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WEST VIRGINIA RECORD

Thursday, March 28, 2024

West Virginia Supreme Court

Recent News About West Virginia Supreme Court View More

  • Looking back at an important W.Va. civil rights case

    By Jay Stoneking |
    WHEELING – J.R. Clifford was West Virginia’s first black attorney and a civil rights pioneer. The Williams case represents an early and significant win in the civil rights movement, predating Brown v. Board of Education by over 50 years.

  • State Senate vacancy hearing set for Jan. 19

    By Chris Dickerson |
    CHARLESTON – West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's motion to intervene in a lawsuit filed over the process of filling a vacancy in the state’s Ninth Senatorial District has been granted, and the state Supreme Court hearing is set for Jan. 19. “We filed a motion to allow the State of West Virginia to intervene in the Ninth Senatorial District ballot vacancy case so that the opinion of the Attorney General may be properly considered by the West Virginia Supreme Court,” Morrisey said i

  • AG files to intervene in senate vacancy case

    By Jessica Karmasek and Chris Dickerson |
    CHARLESTON – West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed a motion Jan. 12 to intervene in a lawsuit filed over the process of filling a vacancy in the state’s Ninth Senatorial District. “Today, we filed a motion to allow the State of West Virginia to intervene in the Ninth Senatorial District ballot vacancy case so that the opinion of the Attorney General may be properly considered by the West Virginia Supreme Court,” Morrisey said in a statement. “In our formal legal opinion, we con

  • Tomblin says he would pick Democrat for vacant Senate seat

    By Chris Dickerson |
    CHARLESTON — Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin says he would appoint a Democrat to fill the seat of a Republican state Senator who resigned, but he wants the state Supreme Court to determine which party will get the seat. Tomblin’s legal team filed a response Jan. 11 to a writ of prohibition filed Jan. 8 by the West Virginia Democratic Party.

  • Democrats file writ asking Supreme Court to rule on open Senate seat

    By Chris Dickerson |
    CHARLESTON – The West Virginia Democratic Party filed a writ of prohibition with the state Supreme Court against Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin appointing a replacement for a recently retired state senator. Republican state Senator Daniel Hall resigned Jan. 4 to take a job as a state liaison for the National Rifle Association.

  • UPDATE: Preliminary injunction in Common Core lawsuit denied

    By Kyla Asbury |
    CHARLESTON – A preliminary injunction sought by the plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging West Virginia’s Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium was denied, citing lack of evidence. Angela Summers and Fred Dailey, who were represented by Thomas More Law Center; John Sauer of the James Otis Law Group; and Jeff Kimble and E.

  • Attorneys challenge rates for court-appointed cases

    By Kyla Asbury |
    CHARLESTON – A Charleston attorney has given notice to state officials that he is challenging the state’s guidelines that would cut the amount attorneys are paid for their time spent in court-appointed cases. Anthony Majestro of Powell & Majestro sent notice on behalf of attorneys and law firms that take court-appointed cases. Majestro will file a petition for a writ of mandamus with the West Virginia Supreme Court against the state’s Public Defender Services. The petition will ask the court

  • Court sets 2016 interest rates on judgments and decrees

    By Chris Dickerson |
    CHARLESTON – The Administrative Office of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia has set the interest rate at 7.00 percent for judgments and decrees entered during the 2016 calendar year. A law passed in the 2006 legislative session requires the Administrative Office of the Supreme Court annually to determine the interest rate to be paid upon judgments or decrees for the payment of money, including pre-judgment interest. The law, West Virginia Code 56-6-31, went into effect on Jan. 1, 2

  • Ketchum to serve as Chief Justice in 2016

    By Chris Dickerson |
    CHARLESTON – Menis Ketchum will become Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court for 2016. He previously served as Chief Justice in 2012. Ketchum was elected to a full 12-year term on the Court in 2008.

  • Justices: Racing board right to impose fine, suspension on jockeys

    By Kyla Asbury |
    CHARLESTON – The state Supreme Court of Appeals reversed a decision by Kanawha Circuit Court to suspend the occupational permit of seven jockeys for 30 days and imposed a fine of $1,000 to each of them for violating a rule governing horse racing. “After review of the circuit court’s order, the assignments of error, the applicable law, and pertinent portions of the appendix, for the reasons stated below, we reverse the circuit court’s order,” the recent opinion states.

  • State courts to be closed half-day on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve

    By Chris Dickerson |
    CHARLESTON – West Virginia courts can close at noon on Dec. 24 and Dec. 31 for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, according to an Administrative Order issued by Supreme Court Chief Justice Margaret L.

  • Clerk: State Supreme Court handles every appeal

    By Chris Dickerson |
    CHARLESTON – A new report from the clerk of the state Supreme Court stresses that the Justices have written a decision in every properly prepared appeal since rules changes took effect five years ago. In his report, Rory Perry, says 2011’s Revised Rules of Appellate Procedure allow all litigants to have their appeals reviewed on the merits. “Appeal by right means that each properly prepared appeal is required to be reviewed on the merits,” Perry writes in the report, which can be found online

  • Pocahontas Co. lawyer has license annulled amid sex claims

    By Chris Dickerson |
    CHARLESTON – A Pocahontas County attorney’s law license has been annulled in relation to two counts of sexual assault and two counts of forcing sexual intercourse on a prisoner. Jarrell L.Clifton II of Marlinton had his license annulled last month by the state Supreme Court of Appeals.

  • Workman announces changes to Juvenile Justice Commission membership

    By Chris Dickerson |
    JULIAN – Supreme Court Chief Justice Margaret Workman recently announced the appointment of Twenty-Ninth Judicial Circuit (Putnam County) Judge Phillip M.

  • West Virginia no longer listed as a Judicial Hellhole

    By Chris Dickerson |
    WASHINGTON – West Virginia no longer is a Judicial Hellhole. The Mountain State, which perennially has been at or near the top of the American Tort Reform Association's annual list, has been moved to the "Watch List," according to the report released Thursday. In discussing West Virginia, the ATRA report commends state lawmakers for enacting reforms that it says has helped the state. "In an encouraging move that may yet stall, perennial Judicial Hellhole West Virginia has dramatically managed

  • Justices issue ruling about plea talks, exculpatory evidence

    By Kyla Asbury |
    CHARLESTON – The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has issued a ruling regarding the prosecution's obligation to disclose exculpatory evidence during plea negotiations. In the appeal to the state Supreme Court, the court ruled that Joseph A.

  • Wooton running for state Supreme Court seat

    By Chris Dickerson |
    BECKLEY – Former state legislator William R. “Bill” Wooton has announced plans to run for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. “It is with humility that I offer myself as a candidate for justice of the state Supreme Court,” Wooton, 71, said. “I have extraordinary respect for this body and the work that the justices do for West Virginia.

  • AG's office reaches $13 million settlement with CashCall

    By Chris Dickerson |
    CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's office has reached a $13 million settlement with CashCall, Inc., a non-bank private lender found to have engaged in abusive debt collections. The settlement, which was finalized last week in Kanawha Circuit Court, requires CashCall to make an immediate $10 million lump sum payment.

  • Eastern Panhandle judge returns to bench after heart transplant

    By Chris Dickerson |
    ROMNEY – It was just a little over four months ago that Circuit Judge Charles E. Parsons received a heart transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Earlier this month, the judge for the 22nd Judicial Circuit of Hampshire, Hardy, and Pendleton counties returned the bench full-time after working hard on his recovery.

  • Former state Supreme Court Justice Scott dies at 86

    By Chris Dickerson |
    CHARLESTON – Former Supreme Court Justice and retired Circuit Judge George Scott has died.