Drummond Co.'s winning verdict over families of slain Colombian labor leaders appealed to 11th Circuit of Appeals in Atlanta

Reprinted from the Birmingham News

Company blamed in 3 slayings
Saturday, December 15, 2007
RUSSELL HUBBARD
News staff writer

Drummond Co.'s July legal victory over accusations it ordered the murders of three Colombian labor leaders has been appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

Labor organizations representing the families of the dead Colombian coal miners filed their appeal Thursday. They lost an 11-day civil trial when a jury in U.S. District Court in Birmingham found Drummond and a top company executive not liable.

The appeal stems from the 2001 deaths of three Colombian miners who were leaders of the labor union at Drummond's coal mine in the South American country. Their union and families say they were shot by right-wing gunmen paid by Birmingham-based Drummond and Augusto Jimenez, the company's top Colombian executive.

It was the first case to reach trial that cited the Alien Tort Statute, a U.S. law that allows foreigners to sue American companies for their conduct abroad.

At the center of the appeal are the rulings of federal District Judge Karen Bowdre that prohibited the testimony of three men the union says had firsthand knowledge of Drummond's links with anti-union gunmen allied with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, which goes by the Spanish abbreviation AUC.

The union says the men should have been allowed to testify, and that the appeals court should order a new trial.

"Plaintiffs were forced to go to trial without any of the witnesses who could have provided testimony directly linking Drummond to the AUC," the appeal says.

Drummond has the right to contest the claims brought up on the appeal, and the appeals court will consider the company's arguments in deciding if a new trial is warranted.

Kept from testifying:

The men barred from testifying were excluded for various reasons. Former union official Jimmy Rubio was prepared to testify that AUC gunmen told him they murdered Victor Locarno, Valmore Orcasita and Gustavo Soler as part of a "package" with Drummond.

Bowdre declined to admit him as a witness because he was in hiding at the time after the murders of his father-in-law and sister. The union said Rubio was found during the trial but that his testimony was still not allowed by Bowdre.

Another barred witness is Rafael Garcia, a former Colombian intelligence agent in jail on corruption charges. The union says he was prepared to testify he saw Drummond executive Jimenez pay an AUC officer for two of the killings. He wasn't allowed because the union didn't discover him until after the closing of the window for new evidence and witnesses. A third late witness, Alberto Visbal, was prepared to corroborate Garcia's testimony.

"Clearly, if either of these had been considered, there was sufficient evidence to find conspiracy," the appeal reads. "As to conspiracy, payment to a terrorist group to murder union leaders would certainly qualify."

Singled out and shot:

Many facts of the case are not disputed. Both sides agree union leaders Orcasita and Locarno were pulled from a bus carrying Drummond workers and shot on a remote roadside in March 2001. In October 2001, Soler, who took over as union president after Locarno, met the same fate. The families of the men are represented by lawyers from the United Steelworkers and the International Labor Rights Fund.

During the Birmingham trial, Drummond argued the men were unfortunate victims of rampant violence in Colombia directed against union leaders and combatants in the country's left vs. right civil war.

Drummond began mining in Colombia in 1995. It operates a 25,000-acre surface mine near La Loma that produces more than 30 million tons a year or more than every mine in Alabama combined.

The appeal cites other reasons for seeking a new trial. The trial court, the appeal says, should have allowed for more debate on allowing certain aspects of Colombian law to apply. Also, the trial court should have allowed expert witnesses on the state of affairs in Colombia, its civil war, and the history of collaboration between the military and anti-union armed groups, the appeal says.

E-mail: rhubbard@bhamnews.com

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