Benjamin Targeted by Recusal Request

Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel and its co-plaintiff want Justice Brent Benjamin off the case as the Supreme Court prepares to hear Massey Energy's appeal of the $240 million judgment they've won in Brooke County.

As The Associated Press reports, Wheeling-Pitt and Mountain State Carbon cite the "staggering and unprecedented amount of money'' that Massey CEO Don Blankenship spent on the 2004 election that brought Benjamin to the court.

It also ties that massive campaign _ estimated by Blankenship to cost $3.5 million _ to a pre-trial boast by the coal executive and the company's decision to set aside only $16 million to cover the damages.

"Court rules require justices to recuse themselves whenever their 'impartiality might reasonably be questioned,' but leaves the decision solely to the targeted jurist," the article said.

The plaintiffs have already successfully petitioned for Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard's recusal, with MonacoGate prompting him to withdraw from at least three pending Massey cases.

Benjamin (corrected) has twice refused to disqualify himself from another Massey appeal, and the latest recusal petition questions those responses.

The petition also brings up Benjamin's votes on who should be chief justice of the court. It even invokes The Appeal, the new #1 best-seller from John Grisham that was apparently inspired by the 2004 Supreme Court race.

That book portrays what would be the Benjamin character as an unsuspecting candidate, recruited unwittingly by the villainous corporate executive who schemes to buy a Supreme Court seat to avoid a huge jury verdict.

The Associated Press has also noted that "Benjamin has ruled against Massey in at least three cases since joining the court, records show. Two of those decisions rebuffed Massey's attempts to avoid paying millions of dollars in coal severance taxes."