Schartiger v. Land Use Corp.

NEELY, Justice.

The question we decide in this case is whether the trial court erred in not award*614ing plaintiffs their attorney’s fees and costs under W.Va.Code, 22A-3-25(f) [1985] 1, which provides that a court may award attorneys’ fees in civil suits concerning surface mining operations.2

On 18 September 1987, appellee, Land Use Corporation, acting through appellee, Maplewood Mining Company, a contract miner, set off a blast at its surface mine in the vicinity of the appellants’ homes located on the Tioga Road near Craigsville, in Nicholas County.3 Around the same time, the four families…