State ex rel. Cackowska v. Knapp
| Decision Date | 02 April 1963 |
| Docket Number | No. 12217,12217 |
| Citation | 130 S.E.2d 204,147 W.Va. 699 |
| Parties | STATE ex rel. Aniela CACKOWSKA v. Norman KNAPP, Judge, etc., et al. |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
Mandamus will not lie to direct the manner in which a trial court should exercise its discretion with regard to an act either judicial or quasi-judicial, but a trial court, or other inferior tribunal, may be compelled to act in a case if it unreasonably neglects or refuses to do so.
H. D. Rollins, Charleston, for relator.
Thomas Canterbury, Beckley, for respondents.
In this original proceeding relator seeks a writ of mandamus commanding the respondent, Norman Knapp, Judge of the Circuit Court of Raleigh County, to discharge his duty under the law and render a decision in a matter pending before him, concerning the final disposition of an estate. The petition alleges the death intestate of one Gus Lapinsky, survived by relator as his sole heir at law; the appointment of the respondent, Sparacino, as administrator; the reference to a commissioner of accounts; the final report of the commissioner, to which exceptions were taken; and the subsequent confirmation of such final report by the County Court of Raleigh County on July 27, 1961.
The petition then alleges the timely filing, with the Circuit Court of Raleigh County, in October, 1961, of a petition for a writ of error to the order of the county court, and, despite three requests therefor, the absence of any decision on said application.
A rule to show cause why the writ should not issue as prayed for was granted on February 2, 1963, returnable March 19, 1963. In response to the rule, the respondent, Sparacino, demurred, primarily on the ground that no duty is alleged, nor is any relief asked, against him, and answered, admitting the material allegations of the petition but asserting a lack of diligence on the part of relator. Relator filed a replication to the answer, filing as exhibits, the correspondence requesting a decision in the matter.
No answer was submitted by, or in behalf of, the respondent, Judge Knapp, and, thus, we are not apprised of any extenuating circumstances which might have occasioned the delay of almost seventeen months in acting upon relator's petition, either granting or denying the same. We are not unaware of the crowded conditions of the dockets of several of the circuit, and other, courts of the state, however, in the...
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Allen v. State, Human Rights Com'n
...and justified the issuance of a writ of mandamus commanding rendition of a decision. See also State ex rel. Cackowska v. Knapp, 147 W.Va. 699, 700-01, 130 S.E.2d 204, 205 (1963) (seventeen month delay in rendering a decision warranted issuance of writ of mandamus compelling This Court has a......
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State v. Lewis
...other inferior tribunal, may be compelled to act in a case if it unreasonably neglects or refuses to do so.' State ex rel. Cackowska v. Knapp, 147 W.Va. 699, 130 S.E.2d 204 (1963)." We find from our examination that while we have permitted the State to seek an extraordinary remedy in a crim......
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State ex rel. Booth v. Board of Ballot Com'rs of Mingo County
...the first instance, how to decide the case. State ex rel. Hager v. Oakley, W.Va., 177 S.E.2d 585, 588 (1970); Cackowska v. Knapp, Judge, 147 W.Va. 699, 701, 130 S.E.2d 204 (1963). We hold, therefore, that neither and executive committee nor one who volunteered himself as a candidate has a c......
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Lapinsky's Estate v. Sparacino, 12237
...on April 2, 1963, issued a writ of mandamus to require the judge of the circuit court to act upon the petition. State ex rel. Cackowska v. Knapp, W.Va., 130 S.E.2d 204. On April 9, 1963, the circuit court entered a brief order by which it denied a writ of error. From that order a writ of er......