Lawyers are generally familiar with the nutshell version of this story.<\/p>\n
Caperton alleges that Massey destroyed his mining business by reneging on a contract to buy coal.<\/p>\n
A jury in West Virginia agrees with Caperton and awards him $50 million.<\/p>\n
Blankenship vows he\u2019s not going to pay and fights the verdict.<\/p>\n
But the West Virginia Supreme Court is split. And so Blankenship takes it upon himself to elect the next West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin.<\/p>\n
He dumps $3 million into the campaign and gets Benjamin elected.<\/p>\n
When Caperton\u2019s case reaches the West Virginia Supreme Court, Benjamin sides with Massey and the Court overturns the verdict.<\/p>\n
Caperton appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court which sends it back to West Virginia saying, in effect, you can\u2019t buy a Justice\u2019s seat and then have that Justice vote for you in a case.<\/p>\n
Benjamin recuses himself. But even with that, the West Virginia Supreme Court overturns the Caperton verdict.\u00e2\u20ac\u00a8Caperton goes to Virginia (where his mine was located) and sues Massey there. The lower court So, Caperton has life.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the nutshell.<\/p>\n But then come the details.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with Segal and Davis.<\/p>\n \u201cScott Segal is the most successful trial lawyer in West Virginia,\u201d Leamer told Corporate Crime Reporter in an interview last week. \u201cAnd his wife, Robin Jean Davis, is a Justice of the Supreme Court of West Virginia. They live in what probably is the biggest house in West Virginia. It\u2019s 20,000 square feet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf I were making a movie, I\u2019d have a scene of her leaving this house. It doesn\u2019t look like a house. It looks like an enormous hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n By the way, we asked Leamer about whether the book will be made into a movie.<\/p>\n \u201cI probably will sign an option later this week,\u201d he said. \u201cI have someone who is interested.<\/p>\n I know they are trying to approach Aaron Sorkin to do the screenplay. He would be the best.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though the book\u2019s focus is on Caperton and Blankenship, Segal and Davis are more than just supporting characters.<\/p>\n People thought that because her husband made his millions suing on behalf of union workers, she would side with the liberal majority on the court.<\/p>\n But Leamer based on Starcher\u2019s diary and account implies that she flipped to Blankenship\u2019s side and an alignment with the conservatives on the court for less than righteous reasons.<\/p>\n Leamer says that for some strange reason, one of those conservatives Elliot \u201cSpike\u201d Maynard who took a poorly timed vacation to Europe with Blankenship photos with women were leaked to the press \u2014 was siding with Segal almost every time the trial lawyer appeared before the Court.<\/p>\n \u201cI asked Segal about that,\u201d Leamer said. \u201cAnd he said it was just happenstance.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a seedy story.<\/p>\n And it get seedier check out the part about Davis, Justice Warren McGraw (who Benjamin defeated) and a guy named Tony Arbaugh.<\/p>\n Seedy.<\/p>\n But not more seedy than the story of Blankenship, whose focus on getting the coal out at all costs led to much corruption, pollution and death in the mines.<\/p>\n Remarkably though, Blankenship\u2019s nemesis Bruce Stanley grew up in the same area of southern West Virginia as Blankenship. They both grew up in houses without indoor plumbing. Both poor. According to Leamer, they even look alike.<\/p>\n Could the same actor play both Bruce Stanley and Don Blankenship?<\/p>\n \u201cThey look alike,\u201d Leamer says. \u201cThey could be brothers.\u201d<\/p>\n And they are both idealists.<\/p>\n But in polar opposite ways.<\/p>\n \u201cBlankenship thinks of himself as a true patriot,\u201d Leamer says. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t think of himself as this selfish, uncaring person. Even in electing Benjamin, that wasn\u2019t corporate money. That was his own money. And he\u2019s given a lot of money to try, unsuccessfully, to elect Republicans to the state legislature. He\u2019s done these public events where he spends only his money. He was a Tea Party guy before the Tea Party.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe thinks the United Mine Workers is evil. He thinks federal safety inspectors are evil. He doesn\u2019t understand why people think he\u2019s a bad guy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStanley is an idealist too, but it\u2019s a different kind of idealism.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStanley is a political liberal. He thinks government should help people. He thinks the corporate reality has been hurtful to most people. He believes in justice, he fights for justice. He\u2019s not a corporate lawyer. He\u2019s the only lawyer at Reed Smith who is quite like that.\u201d<\/p>\n One possible unsung hero of Leamer\u2019s story?<\/p>\n The U.S. Attorney for West Virginia Booth Goodwin.<\/p>\n \u201cGoodwin is a different sort of U.S. Attorney,\u201d Leamer says. \u201cHe has systematically gone after (Massey officials.) And I think Blankenship will be next in the next few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n What makes you think that?<\/p>\n \u201cWell, the last person who was convicted was asked by the judge who ordered you to do this?\u201d Leamer said. \u201cAnd he said the CEO. And if this is a conspiracy, who heads the conspiracy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn many of the mines, Massey had these DAD\u2019s Root Beer cups. Except it stood for Do as Don Says. Do exactly what Don Blankenship says in these mines. And so if there is a conspiracy, Don\u2019s at the head.\u201d<\/p>\n Have you spoken with Goodwin?<\/p>\n \u201cI have not,\u201d Leamer said. \u201cBut I know quite a bit of what is going on. And the fact that there is silence now, and there are no rumors and no gossip coming out of the case, to me is a very good sign.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Blankenship fears an indictment himself. A couple of weeks ago on his web site Blankenship said that if they put him behind bars it will be political.\u201d<\/p>\n (For the complete q\/a format transcript of the Interview with Laurence Leamer, see 27 Corporate Crime Reporter 24(11), print edition only<\/a>.]<\/p>\n![\"leamerprice\"](\"http:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/wp-content\/dropzone\/2013\/06\/leamerprice.jpeg\")
<\/a>kicks Caperton out. But just recently after the book goes to press the Virginia Supreme Court overturns the lower court\u2019s decision and rules that Caperton\u2019s case can be heard in Virginia.<\/p>\n