Mingo Circuit Court Judge Michael Thornsbury has been disqualified from presiding over a trial in which his impartiality was questioned.

Judge Thomas Evans, judge of the Fifth Judicial District in Ripley, has been assigned to the case.

The case in question involves over 600 plaintiffs who claim they have suffered major health problems after Rawl Sales, a Massey Energy subsidiary, injected coal mining slurry into the ground and contaminated the local water supply.

Motions filed with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals raised issues concerning Thornsbury, including whether he had a personal relationship with Massey CEO Don Blankenship, the appointment of a trustee to oversee a medical monitoring program the court ordered Massey to maintain, and the fiduciary agent who would administer the funds used to pay for that program.

In the response to the motion, the court ruled that the only issue that warranted further scrutiny was the naming of Community Trust Bank as the trustee of the program and the fee the bank would be paid for its services.

Judge Thornsbury was ordered to conduct a hearing on issues brought forth by plaintiff’s attorneys and to submit the transcripts to Supreme Court of Appeals Justice Robin Jean Davis for consideration.

Before that hearing, however, Judge Thornsbury notified the Court of Appeals that he had in fact, as an attorney, represented Rawl Sales in some cases in the 1980s involving some blasting that the company conducted at Rawl. One of those plaintiffs, Raymond Fitch, is a plaintiff on the current case.

Attorneys in that case claimed that the blasting contributed to the contamination of the water table at Rawl.

In the ruling handed down by Justice Davis Wednesday, she said the issue of the appointment of Community Trust Bank was not enough to disqualify Thornsbury from the case.

However, the judge’s representation of Massey in the past caused Davis to remove him from the case.

In the ruling, Davis refers to legal guidelines that state, “a judge shall be disqualified in a proceeding in which the judge’s impartiality might be reasonably questioned” and “the judiciary shall seek to avoid even an appearance of impropriety.”

Davis said both of these rules apply in this case.

Kevin Smith, attorney for the plaintiffs in the Rawl case, submitted the motion requesting Thornsbury’s removal from the case. He said his firm filed the motion although he had always had the utmost respect for Judge Thornsbury.

“We never wanted to bring forth his motion,” Smith told the Daily News. “But we felt we had to in order to protect our clients’ interests.”

He said he did not know where the trial, which is scheduled for October, will take place.

“While we would welcome the opportunity to try this case in front of a Mingo County jury, the defendants have an outstanding motion to have the trial moved,” he said.

Smith said he felt Judge Evans was a very good choice for this case.

“Judge Evans has an excellent track record trying massive cases,” he said. “We are excited to be in front of him.”

As of press time, Judge Thornsbury could not be reached for comment.