January 9, 2019
Proposed Intermediate Court Unnecessary Expansion of Government, Waste of Tax Dollars
Proposal Hypocritical to Governor's Claimed Support for Small Government
Charleston, W.Va. -- The West Virginia Association for Justice issued the following statement in response to Gov. Jim Justice's call to expand state government with an intermediate court the state does not need:
"It's hypocritical for Governor Justice to claim that he wants to streamline state government and eliminate waste and then propose a whole new layer in the judicial branch our state doesn't need and will cost taxpayers millions," said Stephen P. New, president of the West Virginia Association for Justice.
"Small states like West Virginia don't have intermediate courts because our caseloads do not justify the expense. States with intermediate courts had to create them because their supreme courts had unmanageable workloads. We don't have that problem. Appeals have declined more than 67 percent over the last 20 years. Why would we expand the government by creating a whole new court with more judges, more staff and millions in expenses, when the case load is just one-third of what it once was?"
"What's more even outrageous is that the corporate and insurance lobbyists demanding this new court want it just for the civil case appeals. Those cases account for just 13 percent of the cases filed. In 2017, there were only 174 filed. You don't create a whole new layer of government and spend millions to address 13 percent of the case load."
"The truth is the proposed intermediate court is nothing more than the leadership's reward to the corporate and insurance lobbyists for the millions funneled into this state in campaign and dark money contributions. These special interests have lied to our lawmakers. There is not one ounce of evidence that proves that adding an intermediate court of appeals would improve our economy or business climate. The only new jobs that will be created will be the six new judges and their staff added to the state payroll."
"We have limited resources. We shouldn't be wasting them to help out-of-state, corporate special interests to line their pockets at the expense of West Virginia taxpayers."
Get the Facts!
One in five states does not have an intermediate court.
Total appeals have declined more than 67 percent, from 3,569 in 1999 to only 1,151 in 2017—a rate four times the national average. (2017 WVSCA Statistical Report)
There were just 174 civil case appeals in 2017, down from 402 civil appeals in 2004—a decline of more than 56 percent.
The out-of-state special interests behind the push for an intermediate court cite the court’s civil caseload, yet civil appeals for tort cases, contract cases and property make up just 13 percent of the Supreme Court’s cases.
Appeal by right is guaranteed. Since 2011, the West Virginia Supreme Court has not refused a single appeal. At the same time, it has increased the number of decisions on the merits from just 670 from 2006 - 2010 to 5,003 from 2011 - 2015, an increase of more than 700 percent. (2015 WVSCA Statistical Report)
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