Jan. 19, 2008
'Spike' Out but Benjamin Refuses to Recuse
Acting Chief Justice Names Hampshire County Judge
By Huntingtonnews.net Staff
West Virginia's chief Supreme Court justice Elliott E. 'Spike' Maynard agreed Friday, Jan. 18, 2008 to recuse himself from a pending case involving Massey Energy Co and Massey's President, CEO and Chairman Don Blankenship after pictures of the two of them vacationing in Monaco in July 2006, turned up.
Hugh M. Caperton, the owner and president of Harman Development Corporation, a mining company that Massey was said to have driven out of business, said he was angry when he learned about the photographs, and doubly so when he saw the dates time-stamped on them.
“That’s when all the miners take their families to Myrtle Beach and Pigeon Forge, if they can afford to,” Caperton was quoted as saying. “They go camping at the river while the chief justice and Don Blankenship are smiling and frolicking on the French Riviera.”
A Massey spokesman denied the implication that the two men were ''vacationing together.'' "It is my understanding Justice Maynard was in the Nice [France] area and Mr. Blankenship was in the Monte Carlo area. While they were there, they did meet up for lunch and/or dinner occasionally, " said Massey spokesman Jeff Gillenwater Monday.
“I have no doubt in my own mind and firmly believe I have been and would be fair and impartial in this case,” Chief Justice Maynard wrote in a statement. “The mere appearance of impropriety, regardless of whether it is supported by fact, can compromise the public confidence in the courts. For that reason — and that reason alone — I will recuse myself.”
On Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008, several of the mining company plaintiffs in the case, saying they were driven out of business by Massey, filed a separate motion seeking the disqualification of a second justice in the original majority, Justice Brent D. Benjamin. Justice Benjamin, who had no prior judicial experience, was elected to the court in 2004 with the help of more than $3 million in advertising and other support from Massey CEO Blankenship.
Justice Benjamin refused Friday and, as acting chief justice, named Hampshire County Circuit Judge Donald H. Cookman to hear a petition Jan. 24 seeking to revisit November's ruling reversing a $76.3 million judgment against Massey. Hampshire County is in the Eastern panhandle and Romney is the county seat.
"Donald Cookman is highly regarded and is an honorable person; of course I have no idea how he'll vote on this," said Justice Larry V. Starcher.
Blankenship and his companies have attracted attention for labor disputes, workplace injuries and a highly destructive form of mining called mountaintop removal that involves using explosives to blow off the tops of mountains to reach coal seams.
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Acting Chief Justice Names Hampshire County Judge
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By Huntingtonnews.net Staff
West Virginia's chief Supreme Court justice Elliott E. 'Spike' Maynard agreed Friday, Jan. 18, 2008 to recuse himself from a pending case involving Massey Energy Co and Massey's President, CEO and Chairman Don Blankenship after pictures of the two of them vacationing in Monaco in July 2006, turned up.
Hugh M. Caperton, the owner and president of Harman Development Corporation, a mining company that Massey was said to have driven out of business, said he was angry when he learned about the photographs, and doubly so when he saw the dates time-stamped on them.
“That’s when all the miners take their families to Myrtle Beach and Pigeon Forge, if they can afford to,” Caperton was quoted as saying. “They go camping at the river while the chief justice and Don Blankenship are smiling and frolicking on the French Riviera.”
A Massey spokesman denied the implication that the two men were ''vacationing together.'' "It is my understanding Justice Maynard was in the Nice [France] area and Mr. Blankenship was in the Monte Carlo area. While they were there, they did meet up for lunch and/or dinner occasionally, " said Massey spokesman Jeff Gillenwater Monday.
“I have no doubt in my own mind and firmly believe I have been and would be fair and impartial in this case,” Chief Justice Maynard wrote in a statement. “The mere appearance of impropriety, regardless of whether it is supported by fact, can compromise the public confidence in the courts. For that reason — and that reason alone — I will recuse myself.”
On Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008, several of the mining company plaintiffs in the case, saying they were driven out of business by Massey, filed a separate motion seeking the disqualification of a second justice in the original majority, Justice Brent D. Benjamin. Justice Benjamin, who had no prior judicial experience, was elected to the court in 2004 with the help of more than $3 million in advertising and other support from Massey CEO Blankenship.
Justice Benjamin refused Friday and, as acting chief justice, named Hampshire County Circuit Judge Donald H. Cookman to hear a petition Jan. 24 seeking to revisit November's ruling reversing a $76.3 million judgment against Massey. Hampshire County is in the Eastern panhandle and Romney is the county seat.
"Donald Cookman is highly regarded and is an honorable person; of course I have no idea how he'll vote on this," said Justice Larry V. Starcher.
Blankenship and his companies have attracted attention for labor disputes, workplace injuries and a highly destructive form of mining called mountaintop removal that involves using explosives to blow off the tops of mountains to reach coal seams.
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