CHARLESTON – The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has recommended a public reprimand for former Kanawha prosecuting attorney Mark Plants in proceedings before the Lawyer Disciplinary Board.
CHARLESTON – Nicholas Circuit Court judge-elect Stephen Callaghan has filed a lawsuit asking for a federal judge to dismiss a disciplinary case against him. Callaghan is facing ethics charges for campaign tactics during the May primary, in which he defeated longtime Nicholas Circuit Judge Gary Johnson by just over 200 votes.
CHARLESTON – West Virginia Court Administrator Steve Canterbury is looking forward to being the next president of the Conference of State Court Administrators.
CHARLESTON – Morgantown attorney Edward R. Kohout has asked the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to reduce his proposed disbarment to a suspension. Kohout “respectfully objects to the recommendations of the Hearing Panel Subcommittee for the annulment of Mr. Kohout’s license and to some of the findings of fact and conclusions of law therein,” the June 26 objections document states.
WELCH – Ninety-eight individuals are suing Alpha Natural Resources Services LLC after they claim it contaminated their water with inorganic trace elements.
CLARKSBURG — A consumer has filed a class-action lawsuit against National Hospital Collections LLC, a debt collector, citing alleged invasion of privacy, unlawful collection practices and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
CHARLESTON–A diverse selection of stakeholders has praised the U.S. Senate’s passage of Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va), which updates regulations on the use of toxic substances that are now governed under a hodgepodge of federal and state laws.
RIPLEY – A Jackson County woman claims a car dealer knowingly sold her a defective car, despite it being labeled a “certified pre-owned” vehicle on the lot.
MORGANTOWN – One of the defendants in a lawsuit involving a Memorial Day boat crash has filed an answer and counterclaim. Steven B. Solomon denied he owned the boat in question and denies he owed a duty to the plaintiffs or that he breached any duty owed to them, according to the March 18 answer and counterclaim.
CHARLESTON – A former student is suing West Virginia State University and a professor for sexual harassment she claims she endured. Rachel Halstead was a student at WVSU in the Criminal Justice Master’s Degree program and in approximately March or April 2014, she was in the office of her professor, Samuel Swindell, to discuss coursework, according to a complaint filed March 2 in Kanawha Circuit Court.
PINEVILLE — A Wyoming County woman is suing Family Dollar Stores, a company where she worked for seven years, claiming the defendant fired her after she filed a workers’ compensation claim.
MORGANTOWN – Several people from Maine, West Virginia and Pennsylvania are suing two Monongalia County men over injuries they allegedly sustained during a boat collision
Two West Virginia Law faculty members have been published on the Oxford Human Rights Hub Blog (OxHRH Blog) recently. Dr. Anne Marie Lofaso, a professor at the West Virginia University College of Law, wrote an article for the blog evaluating the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) unanimous decision to dismiss college football players’ petition for union representation. Lofaso, who spent 10 years as an attorney with the National Labor Relations Board’s Appellate and Supreme Court Branches,