Keeping an Eye on West Virginia Justice

An issue of critical importance to our courts and entire legal system is building and maintaining the public’s trust.

Sadly, many West Virginians are concerned that our court system is in trouble. Some court decisions appear to be arbitrary and legally questionable. Money flows through the judicial election process in surprising ways, and at times ethical rules seem to be ignored in our courts.

WV CALA seeks to research and make public the key issues affecting our civil justice system.  We believe that an informed and engaged citizenry will help keep our government open and honest.

Here are some of the key issue areas for West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.

Judicial Activism
Our government was set up with executive, legislative and judicial branches, each having differing roles in order to run efficiently under a system of checks and balances. Recently we have seen examples of activist judges effectively writing legislation from the bench, even though writing laws is a responsibility designated for our legislature. Also, in our lawsuit oriented society we are seeing examples of attempts to govern through lawsuits rather than having our elected representatives in the legislature carrying out that role.

:: West Virginia’s Unusual Medical Monitoring Court Ruling
:: W.Va. Supreme Court strikes down venue reform laws
:: State Supreme Court shows hostility towards medical malpractice reforms

Basic fairness in the courts
All parties should be guaranteed their day in court and a fair trial. In the West Virginia court system, however, the appearance of bias and impropriety are evident in the actions of some judges and in some court decisions. While our state has many good judges, some appear to thumb their noses at judicial ethics and run the risk of undermining public confidence in our courts.

:: Impartiality or Benefiting Family Members?
:: Bias?
:: Campaign contribution impropriety
:: Is West Virginia’s mass litigation panel fair?
:: West Virginia’s national reputation

Instilling Public Trust
With the judicial branch of government causing questions of fairness and ethics to be raised, is the public losing faith in our courts and jeopardizing the ability of our courts to properly execute its oversight role in state government? Many say our state court system is broken and needs to be repaired.

:: Read more about instilling public trust