Articles by Ben Neary

Wyoming Workplace Fatality Bill Endorsed by Lawmakers

Lawmakers have advanced a proposal that would sharply increase penalties when employee deaths occur because of safety violations at large companies in Wyoming, which has long been among the top states for workplace deaths. Members of the Joint Labor, Health …

Wyoming Hitching Post Owners, Insurer Settle Suit

An insurance company has reached a confidential settlement agreement with the company that owns The Hitching Post Inn, the landmark Cheyenne, Wyo. hotel that lost its main lodge in an arson fire a few years ago. U.S. District Judge Nancy …

Wyoming Government, Pool Paid $1.25M To Man Cleared Of Murder

Wyoming government agencies paid $1.25 million last month to settle a federal lawsuit brought by a Montana man who was cleared of a murder conviction. The state recently entered a confidential settlement with Troy Willoughby of Wickes, Mont. Payment records …

Wyoming Court Oks Phone Approvals For DUI Testing

The Wyoming Supreme Court has endorsed a 2011 state law allowing judges to grant authority to police over the telephone to force motorists to submit to DUI testing. In Friday’s ruling, the court concluded it’s not a violation of the …

Relatives Of Montana Man Sue Hospital Over Opiate Patch Death

Relatives of a Montana man who died of a drug overdose following surgery at a hospital in Cody, Wyo., have filed a federal lawsuit claiming negligence by the hospital and medical personnel who gave him an opiate patch. The estate …

Insurer Seeks Delay in Landmark Wyoming Hotel Arson Suit

An insurance company is asking a federal judge in Cheyenne to delay a lawsuit over a disputed insurance claim in a 2010 fire that destroyed a landmark Wyoming hotel. National Security Corp. has asked U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal to …

Wyoming Senate Kills Workplace Safety Bill

A bill that would have increased employer penalties for workplace safety violations died in the Wyoming State Senate. House Bill 93 had come out of a worker safety task force Gov. Dave Freudenthal appointed last year to address the state’s …

Wyoming Workplace Deaths Tied to ‘Ornery’ Culture

A federal official who’s been studying Wyoming’s high rate of workplace fatalities said the state needs to foster an environment where workers regard following safety procedures as proof of their professionalism, not as a sign of weakness. Dr. George A. …

Crane Company: Shifting Earth May Have Caused Wyo. Accident

A top official for the company that owns the crane that collapsed on May 31, 2008, in an accident that injured three workers at a Wyoming coal mine said that it appears the earth shifted under the crane. Lampson International, …