Silly Elliott

Court justice frolicked with coal exec while fraud case was pending

Posted at 2:21 PM on 15 Jan 2008

When found guilty of fraud and penalized $50 million by a West Virginia jury, coal company Massey Energy appealed to the state Supreme Court -- and won in a 3-to-2 decision. Now a motion has been filed to disqualify Justice Elliott Maynard from the case and withdraw his favorable vote, as pictures have surfaced of Maynard and Massey CEO Don Blankenship enjoying each other's company in Monte Carlo while the case was pending. Timestamps on pictures of the two show that they met up on three consecutive days -- but don't get the wrong idea, says a Massey spokesperson: "Both Blankenship and Justice Maynard were separately vacationing in the Monte Carlo area. They were not vacationing together. They did meet occasionally for meals -- lunches and dinners." West Virginia's code of judicial ethics states that judges must disqualify themselves from a case when their "impartiality might reasonably be questioned."

source:  The New York Times
see also, in Gristmill:  Don Blankenship: Seventh scariest person in America