On July 3, 2024, Kanawha Circuit Judge Dave Hardy ruled that all cases involving former students at Miracle Meadows School will remain in Kanawha County.
Former students have until age 36 to file sexual abuse and assault claims.
Hundreds of students at Miracle Meadows School in Salem, West Virginia were sexually abused, starved, placed in isolation, and forced to perform physical labor. Lawyers for the shuttered school sought to have the cases transferred to northern West Virginia in an effort to obtain new rulings on key legal issues.
Attorney Ben Salango, along with attorneys Brett Preston and Dan Snuffer, have represented over 100 former students who suffered sexual abuse while attending the boarding school.
“Judge Hardy’s ruling is legally sound,” Ben Salango said in an interview with The West Virginia Record. “Miracle Meadows School, through its insurance company, was simply trying to get a second bite at the apple. These issues were already ruled upon by Judge Tabit before she passed away. Hundreds of children were sexually abused, raped and tortured at this school. The victims are looking forward to having their cases heard by a jury in Kanawha County.”