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Paving Companies Want Lawsuit Over Asphalt Costs Dismissed
By: Associated Press
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – More than half a dozen paving companies accused of developing a statewide monopoly to inflate the cost of asphalt have called for the case to be thrown out.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports defendants’ attorney Booth Goodwin said in a court filing Monday that the case should be dismissed because the West Virginia Attorney General is not involved.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the West Virginia Department of Transportation Division of Highways and mirrors other complaints filed by five cities, as well as the Kanawha County Commission.
Goodwin says the DOH cannot pursue the lawsuit without “using the State’s lawyer.”
Bailey & Glasser, an outside firm, filed lawsuits in October accusing the companies of creating a scheme to inflate the price of asphalt by up to 40 percent.