JUSTICE MAYNARD RECUSES SELF FROM SECOND MASSEY CASE

(01/30/2008)

Supreme Court Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard is stepping down from another high-profile case involving Massey Energy. Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel sought Maynard's disqualification from a Brooke County case involving a $240 million-dollar judgment it won against Massey. A court ruled against Massey, saying Massey cheated Wheeling-Pittsburgh by not delivering contracted coal, but instead sold it to another country for a much better price. Massey is appealing the decision to the WV Supreme Court. Maynard already recused himself from a $76 million Boone County case involving the now bankrupt Harman Coal, a contract dispute that a lower court confirmed that Massey was guilty of wrongdoing. The Maynard recusals follow the release of European vacation photos that raised questions about Maynard's friendship with Massey chief executive Don Blankenship. Another justice, Brent Benjamin, has declined to recuse himself, although Massey's Blankenship spent about $3 million to get him elected, using a political slogan "For the Sake of the Children."

Hur Herald ®from Sunny Cal The information on these pages, to the extent the law allows, remains the exclusive property of Bob Weaver and Dianne Weaver The Hur Herald. All information may be freely used but must not be sold or used in any type of commercial endeavor, or used on any web site without the express permission of the owners ©Bob and Dianne Weaver, The Hur Herald, 1999, 2000, 2001