Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 26/00) - A long list of plaintiffs and defendants in the Giant mine blast lawsuit have agreed to meet next month in Edmonton.

Mediation of the third-party lawsuit between families of the nine Giant miners killed in the 1994 blast and the 28 defendants is scheduled to get under way Feb. 7, under the direction of Justice George Adams.

"This will be a one-time opportunity to put an end to the excessive expenditure of legal fees incurred since this lawsuit started over five years ago and to bring finality to one of our community's most divisive and tragic events," said Northern Territories Federation of Labour president Wayne Campbell in a letter to the Workers' Compensation Board.

Campbell is among a list of 28 defendants cited in the lawsuit.

On behalf of the families of the nine dead miners, the WCB filed the $34-million lawsuit over five years ago. The lawsuit alleges the defendants' combined negligence caused the death of the nine men at Giant mine Sept. 18, 1992.

"We're looking forward to this mediation. We're hoping it will break through the length and complexity (of the matter)," lawyer Austin Marshall said.

Marshall, acting for several miners cited as defendants, also said the mediation -- which all parties requested -- is about resolution.

"We're happy to see everybody will be meeting for mediation," Steve Petersen, plant chair with the Canadian Auto Workers Union Local 2304, the union representing Giant miners, said.

As for the individual union members named in the lawsuit, Petersen said, "It is a burden."

Using the 1988 Fatal Accidents Act, the WCB is acting on behalf of the families, it was reported over five years ago. That act allowed the WCB to seek additional money for families of workers beyond the usual benefits and pensions WCB provides. A spokesperson for the WCB said the board would be issuing a press release but it was not in time for business section deadline.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which was launched in 1994, include: Sheila Fullowka, Doreen Hourie, Tracey Neill, Judit Pandev, Ella Riggs, Doreen Vodnoski, Carlene Rowsell, Karen Russell and Bonnie Sawler.

The families sought money for themselves and their children for suffering, expense and damages, including funeral expenses.

Defendants in the 1994 lawsuit include: Royal Oak Mines Inc., Margaret Witte, Procon Miners Inc., Pinkerton's of Canada, William Sheridan, Anthony Whitford, Dave Turner, the GNWT, and the National Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers Union of Canada, and the Canadian Association of Smelter and Allied Workers.

Other defendants named in the lawsuit are Harry Seeton, Allan Shearing, Timothy Bettger, Terry Legge, Roger Warren, James Evoy, Dale Johnson, Robert Kosta, Harold David, Marc Danis, Blaine Lisoway, William Schram, James Mager, Conrad Lisoway, Wayne Campbell, Sylvain Amyotte and Richard Roe number 3 and John Doe number 3.

The civil claim was filed in Supreme Court on Sept. 12, 1994 -- within the two-year limitation for such claims -- but was sealed until after a verdict in Roger Warren's murder trial. In January 1995, Warren was found guilty of nine counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of the nine Giant miners.