Carter v. Taylor
| Decision Date | 16 February 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 18921,18921 |
| Citation | 180 W.Va. 570,378 S.E.2d 291 |
| Parties | Wanda H. CARTER v. Honorable C. Reeves TAYLOR, Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Grant County, and Nancy Dayton. |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
1. General supervisory control over all intermediate appellate, circuit, and magistrate courts resides in the Supreme Court of Appeals. W.Va. Const., art. VIII, § 3.
2. Local administrative authority in a multi-judge circuit reposes in the chief judge thereof.
3. The authority to fill a vacancy created by resignation in the position of circuit court clerk reposes with the chief judge in a multi-judge circuit.
Joseph R. Goodwin, B. Karleton Kesner, Goodwin & Goodwin, Charleston, for appellant.
In this original proceeding filed January 25, 1989, relator, Wanda H. Carter, seeks a writ of prohibition against the respondents, C. Reeves Taylor, Chief Judge, Twenty-first Judicial Circuit, and Nancy Dayton. Relator seeks an order restraining respondent Taylor from enforcing his orders of January 6, 9, and 26, 1989, each purporting to appoint a person to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of the circuit clerk of Grant County. A rule to show cause why the requested relief should not be granted was issued January 26, 1989, and the matter was heard February 7, 1989.
The specific question presented in this matter is whether Circuit Judge Andrew N. Frye, also of the Twenty-first Judicial Circuit, 1 had the authority to appoint the relator to the position of circuit clerk on January 3, 1989. On a larger scale, this matter relates to the administrative authority of the chief judge in a multi-judge circuit.
Initially, the two circuit judges became embroiled in a dispute as to who would assume the position of Chief Judge beginning January 1, 1989. This dispute was formally submitted to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals for decision in or around the last week of December, 1988. Chief Justice Brotherton, with the concurrence of the other members of this court, resolved this dispute by letter dated January 5, 1989, stating Judge Taylor would serve as chief judge from January 1, 1989, until December 31, 1990.
On January 3, 1989, prior to the resolution of this dispute, Judge Frye signed an order purporting to appoint relator (then a Grant County magistrate) to fill the circuit clerk vacancy. This order was entered January 6, 1989. On January 6 and 9, 1989, respondent Judge Taylor signed and entered orders purporting to appoint Nancy Dayton as "temporary and interim" clerk to fill the circuit clerk vacancy.
Respondent Judge Taylor admits in his answer, and this court agrees, that Nancy Dayton, being a non-resident of Grant County, was not qualified by law to serve as that county's circuit clerk, and that the orders entered January 6 and 9, 1989, purporting to appoint her to fill the circuit clerk vacancy should be held for naught.
A subsequent order entered by Judge Taylor on January 25, 1989, appointed Betty C. Moomau to fill the circuit clerk vacancy.
Both the State Constitution and West Virginia Statutes address the circuit court's power to fill a circuit clerk vacancy. Article VIII, § 9 of the West Virginia Constitution provides:
Whenever the clerk shall be so situated as to make it improper for him to act in any matter, a clerk to act therein shall be appointed by the judge of the circuit court or the chief judge thereof, if there be more than one judge of the circuit court. Vacancies shall be filled in a manner prescribed by law.
West Virginia Code § 3-10-6 [1967] further provides "[w]hen a vacancy occurs in the office of clerk of the circuit court, the circuit court, or the judge thereof in vacation, shall fill the same by appointment until the next general election, and the person so appointed shall hold office until his successor is elected and qualified."
Relator argues that, while the constitution grants to the chief judge the power to name a replacement clerk in the case of incapacity, such power by statute resides generally in the...
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