CHARLESTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) — If satisfactory candidates for appointed seats on West Virginia’s new Intermediate Court of Appeals are not found, it shouldn’t be for lack of applicants.
Gov. Jim Justice’s Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission met Thursday and Friday to consider 29 applicants for the new appeals court. Three will eventually be appointed by the governor.
The list includes current family court judges, prosecutors and public defenders as well as former circuit judges.
Intermediate Court judges will be elected by voters to ten-year terms in the future. But under legislation passed this year, the initial three members will be appointed to staggered terms. The JVAC is charged with recommending potential candidates to the Governor.
Justice will pick one who will be up for election in 2024, one in 2026, and one in 2028.
The legislature created the Appeals Court to serve as an appeals panel between circuit courts and the state Supreme Court of Appeals. It is to begin July 1, 2022.
The new court will hear noncriminal appeals of circuit court cases, family court cases and guardianships and conservatorships, appeals of administrative law judge decisions and final orders and decisions by the state Health Care Authority.
It also replaces the Workers’ Compensation Office of Administrative Judges with a Workers’ Compensation Board of Review, where decisions can be appealed to the intermediate court.
No effort to favor any applicant over another has been made for this article but readers should be aware that more public information is available about some than others. We expect to have further information on some of the lesser known candidates before the process is complete.
Kanawha County Family Court Judge Jim Douglas has served in that capacity since 2016.
Douglas was Braxton County Prosecuting Attorney from 1985 to 1988 and worked in private practice in Charleston and Sutton over the years. He ran for a seat on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals in 2018 and 2020.
Darren Tallman is a Family Court Judge serving Pleasants and Wood counties. He was first elected in 2002. Tallman is a former Wood County Prosecutor. He has served as Wood County Juvenile Drug Court judge since 2010.
Deanna Ray Rock is a Family Court Judge for Hampshire, Mineral and Morgan counties. She was elected in 1996. Prior to her service on the bench, Rock was a practicing attorney from 2003 to 2016. She also has a nursing degree.
James L. Rowe is a retired circuit court judge in Greenbrier and Pocahontas counties. He continues to serve as a senior status judge, a category of retired judges who fill temporary vacancies or are appointed to oversee certain cases. Rowe retired from the bench in 2016 after serving as a judge for 20 years. He was appointed to the bench by former governor Gaston Caperton in 1997.
A legislative audit found that Rowe earned the most salary of any senior status judge a few years ago.
Dan Greear is a former Kanawha Circuit Court Judge. He is now the chief of staff for former House Speaker and current state Supreme Court Justice Tim Armstead.
Greear is also a former member of the House of Delegates and was al Republican candidate Attorney General in 2008.
Debra Scudiere is a former circuit judge for Monongalia County. She was appointed by Justice in 2019 to fill the vacancy left by Judge Russell M. Clawges Jr. when he retired.
She ran for election and was defeated by former assistant county prosecutor and West Virginia University attorney Cindy Scott in 2020. During her brief tenure, Scudiere was appointed by the state Supreme Court to the Mass Litigation Panel. Prior to her judicial appointment, Scudiere was an attorney for the Kay Casto & Chaney law firm.
Putnam County Prosecuting Attorney Mark A. Sorsaia has served in that role since his 1996 election. He was an assistant prosecuting attorney in 1988.
Sorsaia ran unsuccessfully for Governor in the 2011 special Republican primary election. He is a past vice president of the West Virginia Association of Counties, has served on the Board of Directors of the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Association, and has served as the chairman of the Executive Committee of the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute.
S. Benjamin Bryant, an attorney with the Carey, Douglas, Kessler and Ruby law firm in Charleston, is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for 11 years. The head of the firm is former U.S. Attorney Mike Carey. Steve Ruby is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney.
Bryant also clerked for Charles H. Haden II, a Judge of the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Northern District of West Virginia between 1975 and 2004.
Donald A. Nickerson Jr. is an attorney at the Spillman Thomas and Battle law firm in Wheeling and was elected to the Ohio County Commission in 2019. He also serves as the vice president and trust officer for WesBanco Bank and United Bank, Inc. Nickerson served as Wheeling’s municipal court judge between 1999 and 2019. He also worked as fiduciary commissioner in Ohio County between 1999 and 2004. From 1990 to 1992, Nickerson was an assistant attorney general in Ohio and general counsel for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Other applicants with prior prosecutorial experience or elected office include: Edward Ryan Kennedy an attorney at Littler CaseSmart, a Clarksburg city council member, and a former Clarksburg Mayor; Charleston attorney John J. Balenovich, a former assistant commonwealth attorney in Kentucky from 2008 to 2018; Gregory Alan Tucker, an attorney in Summersville, a former state senator for the 11th Senatorial District, and a vice chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee; and Crystal L. Walden of Charleston, director of Public Defender Services.
Other applicants include: Lewisburg attorneys Robert J. Frank and Christine B. Stump; Chester attorney Joseph L. Ludovici; Madison attorney Howard R. Nolen; Terra Alta native Ronald Reece, an administrative law judge for the West Virginia Public Employees Grievance Board; Bridgeport attorney Jenna L. Robey; Thomas E. Scarr, an attorney with the Jenkins Fenstermaker law firm in Huntington; Mychal Sommer Schulz, an attorney with the Baust Calland law firm in Charleston; Hamlin attorney William J. Stevens; Charleston attorney Keith Bryant Walker, and Wheeling attorney Martin P. Sheehan.
And finally, there’s Harry C. Taylor II. He made national news some years ago for the quality of his decisions and sleeping on the job.
Taylor II is based in Charleston. He served as an administrative law judge for the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review at the Social Security Administration.
Taylor was accused of rubber-stamping disability claims. In fact, a congressional report found he approved 94 percent. Sixty-eight percent of his decisions were awarded without holding a hearing. According to the report, he awarded about $2.5 billion in Social Security benefits between 2005 and 2013.
“An internal review found the majority of ALJ Taylor’s decisions contained medical expert assessments that were not consistent with his ultimate findings of disability,” a summary of the report’s findings read according to the Weirton Daily News.
According to the report, Taylor was recommended for suspension twice, including serving a 14-day suspension in 2011 after co-workers complained about him falling asleep.
“In addition to multiple allegations of misconduct, ALJ Taylor slept at work and during hearings many times,” the report added.
This story will be updated as developments warrant.