A Mineral County judge denied a preliminary injunction in a case where a family sought recognition of religious exemptions to the state’s school vaccination requirements.
A Berkeley County case involving multiple families trying to assert religious exemptions from school vaccinations has had a hearing set for 3 p.m. Sept. 19 before Judge Michael Lorensen.
And a Raleigh County case on religious exemptions that has received the most attention of any of the cases might halt a multi-day hearing that had been scheduled for later this week because both sides just want to move toward a review by the state Supreme Court.
There’s a lot popping in West Virginia court cases over whether there’s overlap between a religious freedoms law and the law requiring certain vaccines to go to public school.
Raleigh County case could halt for Supreme Court review
In Raleigh County, Judge Michael Froble had scheduled a permanent injunction hearing to start Wednesday in the case of three families attempting to send their children to local schools based on religious exemptions to the state vaccination law.
Judge Froble, earlier this summer, entered a preliminary injunction order in the case, called Guzman for the plaintiff who first filed. That case has gotten significant attention because it was the earliest of what has now become several and because Gov. Patrick Morrisey has publicly sided with the families seeking the exemptions.
But on Friday, lawyers for both sides jointly entered a motion to stay this week’s hearing because they all want to go to the Supreme Court at this point. The motion indicates both sides believe any further action in the local courtroom would have limited influence elsewhere, so they want a state-level review.
“Given that all parties in the Guzman matter, including Plaintiffs, see no avenue for statewide relief in this Guzman matter and given that there is a preliminary injunction in place allowing Plaintiffs’ children to attend school, all parties respectfully join in a request to stay this Guzman matter pending a decision from the Supreme Court on Defendants’ appeal,” the lawyers wrote.
The lawyers in the case have a telephone conference with Judge Froble on Monday morning to determine if the hearing that had been scheduled for the coming week is off.
A friend of the court brief filed by the state Attorney General on behalf of the governor underscores that the Raleigh County court activity would have limited influence — only on the plaintiffs and not statewide.
“Next, a statewide injunction against the Board of Education in Guzman is not appropriate,” wrote lawyers representing Governor Morrisey.
The state Supreme Court has acknowledged a request to review what has happened to this point in Raleigh County. In a filing late last week, the Supreme Court set deadlines for filings in an appeal but also made clear that justices would not hear arguments until sometime next year.
Mineral County case sides with straight interpretation of vaccine law
In a hearing in Mineral County on Friday, Judge Cody Pancake denied motions for a preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order filed by a parent against the local school board and superintendent.
The judge ruled from the bench, verbally, and a written order has not yet been filed.
Still, this represents a county judge making a different interpretation from what happened earlier in Raleigh County on the question of religious beliefs allowing for exemptions to the school vaccination law.
In the Mineral County case, a parent sought recognition of a religious exemption for a 12-year-old student trying to attend middle school. The filing cited an executive order by the governor as well as the earlier rulings in Raleigh County.
Lawyers for the county school system emphasized that West Virginia’s compulsory vaccination law has been in effect since 1937, requiring school children to be immunized for public health and safety. The law provides only for a narrow medical exception.
Berkeley County case gets a hearing date
Judge Lorensen in Berkeley County has set a hearing for the afternoon of Sept. 19 for a case involving multiple families.
A lawsuit asking for an injunction was filed on behalf of eight students whose families are seeking to have the local school system honor religious exemptions for vaccines.
Referring to the compulsory vaccination law, attorneys in Berkeley County wrote that “each of the named Plaintiffs have chosen, after significant spiritual reflection, to forgo some or all of the vaccines on the CVL as being contrary to religious guidance they have received from the Holy Spirit.”
West Virginia students entering school for the first time must show proof of immunization against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, and hepatitis B unless properly medically exempted.
Members of the state school board maintain the mandatory vaccination law should be interpreted based on its straightforward language. The House of Delegates earlier this year voted down a bill that would have added an explicit religious exemption to the vaccination law.
Morrisey’s administration and lawyers for families seeking religious exemptions to school vaccination requirements have consistently cited West Virginia’s “Equal Protection for Religion Act,” which went into law in 2023.
The policy lays out the ability of individuals who believe their religious rights have been violated to seek a claim in court. The law says no state action may burden an individual’s exercise of religion unless it’s essential to furthering a compelling governmental interest and is the least restrictive means of achieving that.
So, courtrooms in all corners of the state are hearing those cases.