PINEVILLE – A Wyoming County judge has ordered Appalachian Power Company to pay more than $75 million to a group of coal and land companies after finding the utility breached a decades‑old easement agreement tied to mining operations in southern West Virginia.
The payout is perhaps the largest trial verdict in West Virginia history.
After a multi‑day trial before Wyoming Circuit Judge Joshua J. Miller, jurors returned a verdict in favor of CM Energy Properties, Big Huff Minerals and Big Huff Timberlands. The verdict said Appalachian Power breached a May 18, 1979, easement agreement and failed to pay amounts due under that contract.
The jury awarded the plaintiffs $16,571,465 for “necessary coal” and prejudgment interest on that component of damages.
Building on that verdict, the court entered a final judgment that, when combined with prior summary judgment rulings on additional costs, pushes the principal amount of the award to $75,158,744.
The order, which was filed April 2, also grants the plaintiff companies post‑judgment interest from the date of entry and allows them to recover taxable court costs.
The dispute centers on Appalachian Power’s obligations under the 1979 easement, including payment obligations tied to coal the plaintiffs say was necessary for their operations and additional expenses they incurred because of the utility’s conduct.
According to Miller’s order, Appalachian Power unsuccessfully sought judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50 of the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure, a motion it renewed later in the trial. After Appalachian Power presented its own case and rested, the plaintiffs also moved for judgment as a matter of law, but Miller denied both sides’ Rule 50 motions while preserving their objections for the record.
Rule 50 allows a judge to grant judgment against a party if they have been fully heard on an issue but lack sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find in their favor. Motions may be made before case submission and renewed after trial.
After deliberating, the jury returned a verdict in February that found Appalachian Power had breached the 1979 easement agreement and confirmed that the award covered necessary coal and pre-judgment interest.
In addition to what the jury awarded, Miller’s order says the largest share of the judgment stems from an earlier partial summary judgment ruling on “added costs” the plaintiffs said they were forced to bear under the easement.
In a January 30 order on pretrial motions, the court granted partial summary judgment to the plaintiffs on four categories of added costs, totaling $58,587,279. Those figures include $3,370,670 for added mining costs, $32,992,187 for added transportation costs from Reedy Branch North to McDonald Fork, $18,212,422 for added transportation costs “to make room at McDonald Fork” and $4,012,000 in mitigation costs.
Also in that pretrial order, Miller wrote that if a jury ultimately found for the plaintiffs, the court would enter judgment not only for the jury’s necessary‑coal award but also for the $58,587,279 dollars in added costs.
While the jury’s award expressly included pre-judgment interest on the necessary coal component, Miller drew a line when it came to interest on the added‑costs damages from summary judgment.
In his order, Miller noted that pre-judgment interest in contract cases is discretionary and depends on whether the claim is definite and the amount due is liquidated or readily ascertainable at the time of breach.
Finding that the added‑costs figures were not liquidated at the time they allegedly came due and depended on disputed facts, expert testimony and later calculations, the court declined to award the pre-judgment interest on that part of the damages.
CM Energy is represented by Wade W. Massie and Seth M. Land of Penn Stuart in Abingdon, Va., and by Joshua Tommy Thompson of Beckley. The Big Huff plaintiffs are represented by Charles William Davis of Richardson & Davis in Bluefield and by Joshua Allen Lanham and J. Mark Adkins of Bowles Rice in Charleston. Appalachian Power is represented by Jerad Keith Horne of Brewster Morhous Cameron Caruth Moore Kersey & Stafford in Bluefield and by Robert J. Patton of Kinner & Patton in Prestonsburg, Ky.
Massie died February 21, just weeks after the initial jury verdict was issued.
Wyoming Circuit Court case number 23-C-37
