Tag: Lawsuit

Local Health Department Joining W.Va. Chemical Spill Lawsuit

The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department plans to join the city of Charleston in suing over a Jan. 9 chemical spill that contaminated 300,000 West Virginians’ water supply.
 
County Health Department board members voted Tuesday to partner on the lawsuit. The city hasn’t filed anything yet.

County Health officer Rahul Gupta said the department incurred more than $200,000 in costs while responding to the spill. It’s unclear which entities a lawsuit would target.
 
Dozens of businesses and individuals are suing the company that leaked chemicals, Freedom Industries. Many claim they lost wages and profits during a water-use ban that lasted up to 10 days. Freedom is temporarily shielded from lawsuits during bankruptcy proceedings.
 

Other lawsuits target West Virginia American Water and Eastman Chemical Co., which produces the main spilled chemical.

Parent Sues Center in Romney, Alleges Son Abused

A center for developmentally disabled people is being sued by a parent who alleges employees abused a 17-year-old former resident.
 
The lawsuit claims that the Potomac Center in Romney was negligent in in hiring, training and supervising staff to prevent the alleged abuse.
 
The Cumberland Times-News reports that a Charleston law firm filed the lawsuit on behalf of the teenager, identified only as R.M., on Monday in Hampshire County Circuit Court. A dozen employees also are named as defendants.
 
Potomac Center CEO Rick Harshbarger didn’t immediately return a telephone message Tuesday from The Associated Press.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources removed 24 children from the center in January after upper management reported child abuse allegations. West Virginia State Police are investigating the allegations.
 
 

Worker Injured in W.Va. Explosion Sues Airgas

A worker at Airgas USA's former facility in Putnam County is suing the company over a 2013 explosion that he says left him permanently injured. William…

A worker at Airgas USA’s former facility in Putnam County is suing the company over a 2013 explosion that he says left him permanently injured.
 
William Lee Parrigan’s lawsuit alleges that the company exposed him to an unsafe working condition.
 
The lawsuit claims the Winfield resident was required to “bleed out” tanks containing acetylene gas without attaching any cyclinders to a manifold system. The lawsuit says this would have prevented the release of the flammable gas into the atmosphere.
 

The Charleston Gazette reports that the lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Putnam County Circuit Court.
 
Airgas spokesman J. Barrett Strzelec tells the newspaper that the company doesn’t comment on pending lawsuits.

Putnam County authorities have said the explosion involved about 50 tanks of acetylene.
 
Airgas closed the facility last August.

W.Va. to Get Nearly $700,000 in E-Book Settlement

West Virginia consumers who might have overpaid for e-books will receive nearly $700,000 from the partial settlement of a national lawsuit.
 
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office announced Wednesday the refunds are being paid out to consumers who purchased electronic books from some publishers from April 2010 to May 2012. The refunds are in the form of account credits, coupons or checks.
 
The lawsuit was filed by 33 states against Apple Inc. and five of the nation’s six largest e-book publishers. The publishers settled claims against them for a total payment of $166 million.  
 
Apple is battling claims in district court that it violated antitrust laws.
 

Murray Energy Sues EPA, Alleges Law Noncompliance

An Ohio-based coal operator is suing the head of the Environmental Protection Agency over the agency’s administration and enforcement of the Clean Air Act.
 
Murray Energy alleges in its lawsuit that EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy has failed to comply with the law’s requirement to evaluate the potential impact of the agency’s regulatory actions on employment.
 
Murray Energy and several subsidiaries filed the lawsuit on Monday in U.S. District Court in Wheeling.
 
The lawsuit asks the court to order McCarthy to evaluate whether the EPA’s regulatory actions have resulted in coal industry job losses or employment shifts over the past six years. It also seeks an injunction barring the EPA from approving further regulations affecting coal employment until the evaluation is completed.
 
The EPA didn’t immediately comment on the lawsuit Tuesday.
 

Property Owners Sue Over 2012 Sissonville Pipeline Blast

NiSource Inc. and two subsidiaries are being sued by two Sissonville property owners over a 2012 natural gas pipeline rupture and explosion.
 
John Hampton Tinney and his sister, Elizabeth Tinney Garten, allege in their lawsuit that the explosion rendered their property “valueless” and ruined their chances to sell it.
 
The lawsuit names as defendants NiSource, Columbia Pipeline Group Services Co., Columbia Gas Transmission and several employees.
 
The defendants denied the allegations in their responses to the lawsuit. They say the lawsuit didn’t state a claim for which relief could be granted. They also say the damage was caused by preexisting or unrelated events.
 
The Charleston Daily Mail reports that the lawsuit was filed in early February in Kanawha County Circuit Court, and the responses were filed last week.
 

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