Alpha Settles UBB Wrongful Death Lawsuits

{Charleston, West Virginia}...Virginia-based Alpha Natural Resources has settled wrongful death lawsuits with families of all 29 victims of West Virginia's Upper Big Branch disaster. Attorney Mark Moreland, who represented the estates of miners Ronald Lee Maynor and William Griffith, said the final deals were cut Tuesday afternoon after a marathon mediation session. He said Alpha also settled lawsuits by at least seven miners who were injured in the April 2010 blast. Some lawsuits had already been settled, but mediation of the final 13 began last week and continued through Tuesday. The settlements are confidential.