Archive for March, 2009
Judges and Recusals
The Washington Post
Mar 12, 2009
Some clarification is in order concerning Robert Barnes’s March 2 Supreme Court reporting ["Case May Define When Judge Must Recuse Self," front page], in which he wrote that “defense lawyers supported” Justice Warren McGraw,” the incumbent defeated in the 2004 West Virginia high court race.Justice McGraw was, in fact, backed by [...]
Examine W.Va. Court System
Wheeling News-Register
Mar 05, 2009
Several questions about West Virginia’s court system have been in the news during the past year. Among them:Should state Supreme Court justices be permitted to sit in judgment on cases involving people or companies who have helped them get elected? Should the state have a better system of appealing decisions by circuit [...]
State’s legal climate does deter business
Charleston Daily Mail
Mar 05, 2009
State’s legal climate does deter businessIn his column in the March 2 Daily Mail, “What do West Virginians owe business?” Dave Peyton asked: “What would it take for us to fill in what they call the ‘judicial hellhole’ in this state?”
I ask: How can a savvy columnist pretend to be unaware [...]
The state’s legal climate does indeed matter
Charleston Daily Mail
Mar 02, 2009
For over a decade, the personal injury lawsuit industry and liberal members of the Legislature told us that lawsuits didn’t cost West Virginia jobs or doctors.Then doctors stopped coming to work because they couldn’t get or afford their medical malpractice insurance.
Fast forward five or so years and Chesapeake Energy is pulling [...]
Let’s have “sunshine” on Darrell McGraw
Charleston Gzette
Mar 02, 2009
Publication of your editorial, “Sunshine, Let the Daylight In,” could not be better timed with the start of the legislative session. As you so eloquently point out, openness “shines a light into shady corners” and “reveals who’s getting state contracts” and also “giving money to politicians.”In asking that we “imagine the sleaze [...]
