Latest West Virginia Headlines
All the headlines from our West Virginia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Questions Raised About Federal Probe of West Virginia Mine Blast
Dec 13 2011 // Newly disclosed records show U.S. Labor Department officials stopped independent investigators from questioning how federal regulators handled methane leaks from the floor of the Upper Big Branch mine several times before...
Firm to Pay $209M Over West Virginia Blast That Killed 29
Dec 7 2011 // Coal miner Alpha Natural Resources has agreed to pay $1.5 million to each of the families of 29 miners killed in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia last year. The payments – part of a $209...
West Virginia Man Admits Staging Crashes In Insurance Scam
Dec 4 2011 // A Buckhannon, West Virginia man has pleaded guilty to defrauding insurance companies by staging vehicle accidents and filing fake claims. Forty-two-year-old Christopher John Thrain pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud...
Settlements Reached in Remaining West Virginia Sago Mine Lawsuits
Nov 18 2011 // Settlements have been approved in the six remaining wrongful-death lawsuits filed by the families of miners who died in the 2006 Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia. Circuit Judge Charles King also signed off on several...
West Virginia Nursing Home Challenges $91 Million Jury Award
Nov 8 2011 // A Charleston nursing home is challenging a $91 million damage award in a lawsuit stemming from the death of an elderly woman hours after she left the facility. Lawyers for Heartland of Charleston claim in a recent court...
Settlement Near in West Virginia Sago Mine Disaster
Nov 7 2011 // A West Virginia judge will consider approving a settlement in the six remaining wrongful-death lawsuits filed by the families of miners who died in the Sago Mine disaster. The workers were killed after a powerful methane...
The Demotech Company Classification System Reveals State Specialist Property/Casualty Insurers
Nov 7 2011 // Company Name State of Speciality 2010 TOTAL DPW Texas Mutual Insurance Co. TX 596,191 Old American County Mutual Fire Insurance Co. TX 575,100 SAIF Corporation OR 327,373 St. Johns Insurance Co. Inc. FL 257,106 Brickstreet...
$91M Damage Award Against West Virginia Nursing Home Upheld
Nov 7 2011 // A Kanawha County, West Virginia judge has affirmed most of a $91.5 million damage award against a Charleston nursing home in a lawsuit that claimed it failed to properly feed and care for an elderly woman who died hours...
West Virginia Insurers Pay More for Deer-Related Auto Accidents
Oct 27 2011 // West Virginia auto insurers are paying more for deer-related accident claims despite the fact that fewer drivers are involved in deer-related crashes. The West Virginia Department of Insurance has released its 2010 study...
Ex-Mine Official Convicted in Deadly West Virginia Disaster
Oct 26 2011 // The former security chief at a West Virginia coal mine where 29 miners died last year was convicted of two felonies Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. Hughie Elbert Stover, 60, was convicted by a federal...
West Virginia Judge Affirms $91M Damage Award Against Nursing Home
Oct 24 2011 // A Kanawha County, West Virginia judge has affirmed most of a $91.5 million damage award against a Charleston nursing home in a lawsuit that claimed it failed to properly feed and care for an elderly woman who died hours...
Workplace Deaths Double in West Virginia
Oct 19 2011 // Fatal on-the-job incidents in West Virginia more than doubled in 2010 compared to the previous year. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said 95 workers were killed in workplace incidents, up from 41 in 2009. It’s...
West Virginia Orders Emergency Mine Inspections
Oct 19 2011 // West Virginia mine safety officials have ordered emergency inspections of up to 500 rescue shelters in the state’s underground coal mines. The Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training issued the order...
Number of U.S. Deer-Vehicle Collisions Falls 7 Percent
Oct 5 2011 // For the third consecutive year, the number of deer-vehicle collisions in the U.S. has dropped, according to Illinois-based State Farm Insurance. And the downturn is accelerating. The percentage decline over the last year...
Parties Mum on $35M West Virginia Coal Slurry Settlement
Oct 3 2011 // Lawyers, plaintiffs and others are remaining quiet about a $35 million settlement with hundreds of people who say a Massey Energy subsidiary poisoned their wells with coal slurry. More than 300 people gathered at the...
Nursing Home Case Spotlights West Virginia’s Malpractice Damages Cap
Sep 30 2011 // Lawyers for a West Virginia nursing home are preparing to take a case to the state’s Supreme Court on the grounds that a $91.5 million jury award should be reduced under the state’s medical malpractice law. In...
Video on West Virginia Plant Leak Urges Manufacturing Safety
Sep 26 2011 // The U.S. Chemical Safety Board, releasing a video depicting a deadly chemical leak at a DuPont plant in Belle, West Virginia last year, said the final investigation report should remind every manufacturer to make safety a...
West Virginia College Town Tries to Curb Football Game Fires
Sep 21 2011 // Morgantown, West Virginia fire officials are trying to prevent the spectacle of nationally televised street fires after a big football game Saturday night by ordering hundreds of people to remove furniture and other...
Zurich Wins West Virginia Workers’ Comp Contract
Sep 19 2011 // West Virginia state agencies will have a new workers’ compensation insurer beginning next month. Zurich Insurance Co. submitted the winning bid of $19 million for the one-year contract. Zurich will replace...
3 Insurers Bid for West Virginia Account
Sep 5 2011 // Three companies are vying to provide workers’ compensation coverage for state agencies. Acting Insurance Commissioner Michael Riley said that BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Co., Chartis, and Zurich Insurance Co....
