C.W. Mining, which has been locked in a year-and-a-half-long battle against miners at the Co-Op mine who have been fighting for union representation, better pay, safety, and dignity, is urging Utah Federal District Judge Dee Benson to disregard the arguments of the Militant and the other defendants and allow the lawsuit to go forward. “The Court should bear in mind that Plaintiffs have not had the opportunity to even begin discovery,” says this recent C.W. Mining and IAUWU memorandum to the court. “What The Militant did by way of investigation [of the dispute at the Co-Op Mine] is a fact in its exclusive control, for which Plaintiffs are entitled to conduct discovery.” By addressing this point to the court, C.W. Mining’s attorneys hope to prepare the way for invasive questioning and financially draining interrogatories into the affairs of the Militant, and the Socialist Workers Party, which they falsely accuse of “owning and controlling the paper.”

The coal bosses’ lawyers in this round of arguments accuse the Militant of not republishing what the miners have had to say in their fight against the company, but rather the publication of “their own false affirmative statements of fact separate and apart from anything others have said.” This is also one of their arguments in urging the judge not grant a motion to dismiss to the two Salt Lake City dailies being sued in this case. Because of this type of reporting, C.W. Mining and IAUWU attorneys contend, none of the newspapers in this case merit the protections against libel suits afforded to publications reporting on events and issues of “public interest.”

In order to prove that the articles printed by the Militant defamed the owners of the Co-Op mine, C.W. Mining’s attorneys cite the “plethora of comments publicly made by others, after reading The Militant’s statements or substantially the same statements made by others, showing that Plaintiffs’ reputations have been damaged in the eyes of those others.” In this way, supposedly the bishop of the Salt Lake City Catholic Diocese and Father Donald Hope, a local Catholic priest in Price, Utah, were led down the path of defamation against the mine owners.

C.W. Mining also continues to paint all defendants in the case as being guilty of a vast civil conspiracy to defame and thereby damage the mine owners.

Attorneys for the Militant will be submitting further arguments to the court asking that this harassment lawsuit be dismissed. Future articles in the Militant will report on these final papers to be filed before the judge begins oral arguments on whether the case should be dismissed or move on in the court system toward a trial.
 
 
Related articles:
Coal miners discuss how to fight discrimination
Changing Woman Conference draws miners from five Western states
Fight by ‘Militant’ against harassment lawsuit wins support at Changing Woman Conference
Socialist unionists discuss fight against mine bosses’ lawsuit  
 
 
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