$9.46 Million Judgment Upheld After Coal Miner Paralyzed by Boulder at Black Thunder Mine

In January 2002, Les Butts was operating a Terra-Gator in the pit at Black Thunder Mine, a massive surface coal operation near Gillette, Wyoming, when a boulder came off the highwall and smashed the vehicle. The impact left Butts a paraplegic. His two young sons also suffered losses as a result of their father's catastrophic injuries.

Because Thunder Basin Coal Company, the mine operator, was covered by Wyoming workers' compensation, Butts could not sue the company directly. Instead, his legal team pursued the individuals responsible for safety decisions at the mine: Michael Hannifan, the safety manager, and Kevin Hampleman, the mine manager. The theory was willful and wanton misconduct, a standard that strips supervisors of the immunity that workers' compensation ordinarily extends to employers.

Jim Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald Law Office, working alongside co-counsel from Cok, Wheat & Kinzler, built the case around what Hannifan and Hampleman knew about highwall hazards and what they failed to do. The jury found both men guilty of willful and wanton negligence for placing Butts in harm's way. It assigned 57 percent of fault to Thunder Basin Coal Company, 25 percent to Hampleman, and 18 percent to Hannifan.

The jury returned a verdict of $18 million for Butts and $2 million for each of his two children, totaling $22 million. After applying comparative fault to the two individual defendants, the court entered a judgment of approximately $9.46 million. Hannifan and Hampleman appealed, challenging both liability and the damages.

On June 11, 2008, the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed the judgment in full. The court held that the willful and wanton misconduct finding was supported by the evidence and that the defendants were not shielded by workers' compensation immunity. WyoFile, reporting independently on safety conditions at the Black Thunder mining complex, cited the Butts verdict as a rare instance of a Wyoming miner successfully holding supervisors personally accountable for a catastrophic workplace injury.