How much will WVSP have to pay in hidden camera case? Attorneys argue insurance limit

In spring 2023, then-Gov. Jim Justice confirmed a camera had been placed inside the women’s locker room at the Academy. Three troopers, according to Justice, found a thumb drive with videos from the camera and destroyed the evidence.

According to court documents, the trooper who placed the camera died in 2016.

$1 million total?

Tuesday, Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Ken Ballard heard arguments from attorneys about the matter.

Don Parker, an attorney representing National Union Fire Insurance Company, said that the state Board of Risk and Insurance Management wrote the insurance policy. While National Union pays out claims, the state pays back National Union the amount of the claim, he said.

Parker argued that under the policy, the maximum total payout could only be $1 million.

“ It's meant to keep costs down,� he said. “If there's a claim that could otherwise be seen as worth hundreds of millions of dollars, if the incidents are properly grouped together, it only counts for $1 million.�

Or more than $1 million?

Attorney Brent Kesner argued for the plaintiffs that the limit was actually $1 million per wrongful act, offense and occurrence — different terms defined in the insurance policy.

He said that no one had said the state would be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars. Each individual claim may not even be worth $1 million, he said.

" What the limits are not is $1 million for everything. That simply is not supported by anything,� Kesner said.

The attorneys said that mediation between the parties had failed.

Kesner said that a ruling from the judge on the insurance limit could help restart mediation “that couldn’t work when their entire position was 'We're limited to $1 million regardless of ... whatever the number of plaintiffs is.'�

Ballard said he would rule early next week.