Belcher v. Dynamic Energy, Inc.

• Decision Date: 05 April 2018
• Docket Number: No. 17-0168, No. 17-0169,17-0168
• Citation: 813 S.E.2d 44
• Parties: Clifford BELCHER and Rachel Belcher, Individually and as Next Friends or Parents of Minor J.A.B., et al., Plaintiffs Below, Petitioners v. DYNAMIC ENERGY, INC., and Mechel Bluestone, Inc., Defendants Below, Respondents and Dynamic Energy, Inc., and Mechel Bluestone, Inc., Defendants Below, Petitioners v. Clifford Belcher and Rachel Belcher, Individually and as Next Friends or Parents of Minor J.A.B., et al., Plaintiffs Below, Respondents
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court

813 S.E.2d 44

Clifford BELCHER and Rachel Belcher, Individually and as Next Friends or Parents of Minor J.A.B., et al., Plaintiffs Below, Petitioners

v.DYNAMIC ENERGY, INC., and Mechel Bluestone, Inc., Defendants Below, RespondentsandDynamic Energy, Inc., and Mechel Bluestone, Inc., Defendants Below, Petitioners

v.Clifford Belcher and Rachel Belcher, Individually and as Next Friends or Parents of Minor J.A.B., et al., Plaintiffs Below, Respondents

No. 17-0168

No. 17-0169

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Submitted: January 24, 2018

Filed: April 5, 2018

Kevin W. Thompson, David R. Barney, Jr., Thompson Barney, Charleston, West Virginia, Attorneys for the Plaintiffs

James M. Brown, Pullin, Fowler, Flanagan, Brown & Poe, PLLC, Beckley, West Virginia, Billy R. Shelton, Jones, Walters, Turner & Shelton, Lexington, Kentucky, Attorneys for the Defendants

Davis, Justice:

The cases sub judice , which involve the same parties, have been consolidated by the Court for consideration and decision. In Docket Number 17-0168, the petitioners herein and plaintiffs below, Clifford Belcher, Rachel Belcher, individually and as next friends or parents of Minor J.A.B., et al. (collectively, "the Plaintiffs"), appeal from an order entered January 20, 2017, by the Circuit Court of Wyoming County. By that order, the court refused the Plaintiffs’ motion to set aside jury verdicts and for a new trial and upheld jury verdicts rendered in favor of the respondents herein and defendants below, Dynamic Energy, Inc., and Mechel Bluestone, Inc. (collectively, "Dynamic Energy"). On appeal to this Court, the Plaintiffs raise the following assignments of error: (1) jury interference and witness intimidation; (2) disqualifying relationship between seated alternate juror and corporate representative of defendant coal company; and (3) defense verdicts against the weight of the evidence. Upon a review of the parties’ arguments, the record designated for appellate consideration, and the pertinent authorities, we find no error and, therefore, affirm the circuit court’s ruling.

In Docket Number 17-0169, Dynamic Energy appeals from a different order entered January 20, 2017, by the Circuit Court of Wyoming County. By that order, the circuit court refused to dissolve a preliminary injunction that requires Dynamic Energy to provide replacement water to the Plaintiffs pursuant to W. Va. Code § 22-3-24 (2006) (Repl. Vol. 2014). On appeal to this Court, Dynamic Energy contends that the circuit court erred because the preliminary injunction should have been dissolved. Upon a review of the parties’ arguments, the record designated for appellate consideration, and the pertinent authorities, we agree that the subject preliminary injunction should have been dissolved. Accordingly, we reverse the circuit court’s ruling. However, during oral argument of these matters, the parties informed the Court that Dynamic Energy, of its own volition, stopped providing the replacement water required by the preliminary injunction in direct violation of the circuit court’s commands. Therefore, we remand this case to the circuit court for the parties to raise the issue of Dynamic Energy’s noncompliance with the circuit court’s preliminary injunction during the pendency of the instant appeal.

I.FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The following is a brief summary of the facts giving rise to the underlying litigation and the circuit court’s rulings from which the parties have appealed to this Court. Additional facts will be set forth in relation to the parties’ arguments in Section III of the opinion, infra .

In May 2014, multiple individual plaintiffs filed suit against the defendant coal companies, i.e. , Dynamic Energy, Inc., and Mechel Bluestone, Inc. ("Dynamic Energy"), alleging that the defendants’ mining activities had contaminated the plaintiffs’ well water when they discovered the presence of lead and arsenic in their water. These sixteen individual suits eventually were consolidated into the litigation filed by the Belcher plaintiffs ("the Plaintiffs"). The Plaintiffs asserted claims against Dynamic Energy for property damage; private and public nuisance; trespass; negligent infliction of emotional distress; negligence; violations of the West Virginia Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act, W. Va. § 22-3-1 et seq .; and punitive damages. A jury trial eventually was held in the Circuit Court of Wyoming County during April and May 2016, and the jury returned verdicts for Dynamic Energy on May 5, 2016. The Plaintiffs filed a motion to set aside the verdicts and for a new trial, which the circuit court refused by order entered January 20, 2017. From this adverse ruling, the Plaintiffs appeal to this Court in Docket Number 17-0168.

