Law Commons^™

Nonviolent Drug Offenders Need Treatment--Not Prison: The Solution To Prison Overcrowding In West Virginia, Kendra Amick

West Virginia Law Review

A tenfold increase in prison populations has occurred due to the policies and laws enacted by the War on Drugs campaign in the United States. This increase is the direct result of a rise in the incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders. Rearrest rates for nonviolent drug-related offenders sentenced to prison are 50%. For those offenders permitted to participate in a drug court program, this rate decreases by over half. In West Virginia, the battle against the opioid epidemic has caused it to become one of the fastest-growing prison populations in the nation. With a fast-emerging crisis on the rise, West …

Abuse In West Virginia Schools: What Can We Do To Better Protect Our Special Needs Children?, Camille Treadway

West Virginia Law Review

Children are some of the most vulnerable members of our society that need and deserve the utmost protection. Children with special needs are even more vulnerable, and their protection should be of vital importance. Parents of special needs children send their kids to school every day trusting that they will be safe from harm and will receive a quality education from trained professionals. Sadly, this is not always the case in West Virginia schools. Special needs children, particularly nonverbal children with autism, have frequently been subjected to physical, verbal, and emotional abuse while at school. This abuse is coming from …

“A Cruel System Indeed”: Extending The Statute Of Limitations For Claims By The Harmed Youth Of West Virginia’S Mismanaged Foster Care System, Caroline Toler

West Virginia Law Review

The current statutes of limitations in West Virginia pose a barrier for harmed youth to bring suits to recover. A child who experiences sexual abuse will have 18 years to bring a civil suit. However, a child who experiences another form of abuse (e.g., psychological or emotional abuse) must bring a suit within two years. In a novel argument, this Note proposes that state legislatures, and the West Virginia State legislature in particular, should extend the statute of limitations for civil suits by former foster youth harmed while in state care. A two-year statute of limitations is an insurmountable barrier …

The Right To Sit In West Virginia, Leif Olson

West Virginia Law Review

In 1901, West Virginia guaranteed that women working outside the home would have a place to sit down at their workplace. In 2023, despite that law, no worker in West Virginia is functionally required to be given a chair. This Note explores the use of seating laws to prevent the modern and historic workplace issue of prolonged standing, or when an employee is required to stand in one place for too long at one time. Prolonged standing in the workplace is an ergonomics problem, a medical concern, and a labor issue. The pain, discomfort, and long-term chronic disease caused by …

Expanding Drug Courts And Alternative Justice Courts In West Virginia: Implementing Innovative And Restorative Justice Practices, Emily Ogden

West Virginia Law Review

The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. Alarmingly, West Virginia’s incarceration rate is even higher. West Virginia’s staggering incarceration rate can largely be attributed to the increased criminalization and prosecution of individuals experiencing addiction. This Note considers what actions can be taken to limit incarceration and recidivism in West Virginia. The solutions proposed by this Note also aim to limit the collateral consequences of incarceration in West Virginia because many of West Virginia’s current issues are only exacerbated by incarceration. This Note reviews alternative justice methods and notable alternative justice courts across the …

The Socioeconomic Gap Of Infertility: Medicaid Coverage Of Infertility Treatments In West Virginia, Samantha Wilson

West Virginia Law Review

Infertility treatments have become more accessible and widely used in the last 20 years. As more couples look to these treatments in their struggle to start a family, health insurers are lagging behind in coverage for these options. For the majority of women in the country, paying for infertility treatment out-ofpocket is unrealistic. Not all states have approached this issue but those who have vary in their approach. Some are utilizing either mandate-to-cover for private insurers or Medicaid coverage to attempt to make treatments and diagnosis more accessible. Without policy solutions, the inequality of access between socioeconomic statuses will remain. …

Removing Barriers--Not Children: How West Virginia Can Prevent Further Harm To Children, Emily R. Mowry

West Virginia Law Review

West Virginia has one of the highest rates of children in foster care—and thus removed from their families—in the United States. Recent scientific and social science research has shown that removing children from their parents’ home is a traumatic event in and of itself, causing further harm to children already experiencing abuse and neglect. Federal legislation in the past ten years requires that states make reasonable efforts to address issues of abuse and neglect prior to removing children from their homes. West Virginia, for many reasons, is not doing so. West Virginia’s state child welfare agency, Department of Health and …

Sovereign Immunity And The West Virginia Constitution, J. Zac Ritchie

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Homeless Residency Restrictions, Ben A. Mcjunkin

