SALT LAKE CITY — Years after a deadly collapse at Utah's Crandall Canyon mine killed six miners and three rescuers in central Utah, the financial fallout continues.
Insurance companies for a co-owner of the mine are suing the mine's operator, claiming the operators acted with "gross negligence" that caused the 2007 disaster, according to documents filed Thursday in 3rd District Court.
Six of Intermountain Power Agency's insurance firms, plus Lloyd's of London, filed the lawsuit against Ohio-based Murray Energy Corp., its Utah affiliates and a Colorado engineering company.
The lawsuit does not contain dollar figures or new allegations but blames Murray Energy for the collapse and demands that the company pay for abandoned equipment left inside the sealed mine.
On Aug. 6, 2007, imploding mine walls at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Emery County trapped six miners, and 10 days later, three rescue workers were killed as they tried to reach the buried miners.
The IPA companies that filed the lawsuit insured specialized equipment used in the mine. After the collapse and unsuccessful rescue attempt, the mine was shut down and the equipment was abandoned inside.
The companies now say that the mine operator used negligent and unsafe practices that caused the collapse and subsequent loss of the machinery.
"(The) defendants ... failed to observe even slight care and acted carelessly and recklessly with indifference to the consequences of their actions," the lawsuit says.
According to court documents, IPA accuses Murray Energy and the other companies of disregarding recommendations that said the mine's practice of "retreat mining" was dangerous. The lawsuit also alleges that the operator ignored orders from government regulators regarding mining procedures.
Retreat mining is a term used to describe the practice of removing supporting pillars and mining their material as miners "retreat" back toward a mine's entrance.
Murray Energy has disputed government reports that the practice was unsafe, but the company could not be reached for comment Friday.
In 2009, Murray Energy and its subsidiaries settled a multimillion-dollar lawsuit brought by the families of the miners killed in the collapse.
Contributing: The Associated Press
e-mail: jsmith@desnews.com