CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Supreme Court says three well-known West Virginia plaintiffs lawyers did not commit legal malpractice in connection with the class action lawsuit that came from the 2014 chemical spill and water emergency that impacted more than 200,000 residents in parts of nine counties.
Resident Richard Gravely appealed a pair of orders from Kanawha County Circuit Court to the Supreme Court. He claimed Charleston-based lawyers Anthony Majestro, Marvin Masters and Ben Bailey committed malpractice by supporting the dismissal of his lawsuit against West Virginia American Water Company.
In a memorandum decision signed on Dec. 20, the High Court affirmed the lower court’s decision rejecting Gravely’s appeals. The decision said Gravely failed to ‘opt-out’ of the class action settlement that Majestro, Masters, Bailey and others attorneys were able to negotiate with the water company and Eastman Chemical, the manufacturer of MCHM, the chemical that caused the water emergency. And because he failed to “opt-out” of the Good vs. West Virginia American Water Company case, the three attorneys were following a federal court order to work dismiss other claims, like Gravely’s.
“We find that the circuit court properly rejected this argument as “contradictory at best and fallacious at worst,” the Supreme Court’s memorandum decision said. “As accurately explained by the circuit court, petitioner “claims that he is not a class member while simultaneously claiming that class counsel owed him professional duties.” Based upon our review of the record, we find that petitioner failed to opt out of the class in Good prior to the federal district court’s final approval of the settlement. As a result, petitioner became bound by its terms. We further find that the district court’s June 6, 2018, order required respondents to seek the dismissal of petitioner’s separate action against the water company. Therefore, we determine that petitioner cannot show that respondents breached any duty allegedly owed to him. Accordingly, we conclude that the circuit court did not err in finding that there were no genuine issues of material fact and that respondents were entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law.”
U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver signed a $151 million settlement in June 2018. The original class was made up of 224,000 residents and 8,000 businesses. Settlement checks were mailed out in the months following.
The class-action lawsuit alleged the water company was not prepared for what happened just a short distance upstream from its Kanawha Valley Plant on the Elk River in Charleston when MCHM spilled from the Freedom Industries tank farm. Eastman Chemical was sued because it was the maker of MCHM. Both agreed to settle but neither admitted fault. Both companies have blamed Freedom Industries. That company went bankrupt shortly after the spill.
The spill of MCHM on the Elk River contaminated drinking water for more than 300,000 residents in parts of nine West Virginia counties on Jan. 9, 2014, creating a water emergency.