West Virginia

A panel of three judges from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a new, more fine-tuned order Monday in the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act Authority (HISA) lawsuit that narrows the scope of an "administrative stay" that same court had issued five days earlier. The Aug. 8 order now means that instead of the entire slate of HISA rules being re-activated in Louisiana and West Virginia (as per the Aug. 3 Appeals Court order that trumped a preliminary injunction issued July 26 by a lower...

Just six days after Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) opponents won a round in court in which a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction that halted implementation of HISA rules going into effect in Louisiana and West Virginia, HISA and the Federal Trade Commission were back in court Monday filing an emergency motion for a stay pending appeal. The motion was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The filing from HISA maintains that when granting the preliminary injunction, the court erred in...

A federal judge has denied a motion for a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit designed to keep the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) rules from going into effect. The order, dated June 30 but posted to the court docket on the morning of July 1, the effective date for HISA's implementation, was handed down in the aftermath of a 35-minute Thursday afternoon conference call that was hastily arranged at the urgent request of lead plaintiffs from the states of Louisiana and West Virginia in their suit against HISA...

A federal judge on Thursday opted not to immediately grant the "expedited consideration" restraining order or injunction that opponents of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) alleged was needed to stave off the "irreparable harm" from "illegal rules" that are set to go into effect at midnight Friday. But within several hours of learning June 30 that Judge Terry Doughty of U.S. District Court (Western District of Louisiana) had given HISA and other defendants two weeks to file a response to the restraining order motion, the lead plaintiffs from...

In an effort to play catch-up with other racing jurisdictions in the mid-Atlantic region that have already adopted or are in the process of implementing model rules regarding medication abuse and stepped-up penalty scales, the West Virginia Racing Commission (WVRC) voted to send four proposals backed by the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) out for a 30-day public commentary period during the board's May 18 meeting. But when the WVRC meets again to vote on whether to adopt those rules at a yet-to-be-scheduled date, commission chairman Ken Lowe, Jr....

During his Thursday press briefing, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice announced that the state's racetracks will resume racing May 14. No spectators will be allowed to attend the races. "In regard to horse racing, on May 14 we will start spectator-less, without people, horse racing," Justice said. "It will be able to resume at that time. It takes a couple of weeks of active training and conditioning before it's safe for the horses, so they will be starting back very, very soon in preparation for us to have spectator-less horse...

Charles Town has suspended its live racing program following West Virginia Governor Jim Justice's statewide "stay at home" order which will shut down non-essential businesses as of 8 p.m. Tuesday. The track will remain open in the mornings for horsemen on the grounds to continue with light training. As of Monday evening, West Virginia had 20 confirmed COVID-19 cases.