N.M. Federal Judge Splits Gold King Mine MDL Trial Into 3 Phases

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico federal judge has granted plaintiffs’ request to trifurcate a trial involving the 2015 spill of three million gallons of contaminated water from the shuttered Gold King Mine in Colorado.

On Oct. 15, Chief Judge William P. Johnson of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico adopted Special Master Alan Torgerson’s determination that splitting the trial into three phases will maximize the efficiency of the litigation.

The actions in the multidistrict litigation docket arise from the August 2015 spill of approximately three million gallons of acidic, mine-impacted waters from the Gold …