- W. VA. CONST. Art. III, § 5 (“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. Penalties shall be proportioned to the character and degree of the offence.
- Implied cause of action for due process and excessive force violations, with qualified immunity.
- Hutchison v. City of Huntington, 198 W. Va. 139, 479 S.E.2d 649 (1996); see also Fields v. Mellinger, 851 S.E. 2d 789 (2020) (reviewing jurisprudence and rejecting implied cause of action for violation of search and seizure provisions of state constitution); Bennett v. Coffman, 178 W. Va. 500, 361 S.E.2d 465 (1987) (applying qualified immunity).
- In West Virginia Lottery v. A-1 Amusement, Inc., 240 W. Va. 89, 807 S.E.2d 760, 774 (2017), the West Virginia Supreme Court noted that many jurisdictions have passed tort claims acts to compensate citizens injured by negligence of state actors who would otherwise be barred from suing due to the state’s sovereign immunity. The court concluded, however, that the West Virginia Governmental Tort Claims and Insurance Reform Act is limited to political subdivisions and their employees and does not cover claims made against the State or its agencies; thus, the Act “does not provide a means by which … [suits may be brought against] the state in tort in contravention of the state’s sovereign immunity, even for constitutional violations.”
- W.VA. CODE §§ 2.~-IA-I to 2S-IA-8 (2001).
