West Virginia Supreme Court

The court affirmed the Board of Review’s decision refusing to add four preexisting back conditions to the claimant’s compensable injury claim. It held that the claimant failed to present medical evidence that the work injury aggravated those conditions and that a noncompensable preexisting condition does not become…

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed a Roane County dispositional order denying Leslie S. and Samuel S. post-adjudication improvement periods and terminating their parental and custodial rights following adjudicated abuse and neglect.

The court held that a workers’ compensation claimant may request a permanent partial disability evaluation for an additional, related compensable injury after the statutory reopening period has expired when the claimant timely sought to add the injury, the injury was later found compensable, and the Commission failed…

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed the termination of a maternal grandmother's eight-year guardianship of her granddaughter and the award of custody to the child's father, concluding the family court adequately considered the child's best interests and changed circumstances even though it did not…

The court held that the West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority was immune from the plaintiff’s negligence and vicarious-liability claims arising from alleged sexual assaults by a correctional officer.

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed Marcus McKinley's first degree murder conviction and sentence of life without parole, rejecting seven assignments of error.

The court reversed the dismissal of an abuse-and-neglect petition alleging that the father sexually abused F.S. It held that the evidence, including the child's repeated, detailed disclosures and supporting testimony, satisfied the clear-and-convincing-evidence standard despite inconsistencies and the absence of…

The court affirmed the corrected disposition order awarding the father primary custodial responsibility and granting the mother liberal unsupervised visitation. It held that substantial compliance with an improvement period is only one factor in a dispositional decision, which is controlled by the children's best…

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed the termination of Norma G.'s parental rights to Timber M. and Reuben M., rejecting her claims that the Department's procedural missteps denied her due process, that the court should have granted an improvement period, and that less restrictive dispositions were…

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia reversed a family court's reduction of a father's child support obligation after he voluntarily left a well-paying job at Momentive Performance Materials to work roughly twenty hours per week at $10 per hour for a company owned by his fiancee's mother.

The court affirmed the decision vacating Roy Justice's permanent total disability award after concluding that a self-insured former employer's participation in the reevaluation process did not invalidate the decision.

The court held that the circuit court improperly measured the reasonable-time period for challenging the default judgment from Tudor’s earlier notice of the entry of default rather than from entry of the default judgment itself.

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed Larry S. White, II's convictions of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit a felony, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to strike two prospective jurors for cause, that the evidence sufficed to prove premeditation…

In three consolidated nursing home cases, the West Virginia Supreme Court held that Section 15(c) of the West Virginia Nursing Home Act, which voids any waiver of a resident's right to commence an action, is preempted by Section 2 of the Federal Arbitration Act to the extent it nullifies arbitration clauses in written…

The court reversed Kaufman's first-degree murder conviction and life-without-mercy sentence because the trial court improperly admitted the victim's entire sixty-three-page diary as a single hearsay statement and failed to adequately explain its admission of related statements made to others.

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia reversed a dispositional order that terminated a mother's custodial and visitation rights to her four abused and neglected children but left her parental rights intact under W. Va. Code § 49-6-5(a)(5), leaving the children in Department custody with no path to adoption.

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed Anthony Charles Juntilla's jury convictions of first degree murder without a mercy recommendation, first degree sexual assault, and conspiracy, and the consecutive sentences of life without parole, fifteen to thirty-five years, and one to five years.

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia consolidated three direct appeals challenging the facial constitutionality of West Virginia Code § 62-12-26 (2009), which mandates a period of supervised release of up to fifty years as part of the sentence for designated sex and child-abuse offenses.

The Supreme Court of West Virginia reversed the dismissal of Multiplex's 2009 lawsuit seeking delay damages under a school construction contract, holding that the 2007 settlement Release barred only claims arising from the wrongful acts alleged in Multiplex's 2006 complaint — the Board of Education's failure to timely…

The court reversed the Board of Review’s reduction of Timothy Davies’s permanent partial disability award for carpal tunnel syndrome from 6% to 2%. It held that the applicable regulation was invalid as applied to impairment ratings calculated under Table 16 because its 0%-to-6% range conflicted with the required…

The West Virginia Supreme Court reversed a Logan County circuit court order denying termination of the parental rights of an incarcerated father in an abuse and neglect proceeding brought by DHHR and joined by the child's foster parents and guardian ad litem.

