…[C]oal magnate Bob Murray...won a pair of legal victories in lawsuits against HBO comedian John Oliver and the New York Times over their portrayal of his coal business. 

A federal district court judge in West Virginia denied the newspaper's request to throw out Murray's defamation lawsuit against it. The judge also agreed with Murray that the HBO case be sent to a lower state court for review... 

...Friday's decisions were not on the merits of either case, but were more procedural in nature. Nevertheless, they demonstrate that the legal arguments that Murray is making aren't going away any time soon. 

The issue at hand is a 2007 coal mine disaster that occurred at one of Murray's mines in Utah that resulted in the deaths of nine mine workers... 

The settlement that Murray signed showed four safety violation that the Labor Department said contributed to the collapse of the mine. Yet, Murray insisted...that "this settlement is not an admission of any contribution to the...accidents."...