US court revives lawsuit in Colombia coal killings

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

US court revives lawsuit in Colombia coal killings
By Greg Bluestein
Associated Press / February 3, 2011

ATLANTA—A lawsuit claiming an Alabama coal company executive paid paramilitary forces to kill three Colombian union leaders was revived Thursday when an appeals court ruled the victims' children could sue in the U.S.

The mine operator, Drummond Company Inc., was cleared of any wrongdoing by jurors in Birmingham during a 2007 trial in a similar lawsuit brought by the union and the victims' widows.

The new complaint claims a witness who was previously in jail in Colombia can now testify that he saw a Drummond executive give a briefcase full of cash to an illegal right-wing militia to have two of the union heads killed.

The company did not immediately return calls and e-mails.

A lower judge had dismissed the children's lawsuit, saying they should have sued "on behalf" of their parents instead of seeking their own personal unspecified damages. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit disagreed.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/02/03/us_court_revives_lawsuit_in_colombia_coal_killings/