More End of Term

In Murphy v. Eastern Ass. Coal, the Court overrules a three year old case, Savilla v. Speedway SuperAmerica, LLC, 219 W. Va. 758, 639 S.E.2d 850 (2006). "Although this Court is loathe to overturn a decision so recently rendered, it is preferable to do so where a prior decision was not a correct statement of law."

Savilla had limited the persons who can sue employers for "deliberate intention" under West Virginia Code § 23-4-2(c) (2005), to widows and widowers, children, and dependents as set forth in the statute. Murphy rereads the statute's reference to the "employee" to mean the "estate" of the employee can bring a claim for wrongful death, thereby increasing the beneficiaries to those listed in the wrongful death statute. Justice Workman, who wrote the decision, was plaintiff's counsel in Savilla. Essentially, the Savilla dissent penned by Justice Davis' is now the majority opinion with the new court. Savilla was law for less than three years, I believe.