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West Virginia’s new attorney general is living up to his promise to be different from his predecessor, five-term incumbent Darrell McGraw. Patrick Morrisey defeated McGraw in last year’s election without using public funds to subsidize his campaign, as McGraw did … Read More »

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In one of Hans Christian Andersen’s beloved fairy tales, a woman purporting to be a princess gives evidence of her exquisite sensitivity — thus confirming her royal identity — by demonstrating her ability to detect the presence of a single … Read More »

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Mama told me not to come. She said, “That ain’t the way to have fun, son.” Randy Newman’s song about an innocent teenager’s reaction to his first wild party was recorded by Eric Burdon & the Animals in 1966, but … Read More »

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Famed social scientist James Q. Wilson died just shy of a year ago. One of his greatest contributions to the world he left behind is the “broken windows” theory of law enforcement: the idea that communities should concentrate on the … Read More »

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Some ballroom dance instructors read the obituaries, looking for widows they can call up on the phone after a decent interval and sell dance lessons to. Some thieves read the obituaries, too, looking for funeral times that will indicate when … Read More »

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As president of Acme Motor Company, you’re enjoying record profits with your best-selling car, the Acme Pterodactyl, but you’re caught off guard when your archrival, Widget Motors, starts selling a snazzy new model called the Coolway. As sales of the … Read More »

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Whatever happened to the assumption of innocence and the right not to incriminate oneself? What about the old corpus delicti? When did that become superfluous? Now, in civil courts at least, it appears that defendants are often assumed to be … Read More »

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For every cliché, there’s a counter-cliché just as true, and that can be befuddling. For example, even though you know that you should always “look before you leap,” the instant it takes to do so could be the exact time … Read More »

“At Bob Evans, we treat strangers like friends and friends like family.” That’s the company philosophy of Bob Evans restaurants. The chain prides itself on its “ability to treat guests and employees how they deserve to be treated.” Of course, … Read More »

Last year, the Rand Institute for Civil Justice released a report examining the relationship between asbestos courts and asbestos trusts. The researchers had little data to work with, however, because settlements are kept confidential, making it difficult to determine if … Read More »

One might think it will be a sad day when the citizens of Putnam County lose the services of a man described as “the best family law judge in West Virginia, without any question.” Who is this man of sterling … Read More »

Back in the old days, before the publication of Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care and the advent of enlightened parenthood, suburban kids who misbehaved got spankings. Country kids who acted up went to the woodshed for a whuppin’. This … Read More »

You’ve got to wonder about some lawyers. Are they suicidal, or just IQ challenged? Imagine you’re an attorney trying a cute ploy. A judge tells you that a particular tactic is unacceptable and you can’t do it. How do you … Read More »

“Six-term incumbent Darrell McGraw”? We’ll never have to write those woeful words, and you’ll never have to read them. Which is a good thing, because those words would have stuck in our craw. We never liked the phrase “five-term incumbent … Read More »

In the opening scene of the classic caper comedy It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, a motorist speeding down the highway goes off a cliff and crashes. Several other cars pull over and some of the occupants make their … Read More »