State of West Virginia ex rel.West Virginia Secondary School ActivitiesCommission,Petitionerv.)The Honorable John D. Beane, Judge of the Circuit Court of Wood County, Wood County Board of Education, Parkersburg High School,Parkersburg South High School, and WilliamstownHigh School,RespondentsandState of West Virginia ex rel.West Virginia Secondary School ActivitiesCommission,Petitionerv.)The Honorable Anita Harold Ashley, Judge of the Circuit Court of Mason County, Point Pleasant Junior Senior High School, and Frederick H.,as parent and next friend of R.H.,Respondents

• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court
• Decided: November 19, 2024
• Docket: 24-654 and 24-656
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA

At the Supreme Court of Appeals, continued and held in Charleston, Kanawha County, on November 18, 2024, the following order was made and entered in vacation:

State of West Virginia ex rel. West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, Petitioner

v.) No. 24-654

The Honorable John D. Beane, Judge of the Circuit Court of Wood County, Wood County Board of Education, Parkersburg High School, Parkersburg South High School, and Williamstown High School, Respondents

and

State of West Virginia ex rel. West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, Petitioner

v.) No. 24-656

The Honorable Anita Harold Ashley, Judge of the Circuit Court of Mason County, Point Pleasant Junior Senior High School, and Frederick H., as parent and next friend of R.H., Respondents

ORDER

On November 14, 2024, the petitioner West Virginia Secondary School Activities

Commission, by counsel Stephen F. Gandee, Jeffrey A. Kimble, and Lindsay M. Stollings,

Robinson & McElwee PLLC, presented to the Court petitions for writs of prohibition against the

respondents, the Honorable Anita Harold Ashley, Judge of the Circuit Court of Mason County, Point Pleasant Junior Senior High School, Frederick H., as parent and next friend of R.H., and the

Honorable John D. Beane, Judge of the Circuit Court of Wood County, Wood County Board of

Education, Parkersburg High School, Parkersburg South High School and Williamstown High

School, together with motions for expedited relief, for the reasons stated.

On November 17, 2024, the respondents Point Pleasant Junior Senior High School, and

Frederick H., as parent and next friend of R.H., by counsel Tanya Hunt Handley, Handley Law

Offices, filed a response to the petition for writ of prohibition in Case No. 24-656.

On November 18, 2024, the Board of Education for Wood County, by counsel Patrick E.

McFarland, filed a response to the petition for writ of prohibition in Case No. 24-654. Also on

November 18, 2024, the Board of Education for Cabell County, by counsel Sherrone D.

Hornbuckle, filed a notice to file amicus curiae brief together with an amicus curiae brief on

behalf of the respondents.

On November 18, 2024, C.R., Clay P. Riley, and Whitney Riley, by counsel W. Braden

Noon, McCoid Law Offices, PLLC, filed a motion for leave to file amicus curiae brief together

with a brief on behalf of the respondents. The Court is of the opinion to, and does grant, the

motion. The amicus brief is ordered filed.

Acting without undue delay to resolve the issues in an expedited manner and based on

the time-sensitive concerns involved, the matter was submitted for consideration without oral

argument. Having promptly scheduled the matter for review and considered the arguments of

counsel, the Court issues its decision through this order.

The WVSSAC is entitled to a writ of prohibition because the circuit court in Case No. 24-

654 erred as a matter of law by reviewing how the WVSSAC classified its member schools prior

to the commencement of the 2024-25 football season and substituting the WVSSAC’s decision with its own. See Syl. Pt. 4, State ex rel. Hoover v. Berger, 199 W. Va. 12, 483 S.E.2d 12 (1996).

“‘As a general rule courts should not interfere with the internal affairs of school activities

commissions or associations.’ Syllabus Point 2, State ex rel. West Virginia Secondary School

Activities Commission v. Oakley, 152 W. Va. 533, 164 S.E.2d 775 (1968).” Syl. Pt. 4, State ex rel.

W. Va. Secondary Sch. Activities Comm’n v. Cuomo, 247 W. Va. 324, 880 S.E.2d 46 (2022).

It is beyond question that the WVSSAC had the authority to reclassify under West

Virginia Code of State Rules §127-3-10. Upon our review, we find that the circuit court’s entry

of injunctive relief was not based on the WVSSAC’s lack of authority to reclassify, but rather on

the timing and manner of that reclassification. We have repeatedly held that the manner in

which the WVSSAC applies its rules is not subject to judicial review:

“Decisions properly within the purview of the legislative grant of authority to the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission under West Virginia Code § 18–2–25 (2008), such as the application of WVSSAC Rules . . . are not subject to judicial review.” Syllabus Point 3, State ex rel. West Virginia Secondary School[ ] Activit[ies] Commission v. Webster, 228 W. Va. 75, 717 S.E.2d 859 (2011).

Cuomo, 247 W. Va. at 324, 880 S.E.2d at 46, syl. pt. 5. See id. at 332, 880 S.E.2d at 54

(“[c]oincident with the legislative grant of authority to the [WV]SSAC to ‘exercise the control,

supervision and regulation of all interscholastic athletic events,’ [under West Virginia Code §

18-2-25 (2008)], matters falling within the province of the [WV]SSAC's bailiwick are, as a rule,

beyond the purview of court interference” (citation omitted).)

We thus conclude that the circuit court exceeded its authority in adjudicating the as-

applied challenge to the WVSSAC reclassification rule. As such, a writ of prohibition is

appropriate in Case No. 24-654. With regard to the November 11, 2024, order of the Circuit Court of Mason County, we

observe that the order was issued in direct response to the Circuit Court of Wood County’s

improper grant of injunctive relief. Be that as it may, the Circuit Court of Mason County likewise

lacked the authority to interfere with the internal affairs of the WVSSAC and overreached as a

matter of law by directing the WVSSAC to schedule play-in games as set forth in its order.

Accordingly, we grant the WVSSAC’s petition for a writ of prohibition in Case No. 24-656.

Based upon the foregoing, we grant WVSSAC’s petition for a writ of prohibition in Case

No. 24-654 and Case No. 24-656 and vacate the injunctions issued by the circuit courts. The

impact of this ruling is to allow the WVSSAC to proceed with the football championships

according to its rules and authority.

Justice Wooton disqualified. Judge Thomas H. Ewing, Circuit Judge of the Twelfth Judicial

Circuit is sitting by special appointment.

A True Copy Attest: /s/ C. Casey Forbes Clerk of Court