We are listening to an audiobook: The Price of Justice, A True Story of Greed and Corruption by Laurence Leamer. Its a real Pittsburgh saga with local attorneys at Pittsburghs top two law firms fighting it out in a West Virginia courtroom with Don Blankenship and Massey Coal to win justice for a small mine operator forced into bankruptcy. Hugh Caperton is the West Virginia coal-mining executive whose litigation against Massey Coal and its then chief Don Blankenship wound its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where in 2009 the justices held that the failure of a state supreme court justice who’d received millions in campaign contributions from Blankenship to recuse himself when the dispute was before that court violated Caperton’s due process rights. Caperton had sued Massey in Virginia for breach of contract and won a $6 million jury verdict there. He also sued Massey in West Virginia, asserting tort claims and claiming that the company and Blankenship intentionally tried to destroy him, and won a $50 million verdict there. It was that West Virginia verdict which eventually made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 18:33:34 +0000
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