W.Va. Supreme Court Again Rejects Miners’ Appeal in Case Against Preiser Scientific and Others

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Supreme Court has affirmed lower court decisions barring plaintiffs’ expert testimony as a sanction for missing disclosure deadlines and subsequently dismissing coal miners’ chemical exposure claims against employers and chemical suppliers, inclidng Preiser Scientific Inc.

The high court said in its latest decision April 17 that the plaintiffs-petitioners failed to show that a trial court erred in imposing sanctions for their failure to comply with deadlines for disclosure of expert witnesses. The court added that plaintiffs were warned of possible dismissal “on at least three occasions.”

The court also noted that it ruled in …