Opinion ID: 596204
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Plaintiffs' Claims and the District Court ruling.

Text: 26 The plaintiffs' Revised Third Amended Complaint set forth two claims for relief. The first claim asserted that Jack Marshall of the MSHA provided incorrect technical advice concerning the wiring of the lights on the continuous miner and that this incorrect advice was a cause of the explosion in the Dutch Creek No. 1 Mine. The district court held that this technical assistance claim was barred by the discretionary function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act. See 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h). 27 Plaintiffs' second claim for relief alleged that MSHA employees knowingly or intentionally failed to enforce detected violations of mandatory MSHA safety regulations. After hearing all of the evidence, the district court concluded that the plaintiffs had failed to show that MSHA employees knowingly or intentionally failed to enforce a safety violation. The court further concluded that the second claim for relief was not actionable because MSHA's alleged failure to enforce the regulations did not violate any duty under Colorado law and because the claim was barred by the discretionary function exception. 28 The plaintiffs attempted to include an allegation in their second claim for relief that MSHA inspectors negligently failed to enforce the regulations. Prior to trial, a magistrate refused to allow plaintiffs to include this allegation on the grounds that it was barred by the law of the case. After the presentation of the evidence, the plaintiffs again sought permission to assert the negligence allegation but were refused by the district court. In addition to the aforementioned rulings, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the United States prior to trial on three claims asserted by parents of deceased miners. 29 The plaintiffs contend that each of the foregoing rulings by the district court was in error. 30