Murray Energy sues John Oliver, HBO over coal-industry story

Maria Puente | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Coal Company sues HBO's John Oliver for defamation Coal company Murray Energy has sued HBO and its Sunday-night host, John Oliver, for what it says was a "false and malicious broadcast" last Sunday evening.

John Oliver, HBO and Time Warner have been sued for defamation for allegedly executing a "maliciously planned attempt to assassinate the character and reputation" of an Ohio coal company and its boss during a long-form story about the industry on Last Week Tonight's June 18 episode.

The piece sought to determine what measures actually help out-of-work miners.

"Donald Trump insists that he's helping miners by reducing regulations on coal miners," Oliver said during the segment. "But too often, people conflate coal, coal miners and coal companies and imply that when you help one, you help them all. But they are not all in the same boat."

Murray Energy, an Ohio-based coal company, and its CEO, Robert Murray, filed the suit Wednesday in Marshall County, W.Va., accusing Oliver and HBO of a "callous, vicious and false" attack on the coal industry, part of their "most recent attempt to advance their biases against the coal industry and their disdain for the coal-related policies of the Trump administration."

Murray Energy employs about 5,400 people, about half of those in West Virginia.

The lawsuit describes Murray, 77, as a man who needs a lung transplant who does not expect to live to see the case's outcome. Murray is seeking financial damages and a court order barring rebroadcasts of the Sunday segment's "defamatory statements."

Oliver's Last Week Tonight segment lampooned the Trump administration's effort to revive the coal industry, saying coal has declined over decades as other energy alternatives have advanced. He also jokingly likened coal to "cocaine for Thomas the Tank Engine."

Murray's claim that President Trump "gets" the coal industry was caustically dismissed by Oliver on the show. "Uh, hang on there, Bob, no he doesn't. He barely gets what mining is," Oliver said.

He ribbed Murray, describing him as a "geriatric Dr. Evil," and noted that the company had fought against coal safety regulations while blaming President Obama's efforts on mine safety for damaging the industry.

The Last Week Tonight story specifically mentioned the company's unsuccessful attempt to block a regulation "aimed at reducing miners' exposure to coal dust, which causes black lung, a disease that killed as many as 10,000 people between 1995 and 2005. Murray insisted the rule was 'illegal, destructive and did nothing for their health, although last year, with the rule in effect, government reports found dust levels fell to historic lows."

Murray's suit suggests he did not appreciate the jokes, calling the segment "designed solely to harass and embarrass" him and his company.

"Defendants childishly demeaned and disparaged Mr. Murray and his companies," the suit says. He accused Oliver of making jokes about his age, health and appearance. He "made light" of a 2007 mine collapse in Utah (in which nine people died), broadcast false statements and incited viewers around the world to "do harm to Mr. Murray and his companies."

The suit says Oliver and HBO ignored information Murray sent the show showing that an earthquake caused the 2007 collapse at Crandall Canyon mine. Even before the broadcast, the suit says, Murray warned Oliver and his producers that they were relying on outdated, false and "discredited media reports" about the collapse.

Oliver actually cited a report from the Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration stating the accident was caused by "unauthorized mining practices" and that there was "no evidence that a naturally-occurring earthquake caused the collapse."

The suit said Murray has been advised to stop working because of stress. "But nothing has ever stressed him more than this vicious and untruthful attack," the suit says.

Oliver has not personally responded to the lawsuit but Jeff Cusson, a representative for HBO, told USA TODAY that the subscription-based cable network has "confidence in the staff of Last Week Tonight" and that it does "not believe anything in the show this week violated Mr. Murray's or Murray Energy's rights." He added that the statement had been filed with the court.

Oliver noted on the show that Murray Energy has a litigious past, and last month sued the New York Times for libel. And he added that the show contacted Murray Energy for the story, they got back a letter threatening immediate litigation if they did not " cease and desist from any effort to defame, harass or otherwise injure Mr. Murray or Murray Energy."

Incredibly, the comedian noted that despite four seasons of in-depth reporting on controversial issues, "A cease-and-desist letter is something we've never received before on this show." (According to Cusson, the Murray case is the first lawsuit to be filed over a Last Week Tonight story.)

But this is not the first time an industry or a company has sued an entertainer or celebrity for defamation. In 1996, during the mad-cow disease scare, Oprah Winfrey discussed the beef industry on her talk show, at one point exclaiming that revelations about its practices "stopped me cold from eating another hamburger!"

Beef prices plunged after the episode aired. A group of angry cattle ranchers in Texas filed a $10.3 million lawsuit claiming she defamed the entire industry. Two years later, they lost in court. "Free speech not only lives, it rocks," Winfrey exulted to reporters when she emerged from the courthouse in Amarillo, Texas.

"I'm still off hamburgers," she added.