[1] In 2010, Maynard switched parties and won the Republican nomination to challenge longtime Democratic U.S. Representative Nick Rahall in West Virginia's 3rd congressional district.
The judgment ($55 million plus interest) had been awarded by a Boone County jury to Harman Mining, a West Virginia coal company owned by Hugh M. Caperton.
After the Supreme Court reversed the judgment, Caperton's attorneys learned that Maynard had vacationed in the French Riviera with Don Blankenship, the CEO, chairman, and president of Massey Energy, and photos of the trip emerged.
[3][4] Bruce Stanley, a Pittsburgh lawyer representing Caperton, said "It is beyond the realm of human comprehension that any judge could claim any semblance of impartiality when, before casting the deciding vote in a $76 million case, he accompanies the CEO of the litigant on a luxurious trip to the French Riviera."
The acting chief justice appointed Circuit Judge Don Cookman to sit on the court for Caperton's rehearing petition.
Maynard barely edged out a political novice and West Virginia University law professor Bob Bastress.
After switching his party affiliation to Republican, Maynard officially filed candidacy papers on February 1, 2010, to run for the U.S. House in the 3rd District of West Virginia.