CHARLESTON – A bill that would require the plaintiff to pay court costs and attorney fees if the claim filed is dismissed for lacking any basis in law or fact won’t be passed this session, but it likely will be introduced in coming years.
CHARLESTON – As the West Virginia Legislature’s 2017 regular session grinds toward its conclusion, the state budget and tax plans dominate the headlines.
CHARLESTON – The state Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced a bill that would change the guidelines for medical monitoring claims. Senate Bill 236 was approved by the committee on Feb. 21, and now will be presented to the entire state Senate.
CHARLESTON – Two groups that frequently butt heads are doing it again, this time over a recent state Supreme Court opinion saying West Virginia is “an appeal by right jurisdiction.” In a Feb. 8 opinion about the involuntary hospitalization of a Kanawha County woman, Chief Justice Allen Loughry used a case point to stress that “all properly perfected appeals are reviewed by the (West Virginia Supreme) Court and result in a written decision on the merits of each appeal.” In the opinion, Loughry writes that the petitioner had discounted the Supreme Court’s ruling in a previous case, relying on a case styled Hammons v.
CHARLESTON – A new survey conducted by a legal reform group says about half of West Virginia voters say the economy and job creation are the most important issues facing the state Legislature this session.
The Super Bowl this Sunday promises to be one of the most action-packed contests ever, with the New England Patriots vying for their fifth championship in nine appearances and the Atlanta Falcons hoping to win their very first after a sole unsuccessful bid nearly 20 years ago.
MORGANTOWN – For more than 10 years the American Tort Reform Association, a front group bankrolled by America’s most powerful and wealthy CEOs, has attacked West Virginia with its widely discredited “Judicial Hellhole” report.
WASHINGTON – Once a perennial seat holder at the head of the holiday dinner table, West Virginia now barely gets its foot in the door of the American Tort Reform Association’s Judicial Hellhole report.
CHARLESTON – A state legal reform group is praising the efforts of Attorney General Patrick Morrisey for the money his office has returned to the state’s General Revenue Fund since he took office.
CHARLESTON – A statewide legal reform group is celebrating Lawsuit Abuse Awareness Week, but a group for trial lawyers denounced it as another effort to take away West Virginians’ right to a jury trial.
Dear Editor: Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has made great strides in instituting ethical, good-government policies on the state’s hiring of private lawyers for litigation, and he has worked to limit the amount of settlement dollars paid to these lawyers.
CHARLESTON – West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse questions whether challenging the recent right to work law is more of a search for justice or an attempt to set public policy through the state’s judicial system.
CHARLESTON – A statewide legal reform group is speaking out as attorneys from a Mississippi law firm behind one of the biggest cases in West Virginia court history – and one of the biggest news stories involving a state Supreme Court justice – make their way to the Mountain State again.
CHARLESTON – West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has earned a high grade for transparency, ending "pay-to-play" outside counsel and helping to remove the state from a "judicial hellhole" list, a tort watchdog advocate said during a recent interview.
CHARLESTON – West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (WV CALA) is hosting its fourth annual Small Business Summer Tour across the state, in a drive that it characterizes as an attempt to increase awareness of the impact of lawsuit abuse on small businesses and to bring attention to lawsuit reform.