During the course of the underlying litigation, the Plaintiffs invoked the water replacement provisions of the West Virginia Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act, W. Va. Code § 22-3-1 et seq. By order entered December 2, 2014, the circuit court granted the requested relief and issued a preliminary injunction requiring Dynamic Energy to provide replacement water until liability for the well water contamination had been established. Following the jury’s defense verdicts, Dynamic Energy asked the circuit court to dissolve the injunction. By order entered January 20, 2017, the circuit court refused to dissolve the injunction while the matter was pending on appeal. From this adverse ruling, Dynamic Energy appeals to this Court in Docket Number 17-0169.

II.STANDARD OF REVIEW

Given the numerous errors assigned by the parties and the different standards of review applicable thereto, we will set forth the governing standards of review in our discussion of each of the appeals consolidated for consideration and decision herein.

III.DISCUSSION

The two appeals at issue herein pertain to orders of the circuit court that address different portions of the proceedings below. Docket Number 17-0168 concerns the Plaintiffs’ appeal from the circuit court’s order upholding the jury’s verdict in the case, while Docket Number 17-0169 relates to Dynamic Energy’s appeal from the circuit court’s order refusing to dissolve the preliminary injunction, which the court issued before the underlying trial, following the jury’s verdicts in favor of Dynamic Energy. We will address each appeal in turn.

A. Docket Number 17-0168—Plaintiffs’ Appeal

In Docket Number 17-0168, the Plaintiffs appeal from the circuit court’s order denying their motion to set aside verdicts and for a new trial. On appeal to this Court, the Plaintiffs raise assignments of error alleging (1) jury interference and witness intimidation; (2) disqualifying relationship between seated alternate juror and corporate representative of defendant coal company; and (3) defense verdicts against the weight of the evidence.

1. Standard of review. The circuit court rendered its January 20, 2017, order denying the Plaintiffs’ motion to set aside verdicts and for a new trial following the Plaintiffs’ Rule 59 motion requesting such relief. Pursuant to Rule 59(a)(1) of the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure,

[a] new trial may be granted to all or any of the parties and on all or part of the issues (1) in an action in which there has been a trial by jury, for any of the reasons for which new trials have heretofore been granted in actions at law[.]

Accord Tennant v. Marion Health Care Found., Inc. , 194 W. Va. 97, 106, 459 S.E.2d 374, 383 (1995) ("Pursuant to Rule 59 of the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure, a circuit judge may grant a new trial ‘for any of the reasons for which new trials have heretofore been granted in actions at law.’ ").

With respect to this Court’s review of a circuit court’s order regarding a motion for a new trial, we have held that

[t]his Court reviews the rulings of the circuit court concerning a new trial and its conclusion as to the existence of reversible error under an abuse of discretion standard, and we review the circuit court’s underlying factual findings under a clearly erroneous standard. Questions of law are subject to a de novo review.

Syl. pt. 1, Burke-Parsons-Bowlby Corp. v. Rice , 230 W. Va. 105, 736 S.E.2d 338 (2012), superseded by statute on other grounds as stated in Martinez v. Asplundh Tree Expert Co. , 239 W. Va. 612, 803 S.E.2d 582 (2017). Accord Tennant v. Marion Health Care Found., Inc. , 194 W. Va. at 104, 459 S.E.2d at 381 ("As a general proposition, we review a circuit court’s ruling on a motion for a new trial under an abuse of discretion standard. ... We review the rulings of the circuit court concerning a new trial and its conclusion as to the existence of reversible error under an abuse of discretion standard, and we review the circuit court’s underlying factual findings under a clearly erroneous standard. Questions of law are subject to a de novo review." (internal citation omitted) ). Moreover,

[a]lthough the ruling of a trial court in granting or denying a motion for a new trial is entitled to great respect and weight, the trial court’s ruling will be reversed on appeal when it is clear that the trial court has acted under some misapprehension of the law or the evidence.

Syl. pt. 4, Sanders v. Georgia-Pacific Corp. , 159 W. Va. 621, 225 S.E.2d 218 (1976). Finally, we have recognized that

[t]he lower court must always temper the decision whether to grant a new trial because of trial error by considering the importance to the litigants of receiving a fair and final judgment with society’s interest, as expressed through our Legislature, that unless error affected the outcome of the trial, a new trial should not usually be granted.

Tennant , 194 W. Va. at 106, 459 S.E.2d at 383. These standards will guide our review of the errors asserted by the Plaintiffs.

2. Improper presence of union members in courtroom and at trial. The Plaintiffs first contend that the circuit court erred by not finding the presence of union members in the courtroom and at trial to be improper insofar as they...