LOGAN – A Logan County man says the mining company he worked for fired him after he was injured and began receiving workers' compensation benefits.
Rodney Nelson filed a lawsuit March 15 in Logan Circuit Court against Blackhawk Mining LLC, alleging violations of West Virginia’s Workers Compensation Discriminatory Act.
According to the complaint, Nelson’s hand was crushed on Oct. 15, 2014 by a rock fall in one of Blackhawk’s underground mines. After applying for workers' compensation benefits and undergoing surgery to repair his hand, the suit says, Nelson needed time to recuperate before returning to work. When he told a company official he was unable to go back to work right away, the plaintiff says, they terminated him.
Nelson seeks a jury trial and punitive and compensatory damages, plus interest and litigation costs. He is represented by attorneys J. Christopher White and Steven S. Wolfe of Wolfe, White & Associates in Logan. Judge Eric H. O’Briant is assigned to the case.
Logan Circuit Court Case number 16-C-63