West Virginia News

A Charleston attorney convicted for beating a former client with a baseball bat is complaining he was harmed by the device used to monitor his whereabouts.

After the latest round of campaign finance reports, private attorneys who were hired to do state work by West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw have given more than 40 percent of the amount he has raised.

With the primary election just a few weeks away, one political strategist says the state Supreme Court race is going to be fun to watch.

The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce calls an insurance-related lawsuit bill detrimental to recent legal reforms made in the state, but supporters of the proposal disagree.

The U.S. Supreme Court spanked West Virginia's highest court Tuesday, saying arbitration law applies even when suing nursing homes for alleged wrongful death.

Though a positive step forward, panelists at a legislative forum said revised rules of appellate procedure the state Supreme Court adopted a year ago don't go far enough in providing meaningful legal reform in West Virginia.

Wrongful death lawsuits brought by the families of the 29 men killed in West Virginia's Upper Big Branch mine disaster have been resolved, but that doesn't mean the days in court are over for coal producer Alpha Natural Resources.

Lawmakers said West Virginia needs more predictability in its court system during the Jan. 5 Legislative LookAhead.  House Minority Leader Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, said although a number of measures have been put in place to help the state's judicial climate, more needs to be done.

A lawyer suing the former Massey Energy Co. says investors might have made better decisions about putting money into the coal company had it been required to report safety violations to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission before last year’s Upper Big Branch mine disaster that killed 29 miners.

Interest groups continue to argue over whether West Virginia's legal climate deters investment and economic growth. The American Tort  Reform Association recently refreshed the controversy by again rating the state third in the nation as a "tort hell."