WILLIAMSON — Mingo Circuit Judge Miki Thompson dismissed a writ of prohibition filed against Mingo Magistrate Judge Jim Harvey alleging erroneous rulings in a case.
The court found that Paul Lawson, the petitioner, who is also a named defendant in a case that gave rise to the writ of prohibition and was settled last month and that because the underlying matter was settled, the writ was moot, according to the April 8 court document.
Lawson noted in an April 5 court document that the underlying matter had been settled.
Miki J. Thompson
| courtswv.gov
The petition was originally filed on Feb. 12 alleging that Harvey had made erroneous rulings and abused his power in doing so.
"The Honorable Jim Harvey, Magistrate Judge of the Mingo County, West Virginia, Magistrate Court did abuse his power by making clearly erroneous rulings when he Ordered the Petitioner to respond to interrogatories and request for admissions propounded upon Petitioner by N.A.R. Inc. outside of the Rules of Civil Procedure for Magistrate Court," the petition states.
N.A.R., a debt collection firm, served Lawson on Oct. 7, 2020, with a complaint and Harvey ordered Lawson to respond outside of the scope of the Rules of Civil Procedure for Magistrate Court and forcing him to either engage in discovery not permitted by the rules or forcing him to have admissions held against him.
Lawson called the issue an "unwinnable dilemma" that he says was forced on him by Harvey abusing his power when he ordered Lawson to engage in discovery that was not permitted.
"The Honorable Jim Harvey committed clear legal error by Ordering Petitioner to engage in unlawful discovery or have admissions held against Petitioner's interests if he did not engage in unlawful discovery," the petition stated.
Lawson is represented by William C. Duty at Next Step Legal in Williamson.
Mingo Circuit Court case number: 21-C-14
