WV Supreme Court Sides with Baker & Brown
by Sarah K. Brown on November 24th, 2009
In an opinion released yesterday, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia found that overt acts of physical violence are not a prerequisite to obtaining a domestic violence protective order. Baker & Brown asserted this position in an amicus brief filed on behalf of the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence. In its opinion, the Court held that “[t]he act of domestic violence defined in West Virginia Code 48–27-202 (5) (2001) as ‘[h]olding, confining, detaining or abducting another person against that person’s will’ does not require proof of some overt physical exertion on the part of the alleged offender in order to justify issuance of a protective order.”
The case, Kimberly Thomas v. Joseph B. Morris, No. 35141, will be remanded to the Family Court of Clay County for the court to issue the petitioner a protective order. Baker & Brown is proud to have played a role in ensuring that West Virginia law protects all those threatened by domestic violence.
A copy of the amicus brief filed by Baker & Brown is available on the Court’s website.
The full text of the Court’s opinion is available here.
Read the Gazette’s coverage of the case here.