South Florida Personal Injury Blog

Fort Lauderdale injury attorney Andrew Alitowski follows personal injury lawsuits throughout the country. Although rules vary slightly from one jurisdiction to another and from state to state, judges all across the United States are expected to recuse themselves from hearing cases in which they cannot be impartial or for which their interests could appear to affect their propriety or their impartiality. For example, judges cannot hear cases in which they have a personal or financial interest in the outcome.

Approximately 550 residents of a small West Virginia coal-mining town have sued Massey Corporation for injecting large quantities of “slurry,” the liquid substance produced as a result of mining the coal, into aged and abandoned coal mines in their town during 1978 through 1987. During this period, nearly one and a half billion gallons of the slurry fluid was poured into the old coal mines in the community. Slurry is the waste product that is produced when freshly-mined coal is cleaned in order to burn better. The residents allege that the slurry seeped into groundwater and aquifers in the area, polluting their water and causing them injury, says Broward personal injury lawyer Alitowski. Specifically, they claim to have experienced developmental problems and an increased incidence of cancer as a result of their exposure to the slurry.

Massey officials have insisted that the practice was legal and that they are not responsible for any injuries to the plaintiffs, Fort Lauderdale accident attorney Alitowski has learned. The Associated Press has reported that the judge presiding over the potentially multimillion dollar case is being accused of inappropriate financial and personal ties to the coal company. The plaintiffs’ attorneys have asked the judge to step down in a recent court filing, insisting that the judge cannot be an impartial arbiter of the case.

Mingo County Circuit Court Judge Michael Thornsbury has been accused of a close personal friendship with the CEO of Massey Corporation, even protecting him from testifying about the slurry injections he ordered, and having lunch with him after negotiations with the plaintiffs. Judge Thornsbury has also allegedly tried to improperly persuade the plaintiffs to settle, put a friend in charge of the medical fund established for the plaintiffs (with generous compensation), engaged in out-of-court “ex parte” communications with attorneys for Massey, tricked plaintiffs into waiving their right to seek repayment of legal fees, and generally fostered “an atmosphere of bias that has permeated all levels of court personnel."

Whether the allegations will stick is not yet clear; however, if true, they represent judicial misconduct that threatens the rights of plaintiffs who may already be facing serious injuries.