Holliday appointed to fill Berger's Kanawha vacancy

CHARLESTON -- Senior Status Judge James O. Holliday will be appointed to fill the Kanawha Circuit vacancy left by the departure of Judge Irene Berger.

In a press release, West Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Brent Benjamin said he will enter an order Thursday morning, Nov. 12 appointing Holliday to the position. Holliday will serve until Gov. Joe Manchin appoints a replacement, who will serve until the next general election.

Benjamin said he has notified Manchin of Holliday's temporary assignment.

Holliday is a retired Putnam Circuit. Earlier this week, Berger notified Benjamin and Manchin by letter of her resignation from her position as Kanawha Circuit judge because President Barack Obama signed her appointment to the federal bench in the Southern District of West Virginia.

Holliday also is hearing the high-profile Caperton vs. Massey case as a state Supreme Court appointment. He's hearing that case in place of Benjamin, who recused himself from the case.

Benjamin recused himself just after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that he should have stepped down from a case between Hugh Caperton and his company, Harman Mining, and Massey Energy. Massey CEO Don Blankenship spent more than $3 million in the 2004 Supreme Court election that Benjamin ultimately won against incumbent Warren McGraw.

Last month, the United State Senate unanimously confirmed Berger's appointment to the U.S. District Court.

Berger, 54, had been appointed by President Obama in July to replace Judge David Faber on the federal bench. She was a Kanawha Circuit Judge.

The Governor's Advisory Committee on Judicial Nominations already has presented its recommended list of candidates to Manchin to permanently fill Berger's position.

The seven-person list of potential replacements includes five women:

* Kathy A. Brown, Kathy Brown Law PLLC

* Phyllis H. Carter, Chief Administrative Law Judge of the West Virginia Human Rights Commission

* David J. Cecil, Barth & Thompson

* Katherine Louise Dooley, The Dooley Law Firm PLLC

* John G. Hackney Jr., solo practitioner and judge on the West Virginia State Court of Claims

* Joanna I. Tabit, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC

* Carrie Webster, Bucci, Bailey & Javins LC and chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee

A native of McDowell County, Berger first was appointed judge by then-Gov. Gaston Caperton in 1994 to replace a vacancy created by Judge John Hey. The appointment made her the first black female to serve on the bench.

Berger now will be the first black federal judge in West Virginia's history.

Also last month, Sen. Robert C. Byrd and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, both D-W.Va., nominated Nick Casey, chairman of the state Democratic Party, to fill a vacancy on the bench in the U.S. Northern District of West Virginia that was created when Judge Craig Broadwater died in 2006.