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Supreme Court Ruling Deflates Massey Energy Shares

The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Massey Energy Co. fell Monday after the Supreme Court reversed a West Virginia court's verdict, citing the coal miner's financial support for a judge's campaign.

The stock dropped $1.41, or 5.9 percent, to $22.42 in afternoon trading. Shares have traded between $9.62 and $95.70 in the past 52 weeks.

In a 5-4 vote, the high court ruled elected judges must step down from cases where large campaign contributions from interested parties create the appearance of impropriety.

West Virginia elects members of its highest court, known as the Supreme Court of Appeals, to 12-year terms.

Don Blankenship, Massey's chief executive, spent more than $3 million to help elect state Supreme Court Chief Justice Brent Benjamin in 2005. Concurrently, Massey was appealing a verdict, which now totals $82.7 million with interest, in a dispute with a smaller coal company.

Benjamin declined to step down from the case, despite repeated requests, and was part of a 3-2 decision to overturn the verdict in favor of Massey.

"Not every campaign contribution by a litigant or attorney creates a probability of bias that requires a judge's recusal, but this is an exceptional case," U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said in the ruling.

Kennedy and the court in essence ordered West Virginia's high court to reconsider the Massey case.

For its part, Massey said it was "disappointed" by the ruling, but remains hopeful a new verdict will be reached.

"We ... believe that any new examination of the same facts and same laws by new justices should yield the same result as before," the company said in a statement.