Westray managers may face legal bills of $1/2-m or more

A provincial court judge in New Glasgow, N.S., has dismissed defence motions to have criminal charges against Curragh (TSE) and two mine managers thrown out.

The mining company and managers Gerald Phillips and Roger Parry are charged with manslaughter and criminal negligence causing the May, 1992, deaths of 26 miners at Curragh’s nearby Westray colliery.

Judge Patrick Curran ordered the defendants to appear in court Nov. 3 for election and plea, Canadian Press reports.

Curran had earlier quashed a first set of charges against Curragh and its two employees, ruling that they were too vaguely stated.

This time, prosecutors detailed the charges, saying Curragh, Phillips and Parry failed to put in place proper systems to deal with the buildup of dangerous coal dust.

“The Crown intends to lead with evidence that the defendants assumed control of a dangerous activity, mined coal day after day and created hazardous accumulations of explosive coal dust without taking reasonable systematic steps to clean it up or to prevent it from exploding,” the prosecution said in a brief to the court.

“They exposed the 26 men to the risk by requiring them to work in hazardous conditions.”

A methane fire or an explosion is believed to have touched off a massive coal-dust blast that destroyed the mine. Nova Scotia law requires that excessive coal dust in mines be watered down or diluted with limestone dust. The accused are charged with manslaughter for failure to deal with coal dust. The negligence charge alleges more than a dozen safety lapses, including failure to control coal dust.

Defence lawyers suggest Phillips and Parry have an alibi in defence against the charges because they were out of the country for several days before the explosion.

Nova Scotia mine inspectors issued an order 10 days before the disaster, giving Westray 15 days to clean up excessive coal dust.

Meanwhile, there are questions about legal representation for the accused. Toronto lawyer Peter Atkinson, who has represented Curragh previously, was not in court. Curran said that Atkinson had faxed him a notice that he was no longer representing the company because he has been unable to obtain instruction in recent weeks. And Parry’s lawyer, Joel Pink of Halifax, told the court his being retained by the company ended with this court appearance. Toronto-based Curragh has slipped into bankruptcy, in part because of the Westray disaster, which raises questions about who will pay for the massive legal bill to defend against the charges.

According to news reports, Phillips and Parry could be eligible to receive financial assistance from the provincial government for the multi-year defence of their cases. It was reported that Pink estimated the cost of defending Parry alone could be $600,000-700,000.