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CHARLESTON -- A Senate committee passed Gov. Jim Justice's proposal to add another layer to the state court system Monday.
The Senate Judiciary Committee looked at Senate Bill 266 Monday morning and afternoon, which creates the West Virginia Appellate Review Reorganization Act of 2019.
SB 266, introduced on behalf of the governor's office, creates an intermediate appeals court underneath the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. The introduced version of the bill called for the creation of two three-judge panels dividing the state into two districts. The committee substitute shrinks that to one panel covering the entire state.
If created, the intermediate appeals court would only handle certain cases, such as civil cases; family court appeals and issues involving child custody; decisions made by administrative law judges, and decisions made by the Worker's Compensation Review Board. The three judges would be appointed by the governor with guidance by the Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission for 10-year terms at a salary of $130,000.
The initial fiscal note submitted to the committee by the state supreme court put the cost of the governor's intermediate appeals court proposal at $7.6 million, but a new fiscal note is being developed after the committee reduced the panels from two to one.
An intermediate appeals court has long been on the wish list of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and other pro-business interest groups.
"I'm really pleased to see the Senate Judiciary Committee take the first step for this critical reform here in West Virginia," said Danielle Waltz with the U.S Chamber of Commerce. "West Virginia needs to modernize this court system."
Mark Hayes, vice president of the Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia, represents a group of 500 lawyers in the state. The organization supports an intermediate court, which would help develop case law for attorneys to be guided by, as well as ensure a right to an appeal.
"We believe as practicing lawyers that we would welcome adding to the body of law to add precedents to help us in case law as we move forward," Hayes said. "We believe an intermediate court of appeals with a mandate to publish its opinions would help immensely."
On the opposite end of that is the West Virginia Association of Justice, which notes that the current supreme court has no issues hearing appeals cases. According to Stephen New, president for the association, the numbers of case filings has gone down 40 percent, from 1,917 in 2009 to 1,151 in 2017. Since 2011, the court instituted a rule to ensure every appeal receives a decision, if not always an oral argument before the five-member bench.
"Since 2009, automatic right of appeal has been affirmed without question, case filings have declined 40 percent and our legislature has gained oversight of the court's budget and spending," New said in a statement. "The intermediate court is not needed."
Anthony Majestro, representing the Association of Justice during committee testimony, said those calling for an intermediate court forget how worse the court system used to be before the court changed its rules to allow a right of appeal.
"Some bad things happened because of the perception that that court wasn't hearing every case and deciding every case," Majestro said. "You already have that right to have that appeal heard."
Evan Jenkins, a justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, said the court has already caught back up to the backlog in cases that piled up during the impeachment investigations triggered by the indictment of former justice Allen Loughry.
"There is no question that calendar year 2018 was materially fewer signed opinions," Jenkins said. "Everything that happened last year had an impact."
The bill now goes to the Senate Finance Committee.