West Virginia News

Sidelining Agents

The MLR does not protect agent and broker compensation. In their zeal to control health care costs, federal policymakers may be pushing health insurance agents and brokers to the sidelines and potentially out of business. If this happens, they will …

Massey Shuts Kentucky Mine; Cites Danger in West Virginia

Massey Energy Co. has shut down a Kentucky coal mine that federal regulators had cited for safety violations and said another of its mines in West Virginia was in danger of collapse following heavy rains. The mining company said that …

West Virginia Jury Finds Official Defamed Employee Over Internet

A former Jefferson County employee has won a lawsuit that accused a county commissioner of defaming him with an Internet posting. Media outlets report that the jury ordered County Commissioner Patsy Noland to pay George Privitera $3,700 in compensatory damages …

Massey CEO to Testify About Deadly West Virginia Mine Blast

Massey Energy chief Don Blankenship is expected to testify Dec. 14 in the probe of an April explosion that killed 29 men in West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch mine. The state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training has reached …

DuPont Offers $70 Million to Settle West Virginia Pollution Case

Chemical company DuPont last week offered to pay $70 million and spend millions more on medical monitoring for the next 30 years to end a legal battle over a toxic exposure case it lost in West Virginia. The proposal drew …

Judge Upholds West Virginia Mine Accident Reporting Rule

A Kanawha County Circuit Court judge has upheld a state law giving coal mine operators 15 minutes to tell regulators about fires and other serious accidents. Judge Tod Kaufman’s ruling came in a case involving International Coal Group subsidiary Wolf …

Reports on 2 West Virginia Chemical Plant Incidents Delayed

Reports on a federal board’s investigations of fatal incidents at two West Virginia chemical plants won’t be released until next year. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is investigating a 2008 explosion at Bayer Corp.’s Institute facility that killed one worker …

State Regulators Worried About Future of Health Insurance Brokers

State insurance regulators have established a task force to monitor the negative effects the new federal health reform law might have on health insurance agents and brokers. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), which rejected pleas to protect brokers’ …

Is Gas Drilling Causing West Virginia Earthquakes?

Officials say there’s no clear explanation for what may have prompted several earthquakes near Frametown earlier this year. Some have speculated that the cluster of small earthquakes was linked to local gas drilling. Delegate Brent Boggs, D-Braxton, was sitting at …

DuPont Worried About Publicity in West Virginia Zinc-Smelting Case

DuPont will likely seek to sequester jurors in a 2011 trial that could determine whether it must pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to some 8,500 West Virginians who won a toxic-exposure case three years ago. At a …