CHARLESTON – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has granted a request by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to throw out the DEP’s approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and let them start over.
RICHMOND, Va. – A federal appeals court upheld a decision made by a West Virginia federal judge earlier this year that a drilling waste ban in Fayette County was preempted by state law.
CHARLESTON – The U.S. Circuit of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has upheld a $1.23 million contempt-of-court fine issued to Justice Energy in a lawsuit filed against the company by James River Equipment.
RICHMOND, Va. (Legal Newsline) – A federal appeals court in Virginia has affirmed a $586,861 jury award handed to a man who says he was forced to retire from his mining job when religious principles prevented him from using a biometric hand scanner.
RICHMOND, Va. (Legal Newsline) – A federal appeals court in Virginia has affirmed a $586,861 jury award handed to a man who says he was forced to retire from his mining job when religious principles prevented him from using a biometric hand scanner.
WASHINGTON – Don Blankenship’s legal team formally has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his appeal. Attorneys for the former Massey Energy CEO filed the petition May 25 asking the Justices to take up an appeal of his criminal mine safety conviction. They say the U.S. District Court in Charleston and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., both erred in rulings, and they claim Blankenship was a victim of politics.
LAS VEGAS – Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship has finished serving his sentence, but he says he still plans to fight to get the truth out about the 2010 Upper Big Branch explosion.
RICHMOND, Va. -- Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship must serve the rest of his one-year term in federal prison. A federal appeals panel on Jan. 19 issued a ruling upholding Blankenship’s conviction from U.S. District Court in 2015. Blankenship, who was sentenced to a year in prison on a misdemeanor conspiracy charge for the 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine that killed 29 miners, reported to Taft Federal Prison in California on May 12, 2016.
CHARLESTON – The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling made by a West Virginia federal judge that coal operators in the state have to comply with water quality standards that limit the amount of pollution allowed in streams.
RICHMOND, Va. – A three-judge panel focused its attention on asking former Massey CEO Don Blankenship’s attorneys a multitude of questions during oral arguments for an appeal.
CHARLESTON – The Fayette County Commission filed an appeal after the federal court ruled in June that the county’s fracking waste disposal ban was invalid.
CHARLESTON – The attorneys for former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, who is currently serving a one-year sentence in a California federal prison, filed an appeals brief arguing that his conviction should be reversed.
CHARLESTON – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth
Circuit has sent a case for review, stating that the inmate should have a
chance to prove his constitutional rights have been violated.
CHARLESTON – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled that nurses at two West Virginia hospitals are allowed to unionize despite opposition from their employers. The court ruled in favor of registered nurses and Bluefield Regional Medical Center and Greenbrier Valley Medical Center after the nurses challenged the hospitals’ refusal to allow the National Nurses Organizing Committee to serve as their bargaining representative.
CHARLESTON – Circuit Judge Tod J. Kaufman is the new chief judge for Kanawha Circuit Court. Kaufman assumed the responsibilities Jan. 1, It is the fourth time he has served as chief judge.
CHARLESTON – The newly released 2016 edition of Best Lawyers in America recognizes 10 Bowles Rice attorneys as “Lawyers of the Year” in 10 different practice areas, including corporate law, litigation and education law. Charleston attorneys Julia A.
CHARLESTON – West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's office is leading a 13-state coalition to urge a federal appeals court to uphold public officials’ right to pray at public meetings. The coalition last week filed an amicus curiae, or friend of the court, brief in the case of Lund v. Rowan County. The case is currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which includes West Virginia in its jurisdiction.
CLARKSBURG – The plaintiffs in consolidated lawsuits originally filed in 2012 have filed an appeal because they believe the federal court erred in its ruling.
CHARLESTON – Bailey & Glasser LLP is pleased to announce that the following four attorneys have been elected partners in the firm, effective January 1, 2015: Jeffrey Baron, Michael Hissam, Patricia Kipnis and Robert Lorea.
