Posted on Thu, May. 08, 2008

Family of man killed in Indiana mining accident files wrongful death lawsuit against company

The Associated Press

EVANSVILLE, Ind. --

The family of a man killed in a mining accident last year in southern Indiana filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Thursday against the company he helped found.

The lawsuit alleges Frontier-Kemper Constructors Inc. was negligent in providing safety measures to Daniel McFadden, 66, of Greybull, Wyo., and two other men during a tour of a mining shaft in August.

The complaint states Frontier-Kemper failed to provide safety belts or harnesses as fall protection, and that a 20-foot nylon sling and shackle attached to the bottom of the bucket should have been removed when the three men entered the bucket to be lowered. An employee who was supposed to watch the bucket also left to do other work when the bucket was lowered, the lawsuit states.

Attorneys for McFadden's wife, Sandra Lee McFadden, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court. It seeks $9.5 million in damages.

George Zugel, corporate safety director for the Evansville, Ind.,-based Frontier-Kemper, was not aware of the lawsuit and declined to comment.

The lawsuit seeks compensation for funeral expenses and lost income. It also alleges the accident deprived McFadden's family of "comfort, care, assistance, guidance, training, advice and love and affection."

An Indiana Bureau of Mines and Mine Safety report last March found that the bucket carrying the men had traveled about 20 feet when the sling became wedged in a door and tipped the bucket. The men inside plunged about 550 feet and died from multiple blunt impact trauma.

McFadden was visiting the mining site near Princeton, about 30 miles north of Evansville, just hours before a scheduled 30th anniversary celebration of the merger that formed the company.

Jarred Ashmore, 23, of Henderson, Ky., and Christopher Todd Richardson, 38, of Cedar Bluff, Va., also died in the fall.