MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — The widows of two West Virginia coal miners killed in a 2006 fire want the state Supreme Court to rule that private and federal mine safety inspectors can be held legally liable when workers die as a result of their negligence.

Last month, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., said it found no case law, constitutional authority or state statute to definitively answer what it called “a pure question of state law” that has yet to be specifically addressed. It urged the high court to decide the question once and for all, calling it “a matter of exceptional importance” for West Virginia.