Elsewhere: W.Va. Supreme Court Justice Pending Disqualification for Off-the-Bench Remarks
Interesting posting at the West Virginia Record documents motion by litigant to disqualify Supreme Court Justice Larry Starcher for his remarks made of the bench.
CHARLESTON – Massey Energy has sued the West Virginia Supreme Court because it doesn't think it can be treated fairly by the Court because of past comments made by Justice Larry Starcher.
"No man should be his own judge," said Shane Harvey, senior corporate counsel for Massey Energy. "That's the principal we're looking at here. * * *Massey contends Starcher "has shown a strong personal bias against plaintiff Massey Energy, and plaintiff Massey Energy's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Don L. Blankenship."
Massey and subsidiary Marfork Coal Company are listed as plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Charleston. The companies seek declaratory and injunctive relief on the grounds that part of the West Virginia Rules of Appellate Procedure violates their Fourteenth Amendment right to a fair trial.* * *
The rule in question – Rule 29 – allows a single justice of the state Supreme Court who is the subject of a disqualification motion to determine whether he should disqualify himself. * * *
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