W.Va. No. 2 on hellhole report
by admin on 16/12/09 at 9:37 am
The Journal
By John McVey
December 16, 2009
MARTINSBURG – Tort reform advocates almost sounded apologetic during a teleconference Tuesday morning for naming West Virginia the No. 2 judicial hellhole in the organization’s annual report.
“The reason West Virginia is No. 2 is because Gov. Joe Manchin is taking some action,” said Victor Swartz, general counsel of the American Tort Reform Association.
He was referring to a commission chaired by retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor that Manchin established earlier this year to look at judicial reform in West Virginia.
One of the commission’s recommendations was adding an intermediate appellate court that would automatically review lower court cases. Now, there are circuit courts and the state Supreme Court of Appeals in West Virginia.
In West Virginia, the state Supreme Court does not have to hear every case brought to it for review.
“There is no right of appeal (in West Virginia),” Swartz said. “The state can help itself by the Legislature adding an appellate court.”
He spoke before the governor’s Independent Commission on Judicial Reform and he “was treated in a good way,” despite his organization naming West Virginia a judicial hellhole for several years, Swartz said.
The Mountain State has been cited as a judicial hellhole every year the list has come out, beginning in 2002, when West Virginia was given a “dishonorable mention.” The state has landed in the No. 1 spot twice, once in 2006 and once in 2008.
In the full report, West Virginia is named a Point of Light for the governor’s judicial reform commission.
