Judge Thornsbury Disqualified from Presiding in Slurry Injection Case

by Julia Roberts Goad, excepted from Aug, 20, 2009, Williamson Daily News

Mingo Circuit Court Judge Michael Thornsbury has been disqualified from presiding over a trial in which his impartiality was questioned.

The case in question involves over 600 plaintiffs who claim they have suffered major health problems after Rawl Sales, a Massey Energy subsidiary, injected coal mining slurry into the ground and contaminated the local water supply.

Thornsbury had, as an attorney, represented Rawl Sales in some cases in the 1980s involving some blasting that the company conducted at Rawl. One of those plaintiffs, Raymond Fitch, is a plaintiff on the current case.

Attorneys in that case claimed that the blasting contributed to the contamination of the water table at Rawl.

The current trial is scheduled for October, but the location for the trial has not been determined.