It was a long time coming, but West Virginia’s intermediate appellate court is here at last, or soon will be.
The court, created by our state Legislature last year after many failed attempts in prior sessions, “opens for business” July 1 with three judges appointed to staggered terms by Gov. Jim Justice.
“This is an incredible step for our state that reflects the values of West Virginians and continues to make West Virginia more and more business friendly,” Justice said when announcing the appointments. “I thank our legislators and everyone who has worked to make this historic day a reality and I congratulate our appointees.”
Business and civic leaders greeted the creation of the court enthusiastically and praised Justice’s appointees.
State boosters long had advocated for an intermediate appellate court, confident it would make West Virginia’s business climate friendlier to commercial interests and help revitalize our economy. Former Gov. Joe Manchin’s Independent Commission on Judicial Reform recommended the establishment of such a court more than a decade ago, and bills to authorize one were introduced in the Legislature multiple times, but they never made it to the governor’s desk.
West Virginia no longer is one of only nine U.S. states lacking an appellate court between its circuit and supreme courts, and plaintiffs and defendants striking out at the circuit level now have a much better chance of securing a second hearing of their cases.
Like the U.S. Supreme Court, our state Supreme Court can only hear so many cases. So, in the past, if you were a plaintiff or a defendant in a circuit court case and you didn’t like a decision rendered and wanted to have it reviewed by a higher authority, you were pretty much out of luck, because it was unlikely that your case would be one of the few contested cases that our state Supreme Court would agree to consider.
West Virginia has made an important step in the right direction, and everyone who helped make this possible should be applauded.