The Southern District of West Virginia offers a database of opinions starting in the year 2001, listed by year and judge. For a more detailed search, enter the keyword or case number in the search to the right or sort using the drop-downs below.
Memorandum Opinion and Order
Pending are plaintiff Eastern Associated Coal Corporation's petition to compel arbitration [Docket 3] and defendant Shelby Skaggs's motion to dismiss [Docket 8] and motion to file a joint memorandum [Docket 6]. For the following reasons, the court DENIES the plaintiff's petition to compel arbitration and GRANTS Mr. Skaggs's motion to dismiss. The court also DISMISSES as moot Mr. Skaggs's motion to file a joint memorandum.
Memorandum Opinion and Order
Pending are plaintiff Pine Ridge Coal Company’s petition to compel arbitration [Docket 4] and defendant Phillip Loftis’s motion for summary judgment [Docket 6]. For the following reasons, the court GRANTS the plaintiff’s petition to compel arbitration, DENIES Mr. Loftis’s motion for summary judgment, ORDERS Mr. Loftis to submit to the grievance-arbitration process all claims asserted in the case of Loftis v. Pine Ridge Coal Company, Civ. Act. No. 03-C-23, now pending in Boone County Circuit Court, and ENJOINS Mr. Loftis from further prosecuting his claims in state court.
Memorandum Opinion and Order
Pending is a motion for summary judgment filed by the plaintiffs [Docket 26]. For the following reasons, the court GRANTS the motion, ORDERS Brunty to reimburse Mr. Craft $3,359.27 for his past medical expenses, and ORDERS Brunty to provide Mr. Craft with lifetime health benefits as required by the collective bargaining agreement.
Memorandum Opinion and Order
Pending is Plaintiff’s motion to file a supplemental Complaint setting forth events that have occurred since the filing of the original Complaint and adding a new claim for relief based on those events. For reasons that follow, the motion is DENIED.
Memorandum Opinion and Order
This matter came before the court on the government’s objection to the defendant’s Presentence Investigation Report (PSR). The court overruled the government’s objection to the PSR at the defendant’s sentencing hearing on May 13, 2003. The court FOUND that the defendant’s prior state convictions for burglaries of commercial dwellings were not “crimes of violence” for purposes of sentence enhancement under section 2K2.1(a)(2) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines (U.S.S.G. or Guidelines) and the career enhancement provisions of the Guidelines. The court now writes to explain that ruling.
Memorandum Opinion and Order
Pending is the motion to dismiss filed by Defendants D. Ed Swepston and the City of White Sulphur Springs. The Court GRANTS the motion.
Order
Pending before the court are: (1) the motion of the plaintiffs for summary remand, or in the alternative, expedited consideration of their motion to remand [Docket 11], and (2) the motion of the defendants to dismiss [Docket 5]. For the reasons discussed below, the plaintiffs’ motion for summary remand is GRANTED, and the defendants’ motion to dismiss is DENIED AS MOOT.
Memorandum Opinion and Order
Currently pending before the Court are motions by Plaintiff Sarah Harless to Amend the Complaint and Remand this action to the Circuit Court of Greenbrier County, West Virginia, and Defendant’s motion for summary judgment. For the reasons stated below, the Court GRANTS, in part, DENIES, in part, and HOLDS IN ABEYANCE, in part, the motion to amend; DENIES Plaintiff’s motion to remand; and DENIES, without prejudice, Defendant’s motion for summary judgment.
Memorandum Opinion and Order
Pending is the motion of Petitioner Kim Wiggill (Wiggill) for a hearing on whether Respondent Tomasz Janicki (Janicki) should pay the costs of a passport so the parties’ son can travel from the United States to Swindon, England to visit his mother. Wiggill and Janicki had two children during their marriage, which ended by divorce May 9, 1995 in South Africa. The son, Daniel Thomas Janicki (Daniel), who is the subject of this petition, lives with his father in Teays Valley, West Virginia in this judicial district. According to the Petition, on information and belief, Janicki has custody of Daniel, with Wiggill having the right to spend summers with the child. (Pet. ¶ 4.)
Memorandum Opinion and Order
The defendant, Jimmy Joe Justice, pled guilty on August 6, 1998 to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). Justice was sentenced on October 19, 1998 to twenty-seven months imprisonment, followed by a three year term of supervised release. Justice began serving that term of release on July 14, 2000. On January 10, 2003, the United States Probation Office filed a petition charging Justice with violating certain standard conditions of supervised release. The current issue in this case concerns an allegation in the petition that a September 2002 urine specimen obtained from Justice tested positive for amphetamine and methamphetamine. Justice contends that a possession violation should be categorized as a Class C violation under the United States Sentencing Guidelines.1 The probation office, relying on a case from the Seventh Circuit, United States v. Trotter, 270 F.3d 1150 (7th Cir. 2001), and a probation department memorandum from the Middle District of North Carolina, asserts that the proper classification in this case is Class B due to Justice’s status as a prior drug felon.