Tag: Settlement

Court Settlement Filed over W.Va. Mine Pollution

Environmentalists and the Pocahontas Land Corp. have agreed to settle a lawsuit over coal mine drainage into streams in southern West Virginia.

The environmental groups say Pocahontas’ former White Flame mountaintop-removal mine in Mingo County continues to discharge selenium, dissolved solids, sulfates and other pollutants into tributaries of the Tug Fork River.

The proposed consent decree filed Friday in federal court says Pocahontas will test the water and apply for a Clean Water Act permit from the state to address issues.

The Sierra Club says that when the mine was shuttered, Pocahontas’ mining permits were released and the company was no longer held responsible for ongoing pollution from waste-disposal sites.

Pocahontas’ attorney did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

W.Va. Settles Claims Against 3 Drug Companies

The West Virginia Attorney General’s Office says it has reached settlements with three more prescription drug wholesalers for $800,000 resolving allegations they failed to detect, report and stop suspiciously large drug orders into the state.

According to the office, the settlements with Smith Drug Company, Top Rx and Masters Pharmaceutical expand their responsibility to report suspicious orders to state authorities.

The companies deny any liability in the settlements.

Smith is to pay $400,000 with Top Rx and Masters paying $200,000 each.

The attorney general’s office says the each allegedly distributed far fewer pills than some other companies.

So far nine companies have reached settlements with more than $7.5 million paid to the state.

The case against some others continues in Boone Circuit Court. 

Chemical Spill Exec Urges Settlement Approval in Lawsuit

The executive in charge during a water-tainting chemical spill in 2014 wants a judge to approve his class-action lawsuit settlement.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that on Tuesday, ex-Freedom Industries official Gary Southern asked U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver in Charleston to approve his settlement.

Under the agreement, Southern would pay $350,000 to resolve claims in the January 2014 leak, which spurred a do-not-use order on 300,000 people’s tap water for days.

Southern was sentenced 30 days in prison for related criminal pollution violations.

The class-action still targets West Virginia American Water, Eastman Chemical and ex-Freedom official Dennis Farrell for various roles in the Charleston spill.

Lawyers for affected residents and businesses who sued have urged for approval of Southern’s settlement since December 2015.

The trial date is Oct. 25.

Four Financial Groups Settle $1.3M Suit With State

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says four financial companies are settling an antitrust case for $1.3 million.Morrisey says UBS, FSA,…

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says four financial companies are settling an antitrust case for $1.3 million.

Morrisey says UBS, FSA, Natixis and Municipal Bond Insurance Association reached the settlement in a larger case that has totaled $4.7 million.

Morrisey’s office inherited the case from former Attorney General Darrell McGraw, who sued more than 20 banks and financial companies for alleged violations of state and federal antitrust laws.

Morrisey’s office says the case involved illegal bid rigging, which limited competition, fixed bond rates and caused cities and state agencies to lose money.

The case was filed in Mason County and transferred into a multistate federal case in New York.

The companies deny any allegations of wrongdoing with the settlement.

The settlement will benefit various state and local agencies.

 

Charleston to Pay Man $650K After Medication Mix-Up

Charleston city officials will pay a man $650,000 after paramedics mistakenly gave him a numbing medication that is a controlled substance.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports city council members approved the settlement Monday night.

City attorney Paul Ellis says the settlement is probably the largest paid by the city in nearly a decade.

Ellis says 69-year-old Denzil Hager fell at his home in January and fractured his hip. While in a city ambulance, paramedics intended to give him saline intravenously, but mistakenly gave him lidocaine and he became unresponsive.

Hager’s attorney Brett Preston says Hager spent months in a rehabilitation facility, surviving with the use of a feeding tube.

Ellis says the city will pay $300,000 of the settlement and its insurance carrier will pay the remaining $350,000.

EPA Reaches Settlement with Koppers Inc.

The Environmental Protection Agency has reached a settlement with the carbon material and chemical company Koppers Inc. The settlement is aimed at preventing oil spills into the Ohio River from the company’s Follansbee facility in Brooke County. The river provides drinking water to 5 million people and is widely used for recreation. 

In October of 2015, the EPA inspected the plant’s 92 above-ground storage tanks, which can store more than 18 million gallons of oil, and surrounding facilities. The inspectors found that Koppers had not properly inspected the tanks to make sure they could still be safely used. Also, secondary containment barriers outside of the tanks were found to be both structurally unsound and too small to contain the oil in the event of a spill.

The EPA says Koppers has been cooperative with its order to improve the secondary containment barriers and test all above-ground oil storage tanks. The company should complete all improvements by the end of March.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation.

Exit mobile version