CHARLESTON – A Fayette County man alleges a state agency created or altered documents to fraudulently portray him as a drug user.
James Keith O'Neal filed a complaint Nov. 2 in Kanawha Circuit Court against West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources alleging that the government agency violated its own mission statement policy.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff's spouse was involved in litigation regarding the custodial and decision-making responsibilities of her minor child.
The plaintiff holds West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources responsible because the defendant allegedly fraudulently and maliciously altered and falsified documents to portray him as a drug user in October 2015 and March 2016 to "influence the outcome as to litigation in which the plaintiff's spouse was involved," the suit states.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks compensatory and punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, attorney's fees, costs and such other appropriate relief. He is represented by James W. Keenan of Keenan & Associates LC in Fayetteville. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Tod Kaufman.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 17-C-1506