Trial judge combines W.Va. slurry pollution cases

The claims of hundreds of residents in West Virginia’s Boone County who blame coal companies for contaminating their water supplies will be heard in a single trial, a judge ruled Wednesday. Circuit Judge William Thompson issued an order consolidating 155 individual medical monitoring lawsuits involving about 350 people. The cases were set to be tried in small groups starting April 25, but that date could change after a status conference Thursday.