W.Va. Judge Continues Solo Asbestos Case Set for August Trial after Previewing ‘Awful’ Trial Experience with Social Distancing

NEW CUMBERLAND, W.Va. –– A West Virginia judge has opted to continue a single asbestos trial scheduled for August after reaching the conclusion that trying the case would be an “awful” experience and that mask-wearing would take away the jurors’ ability to make credibility judgments.

In the July 22 notice and order, Hon. Ronald E. Wilson of the West Virginia First Judicial Circuit for Ohio, Brooke and Hancock Counties, took a different position than he reached one day prior in a trial scheduled for 38 cases, saying the two trial settings have different sets of circumstances.

“I regret that …