Charleston Daily Mail, Jan. 30, 2007
Several lobbying groups are drafting a bill intended to strengthen state laws meant to prevent out-of-state lawsuits from being filed in West Virginia.
The state Supreme Court last year struck down a current law, saying it violated a clause in the Constitution that guarantees the rights of citizens in one state will be the same as those in other states. The issue then involved the case of a Virginia man who was injured on the job on a forklift manufactured in Ohio and distributed by a Virginia branch of a company headquartered in St. Albans.
The man initially had filed his lawsuit in Kanawha County, where judges dismissed the case because of what they said was a flimsy connection to West Virginia. After the man appealed to the state Supreme Court, Justice Joseph Albright wrote that the state could not discriminate against a plaintiff simply because he was not a resident of West Virginia.
Albright said a plaintiff's residency could be considered in determining proper venue, but it could not be used to categorically deny venue.
Trial lawyers and members of the business community have argued that the policy will spur a run on lawsuits in the state's courts that have little connection here.
The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and state Trial Lawyers Association have been working on a bill they say would essentially allow judges to decide where the majority of a lawsuit's circumstances occurred before a plaintiff could go forward with it in a West Virginia court.
Lobbyists said they think the bill is likely to be introduced in the House of Delegates.
Jeff Jones, president of the Trial Lawyers Association, said the bill should comply with the Supreme Court's decision, while putting limits on out-of-state lawsuits. "I think it's a good bill the way it's written," Jones said. "I think the chamber should get behind it."
Brenda Nichols Harper, vice president and general counsel for the chamber, said the goal is to avoid situations where the majority of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit don't live in West Virginia, or the events or circumstances of a case didn't happen here. She cited the mass asbestos and tobacco litigation as examples that have tied up West Virginia's courts.
Harper said the chamber's members worry these types of lawsuits delay West Virginians' access to the court system their taxpayer money helps fund.
Jones said the initial version of the bill should be tweaked a little before it goes before lawmakers.
Sen. Judiciary Chairman Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, was one of 28 senators who sponsored the bill in 2003 -- the one struck down by the court last year -- that limited when nonresidents could file lawsuits in the state.
Kessler said Monday he was prepared to sponsor another venue bill if one was brought to him. But he said he plans to talk with House Judiciary Chairwoman Carrie Webster, D-Kanawha, and offer her the opportunity to introduce it there.
Webster could not immediately be reached Monday for comment.
Both Kessler and Webster are trial lawyers. So is new House Speaker Rick Thompson, D-Wayne.
Having the House take up the bill first would be a good gesture to anyone in the business community who has a notion that the new lineup of leaders in the House are anti-business, Kessler said.
"It might help quell some of those erroneously held pre-conceived notions," Kessler said.
Lobbyists backing the bill said they agreed and had high hopes for the success of their proposal in the House.
"I have found the new speaker to be very balanced," said Harper, the chamber official.