Acting Chief Justice Robin Davis ruled Thursday that while most conflict-of-interest allegations raised by the plaintiffs appear insufficient to warrant the disqualification of Mingo County Circuit Judge Michael Thornsbury, one does require a hearing.
She ordered Thornsbury to convene a hearing, create an official court record on how a medical monitoring trust fund will be administered, and detail what fees both the administrator and the trustee can charge. He must then report to her in writing for a decision.
Late Thursday, Thornsbury scheduled that hearing for Tuesday.
Plaintiffs in the case against Rawl Sales & Processing, a subsidiary of Virginia-based Massey, had accused Thornsbury of personal and financial conflicts of interest, most of which Thornsbury has denied.
The judge is a shareholder in Williamson Renaissance Development LLC and co-debtor on a $1.6 million deed of trust through Community Trust Bank, which the plaintiffs said he planned to name trustee of the medical fund.
In his order for a hearing, however, Thornsbury said he has ‘‘no intention’’ of appointing Community Trust, and that he had not contacted the bank about handling the fund. The fund will be used to periodically test the health of hundreds of people who believe they could become sick from long-term exposure to poisoned well water.
Thornsbury said both sides should come to court prepared with recommendations for a trustee and an administrator.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys had complained that the trustee and administrator ‘‘have the potential to charge substantial fees for many years’’ because Thornsbury planned to allow open-ended fees rather than a fixed percentage.
Thornsbury declined to withdraw from the case when the plaintiffs accused him of ‘‘cronyism at its worst’’ earlier this month, claiming he had a friendship with Massey chief executive Don Blankenship and other conflicts that would prevent him from fairly handling a case against one of the nation’s largest coal companies.
Thornsbury insisted he is not friends with Blankenship and had no bias against either side. He also argued that disqualifying him would unnecessarily delay the October trial.
In a supplemental response Thursday, the judge acknowledged that he represented Rawl Sales ‘‘in a couple of matters around 1984 or 1985,’’ but has since also represented several plaintiffs in claims against the company.
‘‘I do not think that has anything to do with any present matters,’’ he wrote to the Supreme Court, ‘‘but nevertheless I make the disclosure.’’
Some 550 current and former residents of Rawl, Lick Creek, Sprigg and Merrimac are suing Massey for injecting an estimated 1.4 billion gallons of coal slurry into worked-out underground mines between 1978 and 1987. Slurry is the wastewater produced when coal is washed to help it burn more efficiently.
The lawsuit claims slurry seeped through cracks in the earth and into aquifers, poisoning wells, and that decades of exposure put the plaintiffs at risk of cancers and other health problems.
Massey has denied any wrongdoing and defended the practice as legal.
Post a Comment
