West Virginia Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Gov.
Jim Justice’s companies in a lawsuit alleging water contamination of private wells.
The case comes out of Wyoming County, where 16 families sued Mechel Bluestone Coal Company and Dynamic Energy for well water contamination.
The court remanded the case back to circuit court to decide whether the companies complied with an order to provide replacement water to families.
On appeal, families alleged jury interference and witness intimidation, a disqualifying relationship between a seated alternate juror and a corporate representative of the coal company, and that a verdict was awarded in favor of the defense despite the weight of the evidence.
Families said the circuit judge erred by not finding the presence of UMWA members in the courtroom improper.
They claimed UMWA members immediately surrounded the witness when he entered the courthouse to testify and caused him to change his testimony.
Dynamic Energy appealed a different order where the judge refused to dissolve a preliminary injunction requiring the company to provide replacement water to families.
They reversed the circuit court’s ruling.
“As such, it is clear that, by refusing to provide replacement water service as the circuit court had ordered it to do, Dynamic Energy ignored the court’s direct command when it, unilaterally, stopped providing replacement water service," the opinion said.