CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As the West Virginia Senate revisits the merits of creating an intermediate state court of appeals, the arguments about projected costs are, once again, being made mostly along party lines.
Sen. Greg Boso, R-Nicholas, and other Republicans have expressed skepticism about projections which estimate the cost of having such a court at $10-million or more, annually. Estimates offered by the Republican leadership have been in the range of $3-million to $4-million. Boso told MetroNews any cost/benefit analysis needs to take into account the extent to which an intermediate court would offset the number of cases that otherwise would have to be taken up by the Supreme Court of Appeals.
“We will take a real hard look as to whether or not we can provide an opportunity for an intermediate court that will allow everybody that has an appeal (to) be able to get before the court and actually voice their problem and their situation, in the course of their appeal,” he said, noting that there is no current filter between the state’s highest court and the influx of appeals from the 55 circuit courts in West Virginia.
“What that does is, that relieves a little bit of the load off of the Supreme Court, so that — on those big cases where they need to be able to take a lot of time and clearly deliberate and make sure that the opinions are really strong, firm, grounded — the Supreme Court will actually be able to have those.”
Judges on the proposed court would preside over appeals in civil cases, as well as appeals in workers’ compensation and related matters, and other administrative cases. Appeals in criminal cases would not be eligible for review.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee repeatedly have called the creation of an intermediate appelate court a waste of money and an unnecessary impedement in the appeals process. Last year, the Republican majority unanimously passed an intermediate courts bill, which also had the support of Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell. However, the proposal did not come up for a vote in the House of Delegates.
The language of the current draft calls for the creation two intermediate courts serving the northern and southern areas of the state. Rather than having fixed locations, the dual courts would meet somewhere “convenient to the litigants in a facility provided by the Administrative Director” of the Supreme Court.
West Virginia is one of nine states that do not have an intermediate court of appeals.