CHARLESTON - A former accountant of International Coal Group claims he was fired after he discovered some problems that should have been placed in a company audit.
Christopher Makinster filed a suit July 24 in Kanawha Circuit Court against International Coal Group, Inc., Bradley Harris and Roger Nicholson.
According to the suit filed by attorney Mark A. Atkinson, Harris was a supervisor and Chief Financial Officer for ICG and Nicholson was the corporate secretary and Makinster's supervisor.
Makinster claims he discovered issues that were "in the exercise of his professional judgment, indicative of internal control weaknesses that needed to be reported," the suit says.
Makinster claims Harris told him on April 2, 2007, that if he persisted on placing the information in an audit report, he would be fired.
"Makinster, who was under a legal and/or ethical duty to include the information in the report, included the information in the report notwithstanding the threat from Harris," the suit says.
Shortly after, Harris and Nicholson fired Makinster because he included information in a report he was legally and ethically obligated to include, the suit says.
Makinster claims the actions caused his embarrassment, humiliation and emotional distress. He seeks lost wages and benefits, back pay, front pay, damages for indignity and punitive damages.
The case has been assigned to Judge Irene Berger.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 07-C-1527