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Final order expected soon in Raleigh County religious vaccine exemption case

Fourteenth Judicial Circuit Judge Michael Froble presides over a Raleigh County religious vaccine exemption case on Oct. 8. (File photo)

CHARLESTON – A final order could come by the end of November in the case brought by a Raleigh County parent against state and local education officials to accept the religious vaccine exemption granted to her child by the West Virginia Department of Health.

Fourteenth Judicial Circuit Judge Michael Froble is expected to issue his written order in Guzman v. West Virginia Board of Education in the next 10 days. That is while Froble’s order granting a preliminary injunction in the Raleigh County case has already been appealed to the state Supreme Court of Appeals.

At the end of closing arguments on Oct. 9, Froble said he would likely render a ruling in the case by the end of November or sooner once parties in the case file their findings of fact and conclusions of law by the Nov. 20 deadline.

Raleigh County parent Miranda Guzman filed a lawsuit in June against the West Virginia Board of Education, State Superintendent of Schools Michele Blatt and the Raleigh County Board of Education seeking to block guidance issued by the state Board of Education to county school systems to follow current law requiring children attending public and private school to show proof of immunization unless a medical exemption can be shown.

State law requires children be vaccinated against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella and hepatitis B.

However, Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed an executive order in January allowing for religious and conscientious objections to the vaccination mandates.

Morrisey’s executive order required the commissioner of the Bureau of Public Health and state health officer to establish a process for parents or guardians to request religious or philosophical exemptions to school-age vaccines, only requiring a request in writing from the parent or guardian.

Morrisey based his executive order on the Equal Protection for Religion Act created by House Bill 2042 in 2023, which prohibits excessive government limitations on the exercise of religious faith. The law is a key part of Guzman’s lawsuit challenging the state board’s directive.

Froble’s motion granting the preliminary injunction is an outlier, with circuit court judges in Kanawha, Berkeley and Mineral counties denying preliminary injunctions in similar lawsuits and siding with the state’s compulsory vaccine law. However, Froble released a written order on Oct. 16 turning the Raleigh County case into a class action lawsuit for the more than 570 individuals granted religious exemptions to date, as well as any religious exemptions granted in the future.

Both parties are fighting the class action order in dueling filings before the Supreme Court. Attorneys for Guzman and other parents filed a response last week to a filing by attorneys for the state board seeking an expedited ruling on a motion to stay Froble’s class action order. Guzman’s attorneys argued that there should be no delay in ongoing proceedings.

“The importance of letting the circuit court do its job to not only take evidence, but to resolve factual disputes, of course, remains the case today,” wrote attorney John H. Bryan. “Evidence has been submitted, and the circuit court has signaled its imminent intention to resolve the factual and legal issues. To that end, that court has indicated that it intends to do so by the end of November 2025.

“Petitioners apparently want to use the circuit court’s supplemental class certification order as both a sword, in a half-hearted attempt to stay the proceedings below, and as a shield, asking this court to disregard it with respect to whether the circuit court properly certified the class below on the merits,” Bryan continued.

In the Nov. 10 expedited motion to stay, attorney Christopher Smith, representing the state board, argued Froble exceeded his authority in issuing class action status to those families who received religious exemptions.

“Halfway through trial and in excess of its jurisdiction, the circuit court unjustifiably morphed two individual claims for exemptions to West Virginia’s public school vaccination requirements into a sweeping, statewide class action, with virtually no evidentiary record on the class claims,” Smith wrote.

“This case is different, as statewide injunctive relief here presents a real risk,” Smith continued. “If granted before this court resolves whether the class was properly certified, several hundred unvaccinated children may be permitted in West Virginia’s public schools during a time when diseases like measles are proliferating in nearby states.”

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com

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