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Another Legal Victory for Tough Coal Boss/WEST VIRGINIA SUPREME COURT SCANDAL
April 7th, 2008
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Another Legal Victory for Tough Coal Boss
Questions Have Emerged About Blankenship's Relationships With State Supreme Court Justices Hearing Multi-Million-Dollar Appeals by His Company
By BRIAN ROSS and MADDY SAUERApril 7, 2008
The CEO of the country's fourth largest coal company scored another legal victory last week, just days after an ABC News producer attempted to question him about his financial and personal relationships with West Virginia Supreme Court justices.Questions have emerged about Massey Energy chairman Don Blankenship's relationships with state supreme court justices who are hearing appeals by Massey that could cost his company hundreds of millions of dollars.
The court ruled in favor of Massey late last week in a $70 million appeal in which a smaller company, Harman Mining, had accused Massey of running it out of business by defaulting on contracts and committing fraud. Harman had won the case in trial court, but Massey appealed the case to the Supreme Court.
Justice Brent Benjamin
Shortly after the initial verdict against Massey, Blankenship helped to raise $3.5 million for an advertising campaign that led to the defeat of one of the Supreme Court justices. The winning candidate who benefited from Blankenship's money, Justice Brent Benjamin, has refused to recuse himself from the Massey appeals. Benjamin turned down a request from ABC News to be interviewed. Despite numerous requests for his recusal, Benjamin writes in court documents that there is no evidence to suggest that he cannot be fair and impartial.
The Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard did recuse himself from the Massey appeal, having initially sided with the company in the first appeal, after photographs surfaced showing that he vacationed with Blankenship in the French Riviera.
Justice Maynard told ABC News in an interview to be broadcast tonight on "World News With Charles Gibson" and "Nightline" that there was nothing improper about the trip and that he paid his own way for himself and his female companion.
Watch the full report tonight on "World News With Charles Gibson" at 6:30 p.m. ET and on "Nightline" at 11:35 p.m. ET.
watch the video:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4604200&page=1
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WEST VIRGINIA SUPREME COURT SCANDAL
This coal-transfer plant along U.S. Highway 119 in southern West Virginia is just one of several plants operated by the country's fourth largest coal producer in revenue, Massey Energy.
Don Blankenship is Massey Energy's chairman and CEO and a familiar face in West Virginia politics. Recently, questions emerged about his relationships with justices on the West Virginia State Supreme Court, which is hearing appeals brought by Massey Energy that could cost his company hundreds of millions of dollars if not successful.
The appeals involve a smaller company, Harman Mining, run by Hugh Caperton. Initially, a West Virginian jury found Massey Energy responsible for running Harman Mining out of business by defaulting on contracts and committing fraud.
"It was a big victory, and it was really after that victory that things, I would say, got stranger and more surreal," John Fawcett, attorney for Harman Mining, told ABC News of that initial verdict.
Massey Energy appealed the jury's decision to the West Virginia Supreme Court at a hearing in Charleston.
Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard was one of the justices who overturned the lower court's verdict and voted in favor of Massey on the appeal.
Earlier this year, photos surfaced of Chief Justice Maynard and Massey CEO Blankenship vacationing together with their girlfriends in the summer of 2006, the same time that the Massey appeal was in front of the state Supreme Court.
Both Justice Maynard and Blankenship told ABC News there was nothing improper about the trip, but Maynard later recused himself from two Massey appeals.
Justice Brent Benjamin has refused to recuse himself from Massey cases, despite having benefited from a $3.5 million ad campaign that Blankenship waged against Benjamin's opponent in the election. Benjamin cast the deciding vote in Massey's favor late last week in the Harman case.
Fellow Justice Larry Starcher, who has recused himself from hearing Massey's appeals, tells ABC News he was outraged at Blankenship's use of money and political tactics to create what he calls a cancer in the court.
ABC News attempted to interview Blankenship at his office in Kentucky last week.
When an ABC News producer approached him, the CEO said, "If you're going to start taking pictures of me, you're liable to get shot."
Posted by: Nick Regalado
