As we finish out the month of June and head into July your attorneys at Bailey & Wyant PLLC have been active participating in ZOOM presentations across the country, sponsoring tournaments for our local universities, and winning cases in the courtroom. Please continue to read the latest news for you, and as always we thank you for your continued support.

Bailey & Wyant PLLC's Equity Member, Justin C. Taylor has secured complete dismissals for the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy with respect to numerous NAS (Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome) Baby cases in the opioid litigation. These lawsuits involve claims brought by the guardians of individuals who allegedly suffer from the effects of “NAS” purportedly caused by exposure to opioids during their birth mothers’ pregnancies. 

Bailey & Wyant PLLC's Member Jordan K. Herrick and Associate Samuel M. Bloom successfully defended a Petition for Writ of Mandamus filed by an inmate against a physician at Huttonsville Correctional Center.

The inmate petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia to order the physician to refer the inmate for gender reassignment surgery claiming the failure to do so violated his Eighth Amendment rights under the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court of Appeals refused the Petition and ruled in favor of the physician.

Bailey & Wyant PLLC is proudly sponsoring the 2023 West Virginia Airshow held August 26th and 27th at the Eastern West Virginia Reginal Airport. The Centennial Celebration will be held at Shepherd Field in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Tickets are on sale NOW.

For more information please visit, www.WVAirshow.com.

Mark A. Kepple and Benjamin P. Visnic, of the Wheeling office, successfully argued to the Intermediate Court of Appeals (“ICA”) that the lower court’s decision in Horizon Ventures of West Virginia, Inc. v. American Bituminous Power Partners, L.P., Civ. A. 18-C-76 (Marion Co. 2018). The lower court granted summary judgment to Horizon. The Intermediate Court of Appeals held that Horizon’s summary judgment should be upheld. Specifically, the Court found that AMBIT’s failure to pay money it owed under a contract constituted a breach of that contract, and that the record “conclusively establishe[d]” that the parties had a consulting agreement, that AMBIT breached that agreement, and that Horizon incurred damages. The Court also found that AMBIT’s justifications for breaching were without merit. 

The article for this month focuses on a newly published Opinion by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. In Blair v. Brunett, the Respondents sought from the lower court an injunction preventing Governor Jim Justice from enforcing HB 2012, the house bill that created the West Virginia Professional Charter School Board (“PCSB”). The PCSB is tasked with authorizing and approving public charter schools. The lower court granted the preliminary injunction, which sought to prevent the creation of “any PSCB-authorized charter schools absent a vote of county residents.”

On appeal, the Court found that Respondents did not have standing to seek the preliminary injunction against Governor Justice. The Court arrived at this conclusion after finding that Governor Justice does not have the ability to authorize public charter schools and because granting injunctive relief against him does not prevent the PCSB, a nonparty in the case, from authorizing public charter schools. The Court looked back to prior precedent on standing and ultimately provided a syllabus point reasserting the standard for under West Virginia law.

In Syllabus Point 3 of the decision, the Court held that Standing is comprised of three elements: First, the party attempting to establish standing must have suffered an ‘injury-in-fact’—an invasion of a legally protected interest which is (a) concrete and particularized and (b) actual or imminent and not conjectural or hypothetical. Second, there must be a causal connection between the injury and the conduct forming the basis of the lawsuit. Third, it must be likely that the injury will be redressed through a favorable decision of the court. Thus, using this standard, the Supreme Court of Appeals in Blair v. Brunett recognized that the Respondents simply did not have standing because they could satisfy neither the causation or redressability prongs of this test. 

Bailey & Wyant PLLC's Of Counsel, Abbie C. Dunn, and employee Adam Fisher participated in the 2023 West Virginia State Golf Tournament Scramble. The scramble was held at Edgewood Country Club.

Proceeds from the scramble will go towards a golf simulator for WVSU's golf team to allow for indoor practice during winter months and inclement weather.

Bailey & Wyant Associate Adam K. Strider. Member, Jordan K. Herrick, Of Counsel, Abbie C. Dunn, and employee Adam Fisher also participated in a golf tournament to sponsor the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

The Rotary started this program in 2013 when a member saw that students didn’t retain their reading levels over the summer and often forgot what they learned. They decided to help prevent this by encouraging second graders to read and giving them books. Since then, the program has grown to serve 27 different schools throughout Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan counties.

The Rotary program serves over 2,000 students, including 1,446 students from Berkeley County, 548 students from Jefferson County, and 150 students from Morgan County. It spends over $117,000 every year to help students have books to read and encourage learning. With help from the community and other organizations, it helps students gain better reading proficiency.

The Martinsburg Sunrise Rotary’s motto is “Service Above Self.” People from all over the community join the group to help serve others. Jim Marshall is a member of the Martinsburg Sunrise Rotary Club and supports the Burke Street Elementary School in Martinsburg.

The Eastern Panhandle Reading Program is one of the main ways the Rotary supports people in the community. With the help from other Rotary clubs in the area and donations from fundraisers held throughout the year, the program is able to support kids and help them build a strong foundation for their education later in life.

To discuss your case, e-mail us (baileywyant@gmail.com) or give us a call.