CHARLESTON -– Circuit Judge Alan D. Moats of Barbour and Taylor Counties is the new president of the West Virginia Judicial Association, Supreme Court Administrator Steve Canterbury announced Dec. 5.
Moats will serve through December 5, 2008.
The Association is comprised of the justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals, retired justices, all circuit judges, senior status circuit judges and retired circuit judges. Moats will work closely with the Governor and Legislature dealing with issues pertaining to the judiciary. He will preside at judicial conferences and will be the spokesman for the Judicial Association.
In July, Moats was appointed Chairman of the Supreme Court's Mass Litigation Panel, which is comprised of six circuit judges having statewide authority to hear complex litigation involving hundreds and sometimes thousands of parties. In 2006, he chaired the Judicial Realignment Committee that developed a report regarding the case loads of every judge in the state.
Moats has also been a member of the West Virginia Courthouse Facilities Improvement Authority since the Legislature created it in 2000 to deal with renovation, maintenance and preservation of the state's 55 county courthouses.
A former Taylor County prosecutor, Moats was appointed Circuit Judge in 1996 by Gov. Gaston Caperton. He was elected in 1998 to fill the unexpired term and re-elected to a full term in 2000.