used in the production of steel is extracted, could lead to a shutdown of that mine, and to a nearly 50% loss in overall corporate earnings this year, that decision could prove costly to Massey investors. The ratings agency Standard & Poors earlier this week placed the company, which already sports a junk-bond-level BB- credit rating, on watch for a downgrade, citing lost production, the “workers’ compensation liability and any impact potential lawsuits brought against the company may have.”

Read more: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/51337

[KittyWampus]

1. Well, there it is.

[Soylent Brice]

2. someone should look to see if they took out some Dead Peasant Insurance also. n/t

[randr]

3. My thoughts exactly

Some companies are known to carry life insurance policies on workers in dangerous situations.
Seems this outfit would be likely to want to profit from others loses.

[Soylent Brice]

4. check this out:

http://www.deadpeasants.biz/

[FailureToCommunicate]

5. +1 yikes

[AllyCat]

13. I looked there too Soylent and didn't see Massey's name, but WR Grace

is on there. Look at all the names on that list! It makes me never want to support these companies again. In fact, I think I will do that. We are in the process of finding a new mortgage holder after our loan was sold to Smells Fargo...but next time I pay the mortgage, maybe I'll say something to the manager about this despicable practice. I certainly will after we move our loan.

[Soylent Brice]

20. as soon as i posted the first time in this thread i went

and looked it up on there and saw they weren't on there. figured others might want the link.
IMHO, if you can go through a credit union, do so. good luck moving your loan. :)

[boppers]

18. It asks for a username/password?

uhm...

[Soylent Brice]

21. click on the image on the right, or click on this link

http://deadpeasantinsurance.com/which-employers-bought-policies-on-the-lives-of-employees/

here's a list of known vultures.

[dotymed]

8. What better way for these

BASTARDS to increase their bottom line? BTW, all but the "ruling class" are "dead peasants", we just don't know it yet... sorry for the gloom

[pattmarty]

6. It'd be really nice if something were to be done in the wake of this.............

............"accident", but I don't really expect shit to happen. OSHA and other agencies that supposedly protect workers were castrated long ago.

[bbgrunt]

7. any claims they make should be denied on the basis of their preexisting mine conditions.

[City Lights]

10. Indeed!

:thumbsup:

[Uncle Joe]

9. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[superconnected]

11. After reading that article, I can't believe this company is allowed to have a business license.

They really should be in jail. The workers need a good lawyer now - even the ones not hurt in the blast, for working under such dangerous conditions.

I know the real problem - this corp can afford big time corporate lawyers and the mine workers are too poor to financially maintain a decent lawsuit. I hope for their sake they can find a lawyer that works on contingency - not an easy thing I suspect now a days. And especially when they need to take on this corporation that can afford a team of corporate lawyers and to keep this in court for decades.

[Blue_Tires]

12. the appropriate state pols and congresscritters are bought and paid for

[AllyCat]

14. I heard a caller on Norman Goldman's show a couple days ago:

He was the owner of a construction company that had an accident that killed a worker. His lawyer negotiated a settlement that all he had to do was pay a "fine" to a certain politician's (unnamed) campaign coffers and he was off scott free.

[Bandit]

15. Aren't they required by law to provide worker's comp?

I know my business is.....

[DebbieCDC]

16. Why am I NOT suprised to see bank of america on that list?

And yes companies ARE required to provide workers' comp but a lot of companies are what is termed "permissibly self insured" which means the state Dept. of Labor (or whatever) gave them permission to "insure" themselves. So they don't pay an insurance company premiums and they are rolling the dice that nothing happens where the company will have to pay up.

[Odin2005]

17. Evil. Pure, Sociopathic EVIL.

[Exultant Democracy]

19. Why no dead peasants insurance? Seems like the real logical step considering their modus operandi

[Doctor_J]

22. An excellent example of how we can begin a reclamation of the country

Give the DoJ a week to take the CEO into custody. If they don't, the miners' families and friends and anyone else who thinks this is a capital offense do the job for them. If 100,000 people showed up at this guy's house, he would be in grave difficulty, and the next mass murderer in a 3-piece suit would think twice about his actions.

[Petrushka]

23. "mass murderer in a 3-piece suit" Blankenship --- would like to read THAT newspaper headline.

:thumbsup: