From Legal News Line:

West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw recently received authority to continue his case against a bankrupt funeral home.

U.S. District Judge Frederick Stamp wrote July 3 that McGraw has the authority to go forward with allegations that Iams Funeral Home violated the state’s Preneed Funeral Contracts Act, even though owner John Iams II declared bankruptcy two days after McGraw’s Wetzel County Circuit Court action was filed.

Iams is represented by Morgantown attorney Hiram Lewis, whom McGraw defeated in 2004 in the closest Attorney General’s race in history.

“The decision allows the Consumer Protection Division of my office to uphold its statutory responsibility to enforce the Preneed Funeral Contracts Act and protect consumers,” McGraw said.

Flatley’s opinion affirmed a decision made by Bankruptcy Court Judge Patrick Flatley. The trial judge had already ruled that “the State may proceed with its action against Iams only to the extent that it seeks a non-monetary judgment,” Flatley wrote.

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