A number of sources — including The Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Associated Press, NPR, The New York Times, Bloomberg.com, and Legal Times — reported that the Supreme Court will hear Caperton vs. Massey, a high-profile case on which Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Litigation attorney, Dave Fawcett, has been working for more than a decade.

According to a November 14, 2008, ABC News article, "The U.S. Supreme Court said today it would hear an appeal by a small West Virginia mining company in a case that has shined a spotlight on the issue of money and influence with elected state supreme court justices."

Caperton v. Massey, stems from a 1998 lawsuit involving Buchanan client Hugh Caperton and Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship. A West Virginia Court ruled in favor of Caperton; however, the verdict was later overturned by Brent Benjamin — a newly elected judge who received $3 million in campaign contributions from Blankenship.

In a statement released on Friday and published in a number of articles, Fawcett said, "The question at issue here is central to the future of our court system. We are eager to continue to fight for a fair system, where judges who have received the benefit of vast sums of money from a litigant or a witness in a case must step aside from hearing the case."

"We are eager to argue our positions before the Supreme Court," Fawcett said. "We are confident the high court will not allow this case to stand, because people involved in lawsuits would have a license to contribute vast sums of money to elect judges with the expectation that those judges can then decide their case."

The appeal is scheduled to be argued in February of 2009.