The Court affirmed the denial of Georgius's Rule 35(b) motion seeking reconsideration of his fifteen-to-thirty-five-year sentence for first-degree sexual assault. It held that the sentence was within statutory limits, was not based on an impermissible factor, and that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in…

The court affirmed summary judgment for Martin & Seibert because the Dunns' claims against the firm were time-barred after tolling ended when Douglas Rockwell left the firm. It reversed summary judgment for Carol Rockwell because the equitable claims were not subject to a statute of limitations and material factual…

The court held that a circuit court may not dismiss an abuse-and-neglect petition without first holding the hearing mandated by statute. It vacated the dismissal, reinstated the petition, and remanded for a hearing and compliance with statutory participation and representation requirements.

The court affirmed the denial of Franklin's habeas petition, rejecting his claims that the State knowingly used false testimony, that the trial court was required to give an accomplice-testimony instruction, that due process required an appeal as of right, and that administrative segregation violated double jeopardy.

The court held that Noble waived her nonjurisdictional challenge to the municipal DUI ordinance by failing to raise it during the administrative hearing. Because the circuit court was limited to reviewing the agency record and improperly considered the issue for the first time on appeal, the court reversed the circuit…

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia reversed, in part, Randolph County circuit court orders enjoining inmate Eugene Blake from filing motions, letters, or any communications with the clerk or court unless signed by a licensed attorney, holding that a single ambiguously worded letter did not demonstrate the…

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia reversed a circuit court order denying Tina B., the former same-sex partner of a deceased biological mother, standing to seek custody of the child Z.B.S. The court held that Tina B. was not a 'legal parent' under W. Va.

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed a family court's June 3, 2003 divorce order equitably distributing the parties' property, awarding the wife rehabilitative spousal support, and requiring the husband to pay up to $2,500 of her attorney's fees, together with the circuit court's order refusing…

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed the Kanawha County Circuit Court's order denying Judson White's second petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his 1986 forgery and uttering convictions.

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed summary judgment for State Farm, holding that the 2002 amendments to W. Va. Code §§ 33-6-30(b-c), enacted in response to Mitchell v.

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed the circuit court's termination of Dorlen M.'s parental rights to his daughter Tonjia M. The court held that the finding of abuse and neglect was not clearly erroneous given the testimony of three expert evaluators, that the denial of supervised visitation was…

The court reversed the termination of Daniel D.'s parental rights because his silence during court-ordered psychological evaluation and treatment resulted from a legitimate concern that his statements could be used in a pending criminal case.

The court reversed and remanded a child abuse and neglect disposition because the circuit court failed to make the specific factual and statutory findings required to terminate the mother's parental rights to Benny and transfer custody of the other children.

The court answered the reformulated certified question in the negative, holding that a claimant may not recover purely economic losses from an interruption in commerce caused by negligent injury to another’s property absent physical harm, contractual privity, or a sufficiently close special relationship creating a…

The court held that a circuit court may not delay the commencement of a dispositional improvement period until a parent is released from incarceration or completes treatment, because the governing statutes impose defined timing and eligibility requirements.

The court affirmed the denial of Michael Vance’s motion for a new trial. It held that the grand juror’s acquaintance with the victim did not invalidate the indictment because the juror affirmed impartiality, the trial court found no bias, and at least twelve qualified jurors concurred.

The West Virginia Supreme Court reversed a circuit court order that, on remand, had again reversed an ALJ's decision upholding a county board of education's hiring decisions. The circuit court had disregarded the reevaluation committee's results and substituted its own 'objective, measurable criteria' for assessing…

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed the denial of post-conviction habeas relief to Roy David Vernatter, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and alleged trial counsel were ineffective for failing to obtain a psychiatric examination before the plea.

The Supreme Court of West Virginia affirmed the circuit court's finding that Steve W. abandoned his son Travis W., but reversed the termination of his parental rights and remanded for a proper disposition hearing because the court proceeded immediately from adjudication to disposition without the notice of a…