Tag: Courts

Justice-Owned Company Faces Workers Compensation Suit

LM Insurance, a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual, says Bluestone Resources and affiliated Justice companies owe $1.75 million in payments.

A company owned by the family of Gov. Jim Justice has been sued over workers compensation. 

LM Insurance, a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual, says Bluestone Resources and affiliated Justice companies owe $1.75 million in premium payments. 

The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, says Bluestone filed an application in 2020 for a workers compensation insurance policy for its operations in Virginia and West Virginia.

In 2021, LM Insurance canceled the policy for non-payment of premiums. 

In 2022, Bluestone made a payment toward the premiums of $50,000, the court filing says.

LM Insurance asked Bluestone to pay the remaining balance of $1.75 million, but Bluestone has not done so, the filing says.

LM sued Bluestone for breach of contract and unjust enrichment. It seeks compensatory damages, interest, court costs and further relief if the court sees fit.

Neither Justice nor any of his family members are named in the suit. Bluestone is based in Roanoke, Virginia.

Another company has sued Bluestone in the same Virginia court. Caroleng Investments, an offshore company based in the British Virgin Islands, says Bluestone owes it $13 million.

Last month, Caroleng’s attorneys sought a court order for the U.S. Marshals to seize a helicopter belonging to Bluestone that was housed at the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport. 

Bluestone and another of its creditors, an Indiana bank, asked the court to stay the order. Meanwhile, the helicopter was moved from Roanoke to Burlington, North Carolina.

A judge issued the stay. A hearing will be held Friday to work toward settling the dispute.

Intermediate Court Of Appeals Brings Arguments To Concord

The Intermediate Court of Appeals of West Virginia will hear three arguments at Concord University this Thursday, Sept. 21 as part of a new judicial educational initiative called ICA On-Campus.

The state’s newest court is taking their work on the road this week. 

The Intermediate Court of Appeals of West Virginia (ICA) will hear three arguments at Concord University this Thursday, Sept. 21 as part of a new judicial educational initiative called ICA On-Campus.

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals regularly hears arguments at West Virginia University and Marshall University, including a tradition of visiting Marshall every few years in mid-September to honor the anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787. 

Intermediate Court of Appeals Chief Justice Dan Greear said his court wanted to do something similar but include the state’s other four year institutions.

“We just wanted to share that experience and broaden the students that we can reach with that,” he said. “Students at Shepherd or West Virginia State or Concord or Bluefield State, or wherever, ought to have the same kinds of opportunities if we can do it. We just thought it’d be a much better use of resources to kind of expand the universe of students who are able to see that versus just repeating the same old thing to the same old students.” 

Greear said the ICA will host one on-campus argument day during each term of court moving forward – once in the fall and again in the spring. The Chief Justice of the court chooses the venue for each term.

“I got the first pick, and my son graduated from Concord last spring, so that’s why I chose Concord,” Greear said. “Judge (Thomas) Scarr will be chief beginning in January, so it’ll be up to him to choose where we’re gonna go in the spring and fall next term.” 

The court invites students to witness the branch of government and observe what happens. 

“Hopefully, the prelaw students or students in other majors that relate to the law that might be interested in that will get to come out and see firsthand what happens,” Greear said.

After each argument at Thursday’s hearing, the ICA’s three judges will step aside so students and the public can have a short question and answer session with the attorneys about the cases they argued. After the argument docket is over, the judges will be available informally to answer questions about the judiciary.

U.S. Judge Ignores Edict To Stop Civil Cases During Shutdown

A federal judge in West Virginia is ignoring an edict that certain civil cases in his district be suspended during the U.S. government’s shutdown.

Judge Irene Berger of West Virginia’s southern district had granted an order postponing civil cases involving government agencies. But Judge Joseph Goodwin in Charleston ruled Wednesday he’s going to hear cases assigned to him.

At the request of U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart, Berger last week ruled such civil cases will be stopped temporarily. She cited the “lapse of congressional appropriations funding the federal government” that required workforce reductions within the U.S. attorney’s office and other federal agencies.

But Goodwin wrote, “The government should not be given special influence or accommodation in cases where such special considerations are unavailable to other litigants.”

Federal courts in other states, including Kentucky and in Manhattan, New York, also have suspended work on civil cases involving U.S. government lawyers.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said in a statement Wednesday that federal courts in the state will be able to operate until next week because they have enough funding through court fee balances and other funds. He said many staff “will continue to work without pay to ensure the judiciary and law enforcement continues.”

Goodwin was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 1995. His son, Booth Goodwin, was Stuart’s predecessor in the southern district, serving as U.S. attorney from 2010 to 2015.

W.Va. Supreme Court Rules Against Child in Inheritance Case

West Virginia’s Supreme Court says children cannot inherit from a biological parent’s estate if that parent has no will and had their rights terminated.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the justices ruled 3-2 Friday to uphold a decision by a Mercer County circuit judge to deny an inheritance for the daughter of a man who died in 2011. That man had no will and his parental rights were terminated for alleged sexual abuse against her. He died before the criminal case was resolved.

The majority opinion said the state’s inheritance laws do not provide clear support or define children’s rights in such cases.

The opinion said the Legislature must make any change in the law and it can’t come through legal precedent.

The man’s parental rights were terminated in Mercer County Circuit Court in 2008 amid an investigation by Child Protective Services. He and his wife divorced that year.

“While we are sympathetic to (the daughter’s) circumstances, the decision of this court must be guided by the law and not our sympathies,” Justice Robin Davis wrote in the majority opinion.

Chief Justice Margaret Workman and Justice Menis Ketchum dissented.

Workman said the court’s ruling was “wrong, wrong, wrong, both from a legal and human perspective.”

She said the lack of a clear definition in state law does not negate the fact that the girl is the man’s “child, descendant, and sole beneficiary under West Virginia Code.”

“Even though his parental rights were legally terminated, her rights as his child and decedent remain intact,” she said.

Workman wrote the justices in the majority effectively established a new law extinguishing the right of a child to inherit from a parent without a will and whose rights had been terminated.

 

Freedom Industries' Bankruptcy at Crossroads

  A federal bankruptcy judge is calling for parties to meet to discuss how to conclude the case of Freedom Industries, whose January 2014 chemical spill caused a tap-water ban for 300,000 people for days.

The Charleston Gazette reports Judge Ronald Pearson scheduled a March 3 status conference in the case.

In a Feb. 6 order, Pearson noted more than $300 million in claims had been filed against Freedom. Spill victims filed 3,800 of them.

Pearson said Freedom has $1.5 million left after starting the case with almost $16 million.

Pearson said the court isn’t comfortable deciding a proposed $3.2 million insurance settlement without consulting spill claimants. Ex-Freedom President Gary Southern has objected to the settlement.

Southern, five other ex-Freedom officials and the company itself face charges in the spill.

Tomblin Appoints Successor to Circuit Judge Who Resigned After Affair

  Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has appointed an Elkins attorney to succeed a circuit court judge who resigned after admitting having an affair with a corrections official.

Tomblin announced David H. Wilmoth’s appointment to the Randolph County judgeship Friday. Wilmoth succeeds Jaymie Wilfong, who resigned in November.

Wilmoth is a graduate of Marshall University and West Virginia University College of Law. He began his legal career in 1991 at Jory & Smith before establishing his own law firm in 1997.

Wilfong resigned after the West Virginia Supreme Court suspended her for having a two-year affair with William Travis Carter. At the time, Carter was director of the North Central Community Corrections program in Elkins. He resigned from that position in December 2013.

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