West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals issued the following announcement on April 10.
A total of 5,104 orders were entered in Mass Litigation cases in 2019, according to the Mass Litigation Panel’s Annual Report released this week. The Panel’s report describes action taken in the following Mass Litigations: Asbestos Personal Injury Litigation; FELA Asbestos Cases; Gavin Landfill Litigation; Marcellus Shale Litigation; Mingo County Coal Slurry Litigation; Opioid Litigation; Raleigh Heart Clinic Litigation; Tobacco Litigation; Water Contamination Litigation; and Yeager Airport Litigation.
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia established the Mass Litigation Panel in 1996 to efficiently manage and resolve mass litigation.
The procedure for referral of cases to the Mass Litigation Panel is set forth in West Virginia Trial Court Rule 26.
The Mass Litigation Panel consists of seven active or senior status circuit court judges appointed by the Chief Justice, with the approval of the Supreme Court of Appeals. All current members of the Panel are active circuit court judges. Each judge is appointed for a term of three years, and there is no prohibition against serving successive terms. The Chief Justice annually designates a Panel member to serve as Chair to preside over the activities of the Panel and to report to the Supreme Court of Appeals. The Chair of the Mass Litigation Panel is Judge Alan D. Moats of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit (Barbour and Taylor Counties). The other members of the Panel are: Judge Jay M. Hoke of the Twenty-Fifth Judicial Circuit (Boone and Lincoln Counties); Judge Derek C. Swope of the Ninth Judicial Circuit (Mercer County); Judge Jack Alsop of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit (Braxton, Clay, Gilmer and Webster Counties); Judge Joanna I. Tabit of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit (Kanawha County); Judge Christopher J. McCarthy of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit (Harrison County); and Judge Debra Scudiere of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit (Monongalia County).
Original source can be found here.