CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A "very liberal" state court system forced Massey Energy to pay two widows of the Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine fire an amount that is fair "by West Virginia standards," company CEO Don Blankenship said Wednesday.

Blankenship also said it made no sense for Logan Circuit Judge Roger Perry to allow the families of miners Don Bragg and Ellery Hatfield to sue him personally, and that Bragg and Hatfield may have "panicked" during their effort to evacuate the mine.

Bruce Stanley, a lawyer for the Bragg and Hatfield families, said, "We've had the unfortunate experience of hearing Mr. Blankenship's comments.

"We can only say that they demonstrate a special lack of grace," Stanley said. "Perhaps the widows can find it in their hearts to pray for him."

Blankenship made his remarks Wednesday morning during an appearance on the statewide radio show "Talkline," two days after Massey's Aracoma Coal Co. announced it would pay an undisclosed sum to settle a wrongful death case brought by the Bragg and Hatfield families.

"Outside of West Virginia, it's higher than it would be," Blankenship said when asked about the settlement. "But in West Virginia, of course, you have a very liberal system. So you have to take that into account when you're in those situations.

"I think by West Virginia standards, not by other standards, but by West Virginia standards, it's a fair amount," Blankenship said.

Delorice Bragg and Freda Hatfield had not only sued mine operator Aracoma Coal and parent firms Massey Energy and A.T. Massey Coal, but also sought to hold Blankenship personally liable for the deaths.

Blankenship said the company acknowledged that a key mine ventilation wall was missing, allowing thick, black smoke from the fire to pour into the Aracoma Mine's primary escape tunnel.

"The two that didn't, for whatever reason, didn't get their masks on or panicked or whatever happened," Blankenship said. "I don't know that anybody knows 100 percent in the confusion. But clearly, they would have had a better escapeway had the stopping line not been violated."

A 12-miner crew, including Bragg and Hatfield, hit smoke on their way out of that primary escapeway. When the group tried to find another way out, Bragg and Hatfield somehow became separated from the rest of the crew. They got lost and eventually succumbed to the smoke.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A "very liberal" state court system forced Massey Energy to pay two widows of the Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine fire an amount that is fair "by West Virginia standards," company CEO Don Blankenship said Wednesday.

Blankenship also said it made no sense for Logan Circuit Judge Roger Perry to allow the families of miners Don Bragg and Ellery Hatfield to sue him personally, and that Bragg and Hatfield may have "panicked" during their effort to evacuate the mine.

Bruce Stanley, a lawyer for the Bragg and Hatfield families, said, "We've had the unfortunate experience of hearing Mr. Blankenship's comments.

"We can only say that they demonstrate a special lack of grace," Stanley said. "Perhaps the widows can find it in their hearts to pray for him."

Blankenship made his remarks Wednesday morning during an appearance on the statewide radio show "Talkline," two days after Massey's Aracoma Coal Co. announced it would pay an undisclosed sum to settle a wrongful death case brought by the Bragg and Hatfield families.

"Outside of West Virginia, it's higher than it would be," Blankenship said when asked about the settlement. "But in West Virginia, of course, you have a very liberal system. So you have to take that into account when you're in those situations.

"I think by West Virginia standards, not by other standards, but by West Virginia standards, it's a fair amount," Blankenship said.

Delorice Bragg and Freda Hatfield had not only sued mine operator Aracoma Coal and parent firms Massey Energy and A.T. Massey Coal, but also sought to hold Blankenship personally liable for the deaths.

Blankenship said the company acknowledged that a key mine ventilation wall was missing, allowing thick, black smoke from the fire to pour into the Aracoma Mine's primary escape tunnel.

"The two that didn't, for whatever reason, didn't get their masks on or panicked or whatever happened," Blankenship said. "I don't know that anybody knows 100 percent in the confusion. But clearly, they would have had a better escapeway had the stopping line not been violated."

A 12-miner crew, including Bragg and Hatfield, hit smoke on their way out of that primary escapeway. When the group tried to find another way out, Bragg and Hatfield somehow became separated from the rest of the crew. They got lost and eventually succumbed to the smoke.

But federal investigators found that both Bragg and Hatfield donned their emergency breathing devices.

Blankenship said Wednesday it was "really strange that the suit was allowed to continue with me personally being sued, because that's the purpose of corporations.

"It made no sense in my judgment or our lawyers' judgment," Blankenship said.

In a late September order, Judge Perry noted a 1992 decision by then-Supreme Court Justice Thomas B. Miller that found corporate officials could be found personally liable if they "participated in, approved of, sanctioned, or ratified" company wrongdoing.

Perry ruled that the widows should be able to show jurors dozens of Blankenship memos that might convince them that Blankenship "engendered a corporate attitude of indifference toward safety."

Blankenship's lawyer, Tom Flaherty, cautioned during an August hearing that "a finding of liability" on Blankenship's part "may indeed have a chilling effect on the legal landscape and business climate of West Virginia," Perry wrote.

"There has been much studied and said concerning the disparaging legal and economic forces of West Virginia law - the credibility of such is another question altogether - and this court does not intend to comment on this issue," Perry wrote. "Whether the effect of the [1992 ruling] on this case does or does not have a damaging effect on West Virginia is not a proper matter for consideration for this court. The law stands as it is and must be followed."

During his radio appearance, Blankenship said that he would not personally be paying any of the settlement to the Aracoma widows.

But Massey has not yet resolved a legal dispute with Aracoma Coal's insurance company, American International Specialty Lines Insurance, with is part of American International Group, or AIG.

Two weeks before the Aracoma trial began, Aracoma sued AIG in Logan Circuit Court, alleging the insurer wrongly blocked a deal to settle the case within the limits of a $20 million insurance policy. Aracoma alleged that AIG wanted other defendants in the case - Massey, A.T. Massey and Blankenship - to pay "all or a portion of" their $10 million deductible under a separate general liability policy "before staking any further steps to resolve the claims against Aracoma."

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 348-1702.