By Steven Allen Adams for The Intelligencer
CHARLESTON — A proposed settlement order is pending before a Kanawha County judge that could bring to an end a lawsuit challenging the legality of a series of murals installed in the rotunda of the State Capitol Building last year.
According to the agreed settlement order submitted by the parties to 8th Judicial Circuit Judge Dave Hardy, the West Virginia Capitol Building Commission is required to hold a special public meeting to fully discuss and review the eight murals painted and installed in the upper rotunda, and the commission’s contract with Connecticut-based John Canning and Co.
The Capitol Building Commission, through the Board of Risk and Insurance Management, will pay $18,500 in attorney fees to the Peyton Law Firm and Harvey Peyton, the attorney who represented West Virginia residents Gregory Morris and Tom Acosta.
“A reasonable compromise resolution of this litigation, including any alleged Open Governmental Procedures Act or Freedom of Information Act (violations), is in the best interest of all of the parties involved and in the public interest,” the order stated.