WELCH – A McDowell County man says he was wrongfully terminated by a mining company for refusing to sign a false statement.
Dennis Ferrell filed his complaint in McDowell Circuit Court against Nufac Mining Company Inc. and Pat Graham, the company's head of safety.
According to the complaint, another miner at the facility was seriously injured in a workplace accident. Ferrell says he was called in for a meeting with Graham and a team of Nufac attorneys on February 22, 2022. He says Graham had prepared a statement for Ferrell to sign concerning the other employee's injury, but Ferrell said the statement was false and refused to sign it.
Ferrell says he asked to talk to the attorneys without Graham in the room, but Graham told Ferrell he just needed to sign the document.
"Plaintiff states that he was asked to falsify records to 'cover-up' Nufac's potential exposure and to give a false statement to a federal mine inspector at the direction of Pat Graham," the complaint states. "Plaintiff refused to falsify documentation and/or sign a false statement."
Ferrell says he again was asked to sign the statement but again refused. And after again asking to speak to the attorneys in private, Ferrell says he was fired.
He accuses the defendants of reprisal and retaliation. He seeks compensatory damages for lost wages, lost benefits, mental and emotional distress. He also seeks punitive damages, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
Ferrell is being represented by D. Adrian Hoosier II of Hoosier Law Firm in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Edward Kornish.
McDowell Circuit Court case number 24-C-3