BENJAMIN DECIDES TO STEP-DOWN FROM MASSEY CASES

(02/03/2009)

West Virginia's Supreme Court has generated negative stories in national media, TV and newspapers, and has been used as the storyline in a John Grisham novel, with a case headed to the US Supreme Court regarding Chief Justice Brent Benjamin. Benjamin has declined previously to recuse himself from Massey Coal cases, after Massey donated nearly $3 million to get him elected. Benjamin has now voluntarily removed himself from all state Supreme Court cases involving Massey Energy and its subsidiaries. The chief justice says he is doing so out of respect for the U.S. Supreme Court as it continues its review of the Harman Coal vs. Massey Energy case. The nation's highest court will hear arguments on that case next month. Harman owner Hugh Caperton says Benjamin should have never ruled on the Harman vs. Massey case because Massey owner Don Blankenship spent millions to help him [Benjamin] get elected in 2004. Justice Robin Davis will serve as Acting Chief Justice when Massey cases come before the court.

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