Steve Korris News
Lawmakers quickly change wiretapping law
CHARLESTON – One day, police planning to send "wired" informants into West Virginia homes needed special permission from far away.
McDowell assistant prosecutor, 19 other attorneys lose licenses
CHARLESTON – McDowell County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Dannie Barie has lost his law license.
Davis lectures Starcher in insurance opinion
Davis CHARLESTON – State Supreme Court Chief Justice Robin Jean Davis lectured Justice Larry Starcher so firmly over a dissent that he probably can count it as credit for continuing education.
Benjamin says fellow Justices wrongly stretched statute
Benjamin CHARLESTON – State Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin has accused his colleagues of rewriting law to stretch the statute of limitations for a plaintiff who suffered temporary insanity.
District judges reverse reprimand against attorneys over copying notes
RICHMOND, Va. – U.S. District Judge Frederick Stamp should not have reprimanded attorneys Alan Thomas and John Southerland of Charleston, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 7.
Other justices dishonored Recht, Benjamin says
Benjamin CHARLESTON – Four Justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals dishonored former Justice Arthur Recht when they ordered him to hold a new trial, in the view of dissenting Justice Brent Benjamin.
Justices still arguing over royalties in coal lease case
Benjamin CHARLESTON – Four months after the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals decided that attorneys in Wheeling could forever collect 30 percent of royalties on a coal lease they negotiated, the argument hasn't ended.
Insurance company might have broken law, Benjamin writes
CHARLESTON – Erie Insurance Property and Casualty Company may have violated state law, according to Justice Brent Benjamin of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
Justices say insurer must disclose its reserves
Albright CHARLESTON – Two years after the state Supreme Court of Appeals ruled that Erie Insurance Property and Casualty did not have to disclose its reserves to a woman who accused the insurer of bad faith, the Justices ruled that Erie had to after all.
Justices say Hampshire circuit judge abused power
CHARLESTON – Hampshire Circuit Judge Andrew Frye went overboard when he held Sylvia Catron in contempt for violating an injunction, according to the state Supreme Court of Appeals.
Justices grant new trial to man in Taco Bell robbery
CHARLESTON – Julian Smith, who served 14 years of a 40-year prison sentence for a robbery at a Taco Bell in South Charleston, has won a new trial.
Braxton magistrate will go before grand jury, prosecutor says
SUTTON – Criminal charges against Braxton County Magistrate Carolyn Cruickshanks will come before a grand jury in August, according to county prosecutor Daniel Dodson.
Judge orders stop to adult activities at Weirton mansion
Recht NEW CUMBERLAND – Circuit Judge Arthur Recht took a while to figure out how to apply zoning law to a kinky Web site, but at last he caught on.
Avandia study piques attorneys' interest at how-to-sue seminar
Houston attorney Mark Lanier CHICAGO – One million American diabetics take Avandia pills, and if more of them would suffer heart attacks attorneys could get rich.
Supreme Court's meth reversal sparks political debate
Maynard CHARLESTON – Driving someone else's car with two passengers, cold medicine, matches and syringes in it does not add up to conspiracy to make methamphetamine, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has ruled.
Starcher takes aim at Benjamin for 'gift' comment
Starcher CHARLESTON - Justice Larry Starcher of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals rebuked Justice Brent Benjamin for describing a decision granting a new trial to a criminal defendant as a gift.
McGraw owes former employee nothing, Supreme Court says
McGraw CHARLESTON – Working for West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw depressed Donald Darling and gave him migraine headaches, but the Supreme Court of Appeals says McGraw owes him nothing.
Pharmacies don't provide health care, Supreme Court rules
Starcher CHARLESTON – Pharmacies do not provide health care, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has decided.
Physicians Mutual already paying back state loan, 28 years early
CHARLESTON – West Virginia Physicians' Mutual Insurance Company has started paying off a $24 million state loan, 28 years ahead of schedule.
Physicians Mutual wins, loses in Supreme Court
Albright CHARLESTON – West Virginia Physicians Mutual Insurance Company lost some freedom and gained some at the Supreme Court of Appeals.