Justice Benjamin appoints Judge Fox to Massey case

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin, the acting chief justice in the A.T. Massey Coal Company, Inc. vs. Hugh M. Caperton case, today appointed Marion County Circuit Judge Fred L. Fox, II, to replace Justice Larry V. Starcher. Justice Starcher disqualified himself from the case earlier today. 

Justice Benjamin is acting chief justice in the case because Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard disqualified himself on January 18. Because Justice Benjamin is scheduled to be chief justice in 2009, he became acting chief justice in the case. Chief justices appoint circuit judges to sit on Supreme Court cases when justices are recused.

Judge Fox is the senior circuit judge in West Virginia, having served on the bench in Marion County for 37 years. A Democrat, he is seeking re-election and is unopposed. Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Neely appointed Judge Fox to serve on the Supreme Court for a year in 1995 during the illness of the late Justice William T. Brotherton, Jr. 

Judge Fox's grandfather, Fred L. Fox, served on the West Virginia Supreme Court from 1937 to 1952.

Judge Fox was born and raised in Sutton. He is a graduate of Davis and Elkins College and West Virginia University College of Law. He served six years in the Marine Corps, including a tour of duty as an infantry officer in Vietnam, where he was wounded. 

He is married, and his wife's name is Debra. He has three sons, Joseph, 45; Logan, 34; Zach, 26; and a daughter, Charlee, 16.