Legal victory over coal baron

John Oliver has won a legal victory over a coal magnate he called a ‘geriatric Dr. Evil’.

The notoriously litigious Robert Murray sued the comedian - having previously tried to suppress discussion of  his mining business by issuing a 'cease and desist' letter to the makers of Oliver’s HBO show Last Week Tonight.

On the programme, which aired in June last year, Oliver criticised the Murray Energy Corporation over their safety record, raising the issue of the collapse at one of his mines in 2007 which trapped and killed six miners.

In a follow-up section the comic also correctly predicted that the 78-year-old would sue over the segment, which ended with a giant squirrel telling the tycoon to ‘eat shit, Bob’. 

The energy chief’s lawyers had claimed Oliver ‘executed a meticulously planned attempt to assassinate the character of and reputation of Mr. Robert E. Murray and his companies’.

Their writ also said: ‘Defendants childishly demeaned and disparaged Mr. Murray and his companies, made jokes about Mr Murray's age, health, and appearance.’ And it suggested the insults against him could shorten his life expectancy as Murray  has pulmonary fibrosis and is dependent on an oxygen tank

However, Judge Jeffrey Cramer of West Virginia has today ruled in favour of  HBO’s motion to dismiss the suit, saying the legal argument that they were protected under their right to free speech, was ‘well-founded [and] appropriate’

Murray has always insisted the 2007 collapse was due to a naturally occurring earthquake, something an official report into the incident dismissed, saying it was down to 'a flawed mine design'. 

The legal papers also insisted the cease-and-desist letter was a 'humanitarian' gesture to stop the Oliver making 'any misguided attempt at humor regarding the tragic mine collapse and loss of life, which Plaintiffs believed would be cruel and heartless'.

They added: 'Presumably to boost ratings, line their pockets with profits, and advance the show's anti-coal agenda, Defendant Oliver intentionally, falsely, and outrageously conveyed that Mr Murray has no evidence to support his statements that an earthquake caused the tragedy.'

Murray has filed over a dozen defamation lawsuits against journalists and newspapers, none of which have ever reached judgment in his favour.

He has even sued the Environmental Protection Agency for 'administering and enforcing the Clean Air Act in a manner that is causing coal mines to close'.

A 2012 Huffington Post article named him as the 'worst boss ever' after it emerged that he bullied his employees into making personal donations to pro-coal political candidates.

Here’s Oliver’s 24-minute section in full:

Published: 24 Feb 2018