Benson noted that the coal company’s charges against the miners “seem to be nothing more than an attempt to intimidate their employees and quell honest discussion concerning labor issues.” The judge did not grant attorneys’ fees to the miners’ lawyer, Richard Rosenblatt.

The judge’s May 1 written ruling reaffirmed an earlier oral decision throwing out defamation charges against the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret Morning News. Benson did award both major newspapers attorneys’ fees.

The court’s decision allows the lawsuit, originally filed 19 months ago in the midst of a hard fought union-organizing campaign at the Co-Op mine, to go forward against three of the defendants—the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), the Militant newspaper, and Utah Jobs with Justice.

The judge took two pages of a 54-page ruling to present his reasons for allowing the case against the Militant to proceed. His decision emphasized the Militant’s lack of “neutral” reporting on the Co-Op mine fight.

“Where the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret Morning News attempted to display the perspective of both the miners and the owners,” Benson wrote, “it is arguable the Militant offered no such neutral forum.”

The judge cited a single example from an editorial in the Militant to illustrate why he denied the newspaper’s motion to dismiss.

Benson took a few short sentences to also reject the motions to dismiss the case that had been filed by the UMWA and Utah Jobs with Justice. Benson said statements by UMWA international vice president Mike Dalpiaz about the coal company’s “ruthless treatment of our miners” may have undermined the reputation of C.W. Mining. “The intent to undermine,” Benson wrote, “is heightened by the apparent lack of opportunity given to plaintiffs to rebut these assertions.”

Judge Benson is the chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Utah. He was appointed to the court by President George H. Bush in 1991. Benson graduated from Brigham Young University law school and served as Utah senator Orrin Hatch’s chief of staff in 1986-88. He also served as counsel on the Iran-Contra Congressional Investigating Committee in 1987. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Benson is one of 11 judges nationally who “sits on a secretive court that reviews and approves counterterrorism wiretaps and surveillance,” which was created under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Apart from his rulings on the company’s defamation charges, the judge dismissed all other claims made by C.W. Mining and the IAUWU. The coal company had accused the miners, UMWA, and their supporters with racketeering and immigration law violations, unfair labor practices, invasion of privacy, intentional interference with economic relations, negligence, and civil conspiracy.  
 
‘Discovery’ door opened
The judge also said he will permit some discovery as part of allowing the case to proceed. “Limited discovery may be necessary to determine whether the [allegedly defamatory] statements are true and whether they actually injured the plaintiffs,” he ruled. During discovery, each side gets to probe for facts to help prove their case.

The defendants have 10 business days from the judge’s ruling to file an answer to the case. Each charge in the complaint (there are 14 pages’ worth for the Militant) must either be affirmed or denied. If the charge is denied, a reason must be given. Attorneys for the Militant say they will ask for extra time to answer the complaint. Once the answers are filed, all the attorneys in the case will have 60 days to hold a conference to agree on limits for discovery, and a schedule for when discovery will be completed and pre-trial motions are made.

(For those interested in reading the Benson ruling, it is posted at www.themilitant.com under the heading “Defend labor rights.”)  
 
NLRB hearing on miners’ firings
At about the same time the judge was making his decision in the federal lawsuit, attorneys for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have been preparing for a hearing to begin May 16 in Price, Utah. The hearing is meant to take up C.W. Mining’s objection to the NLRB Regional 27 director Allan Benson’s finding that the coal company fired miners for union activity.

Shortly before a union representation election in December 2004, the Co-Op mine owners terminated nearly every worker who supported the UMWA.

According to a determination made by the NLRB Region 27 director in December 2005, the 29 miners fired for supposed immigration law violations were in fact discharged for supporting “the Union and to discourage employees from engaging in these and other concerted activities.”

The NLRB director further stated that Alyson Kennedy and Guillermo Hernandez, two other miners who were also terminated before the election, were fired for their union support activities. The labor board determination concluded that C.W. Mining “has been discriminating in regard to hire or tenure or terms and conditions of employment of its employees, thereby discouraging membership in a labor organization….”

The NLRB has specified that the company must make a back pay award to several fired miners who were involved in union-organizing activities going back to September 2003. The NLRB based its proposed award on wages of $5.75 to $8.25 an hour.

If the determinations of the labor board are upheld in the May 16 hearings, miners who were involved in the Co-Op union effort say the votes of 31 fired miners will likely be counted to determine whether the UMWA or the company-allied International Association of United Workers Union won the union election.

A meeting of former Co-Op miners who were involved in the union-organizing struggle was held to discuss the judge’s ruling and to prepare for the upcoming NLRB hearing. At the meeting, one miner noted, “We were the ones who started this, yet the groups who helped us—the union, the Militant, and Jobs with Justice—are the ones still in the lawsuit. That is an injustice. This is not over until everyone is out of the lawsuit.”  
 
 
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