A Boone County court gave Massey a preliminary injunction on 14 activists who participated in a June 18th action at the Twilight Mine Site. At the hearing, Massey lawyers Sam Brock and Tim Houston claimed that the action, which involved climbing a drag line to unfurl a banner, shut down the mine for four hours and idled 170 to 180 workers.
The Massey lawyers asked that the fourteen activists arrested on the 18th, anyone acting in concert with them or affiliated with them be prohibited from participating in civil disobedience on Massey property or the property of any of its subsidiaries. Recent actions have caused Massey to police their own property and follow heightened safety procedures (a bad thing?). Judge Thompson pointedly asked the Massey representatives if they believed an injunction would stop the protestors, who had few qualms about breaking the law in the first place.
In the end, the defense chose not to present, asking instead for a summary judgment. The injunction was granted by presiding judge William Thompson, who stipulated that it only applied to Massey and subsidiary property within Boone County, W.Va.. The judge predicated his ruling with a speech in which he referred to civil disobedience as the back bone of this country, citing the Boston Tea Party as an example, and then emphasized the importance of following the law.
Thompson arrived in court two hours late and seemed disinterested in the proceedings.
