Tag: Lawsuits

Cities Accuse Paving Companies of Monopolizing Industry

Several cities in West Virginia are suing paving companies, accusing them of developing a statewide monopoly to inflate the cost of asphalt.

Beckley, Charleston, Bluefield and Parkersburg are accusing the companies of creating a scheme that caused the municipalities to pay at least 40 percent more for asphalt that they should have.

The cities allege that the companies took control of at least 15 asphalt plants that at one time competed with each other and kept prices at competitive levels. The cities say the companies’ actions have violated the West Virginia Antitrust Act, which protects free trade and commerce.

Several companies including West Virginia Paving were named in the complaints. West Virginia Paving’s Dunbar office didn’t immediately respond to the Charleston Gazette-Mail’s request for comment.

Judge Restores Benefits to Recipients of Waiver Program

A federal judge has ruled that five disabled West Virginians should get the same amount of funding they got before cuts were made to the state’s Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities waiver program.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston recently issued a preliminary injunction ordering the state Department of Health and Human Resources to reinstate the disabled West Virginians’ individualized budgets to the amounts they received in 2014.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that attorneys representing the waiver recipients filed a request for injunctive relief against the DHHR last year to make the agency reverse course on cuts to the program.

The program provides disabled West Virginia Medicaid recipients money for in-home services and community-based programs.

DHHR said in a statement that it would comply with the order.

Attorney General Sues Two Utah-Based Pharmacies

West Virginia’s attorney general has filed lawsuits against two pharmacies that he’s seeking to block from doing business in the state.

  Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office filed the lawsuits against David Pharmacy LLC and Rock City Pharmacy LLC in the Raleigh Circuit Court Thursday. His office says both pharmacies are based in Utah.

Morrisey says the companies used personal information from patients to transfer prescriptions to their Utah pharmacies without the patients’ authorization. He says that meant patients had to pay much more for their prescriptions.

Morrisey is also seeking a $5,000 fine for each violation of the state’s consumer protection laws.

An official with Rock City Pharmacy was not immediately available for comment on Friday. David Pharmacy didn’t immediately return a message.

Dozens of W.Va. Lawsuits Filed Against DuPont

Dozens of West Virginia residents have filed lawsuits against chemical company DuPont for contaminating drinking water.

Filed in West Virginia federal court Friday, the lawsuits allege that the company discharged the chemical C8 into waters surrounding its Washington Works Plant near Parkersburg.

Kathy Brown, a Charleston lawyer representing the plaintiffs, says the lawsuits stem from a 2005 class-action settlement. That settlement followed a lawsuit claiming that six water systems in Ohio and West Virginia were contaminated by C8. A science panel found links between C8 and six medical ailments including testicular and kidney cancers.

Brown says residents of those water systems with any related medical ailments have until the end of January to file suit under the 2005 settlement’s terms. Brown says “between 500 and 600” more lawsuits are expected.

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