Criticism has followed this recent choice, as Menis Ketchum is quoted as having said he would not wage a negative campaign, but ran TV spots fabricating a federal probe of an incumbent justice.
The US attorney is also reported as having told newspaper readers vacation photos of an incumbent justice "threatens the integrity of the West Virginia judicial system," while also telling a broadcast audience it "doesn't bother me."
The Herald Dispatch of West Virginia recently criticised him: “This is the Menis Ketchum who said he would protect medical malpractice caps at the same time his law firm was fighting them.
“This is the Menis Ketchum who told a professional society he is "conservative" but told a newspaper reporter he is "moderate"
“This is the Menis Ketchum who claimed only one other lawyer in the state filed more cases before the Supreme Court, an assertion comparable to gunfire on the tarmac in Bosnia.
“This is the Menis Ketchum who ran campaign commercials with uniformed police officers, said he "didn't know the law," vowed to pull the ads but kept them on the air.
“This is the Menis Ketchum who explained an exchange of nearly a dozen phone calls with Justice Larry Starcher on a January weekend was to inquire if the justice was seeking re-election, even though the answer to that question was on the record the previous month. No, those calls -- and contacts that weekend with the incoming head of the state personal injury bar, Al Karlin -- had to do with one of Starcher's court colleagues.”
The lawsuit industry in West Virginia however appears to be hoping to somehow rectify the situation, perhaps returning to their old ways. This is partially backed by the fact that Warren McGraw, a long-serving politician and top trial lawyer in West Virginia, is back on the bench in the Wyoming County circuit. In addition to this, the same team behind the McGraw banner four years ago are in the think tank for Menis this year.
Look for the Institute for Legal Reform, based in the nation's capital, to rate West Virginia's legal system worst in the U.S. for a fourth straight year in 2009.
Look for more surveys like the one recently published in the National Law Journal which found that three of the seven most costly verdicts in the U.S. over the past year were delivered in West Virginia courtrooms. In one of those lawsuits the personal injury lawyers split $135 million in fees and reimbursed expenses. The Herald Dispatch adds to these statistics in indignation: ‘you read correctly. That's what the personal injury lawyers got.’
More than $25 million verdicts against community hospitals have occurred, such as the one slapped on a community hospital in our state where there was no physical harm.
Warren McGraw's brother, Darrell, the attorney general has added to the controversy. It has been reported that he ‘hires cronies, converts millions of dollars from lawsuit settlements into, essentially, a political slush fund and forfeits $5 million in federal Medicaid funds as a result of his reckless spending.’
Sofia is an author of several articles pertaining to No Win No Fee, Compensation Claims, Personal Injury Claims and other legal articles.