West Virginia Law Review

Last year, the West Virginia House of Delegates introduced a radical proposal for responding to homelessness within the state: privately enforceable residency restrictions. As introduced, the restrictions prohibited homeless individuals from sheltering themselves, from being sheltered by others, or from receiving food or care within 1,500 feet of a school or childcare center. This prohibition was to operate statewide, transforming an issue that historically has been considered hyper-local into a subject of state concern. Moreover, the proposed bill established a private right of action for enforcement, legislating around the possibility of recalcitrant municipal governments declining to abide by the residency …

What A Data Privacy Law Should Look Like In West Virginia: Balancing Competing Interests Of Consumers And Businesses, Harrison Enright

West Virginia Law Review

Today’s businesses invariably leverage consumer data to create business insights, such as marketing strategies and consumer behavior analyses. As a result, consumers have placed an emphasis on data privacy and security. In response, many states have proposed comprehensive legislation aspiring to regulate the collection and usage of consumer data by businesses, grant individual rights to consumers, and provide for a method of enforcement. House Bill 3159 represents West Virginia’s most recent attempt at doing so, serving as an indication that the state is working diligently to enhance the data privacy of its residents.

Although enacting a comprehensive data privacy law …

Why Aren't Mountain State Folks Getting The Shot?: Health Literacy, Covid-19, And Vaccination Rates In West Virginia Counties, Elizabeth Van Nostrand, Taylor J. Robinson, Aimee J. Palumbo

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Broadband In The Mountain State: Connectivity Linked To Local Options, Denali S. Hendrick

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Addressing The Empty Chair: A Standard For The Sufficiency Notices Of Nonparty Fault, Mckenna Meadows

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

In The Eye Of The Storm: West Virginia's Uniquely Clear Opportunity To Revise Its Education Funding Formula During Covid-19, Lauren Trumble

West Virginia Law Review

Public school advocates in West Virginia have long voiced sharp criticism over the state's funding of education-and justifiably so. Although more than one in four West Virginia children live in poverty, the state's school funding formula does not account for the increased costs associated with educating low-socioeconomic status ("SES") students. As a result, low-SES students are not receiving a constitutionally adequate and equitable education, by the state's own standards.

Now, in the wake of COVID-19, with mounting costs and challenges, allegations of "inadequacy" and "inequity" abound. Ifpast is prologue, districts that serve high concentrations of low-SES students will be the …

Standard Oil, Consolidated Coal, And The Roots Of The Resource Curse In West Virginia, Alison Peck

West Virginia Law Review

Despite its natural resource wealth, West Virginia today ranks last among all states in its residents’ overall sense of well-being, a puzzle that economists call “the resource curse.” Much of West Virginia’s wealth, in the form of coal, oil, and gas, left the state in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries before the state could tax it. This discouraging story was not inevitable. In 1905, a Morgantown lawyer named George C. Baker led an effort to tax coal, oil, and gas leases as personal property that nearly succeeded. Baker and his allies, Governor William M.O. Dawson and Tax Commissioner …

Pilot Agreements In West Virginia: A Tale Of Turbulent Taxation, Blake N. Humphrey

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Racial Segregation In West Virginia Housing, 1929-1971, Nathan Tauger

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Indigent Defense In West Virginia: A Historical Look At Public Defender Services, Ralph E. Mckinney Jr., Casey W. Baker J.D.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Home Rule In West Virginia, Robert M. Bastress Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Forbidden Flower: How Allowing Medical Cannabis Flower In West Virginia Helps Heal Patients And The State Economy, Jordan Maddy

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Co-Tenancy Act And The Modernization Of West Virginia’S Oil And Gas Law, Jack Budig

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is The Gate Open For West Virginia Counties And Cities To File For Chapter 9 Bankruptcy Relief, Bill Pepper

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

When The First And Second Amendments Collide: The Free Speech Implications Of West Virginia's Business Liability Protection Act Of 2018, Alex A. Tsiatsos

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

State Ex Rel. Holmes V. Gainer: The Legislative Pay Raise And The Disappearing West Virginia Constitution, Matthew L. Clark

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Who Decides Justice: The Case For Legally Trained Magistrate Judges In West Virginia, Jason Neal

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Mountain State Transformation: West Virginia's Move Into The Mainstream, Cary Silverman, Richard R. Heath Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Addicted To Hope: Abating The Opioid Epidemic And Seeking Redress From Opioid Distributors For Creating A Public Nuisance, Nathan R. Hamons

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Will Rule 401(B) Ever Be Predictable, Sean D. Thomas

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Finding A Way Out Of No Man's Land: Compensating Mental-Mental Claims And Bringing West Virginia's Workers' Compensation System Into The 21st Century, Logan Burke

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

One Stick In The Bundle: Characterizing Nonparticipating Royalty Interests Under West Virginia Law, Andrew S. Graham, Allison J. Farrell, Lauren A. Williams, Amber M. Moore

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.