State Ex Rel City of Martinsburg v. Sanders

City of Martinsburg (hereinafter referred to as "Martinsburg") invokes this Courts original jurisdiction by seeking a writ of prohibition to bar the Circuit Court of Berkeley County from conducting further proceedings in an action based on a negligence claim seeking award of medical monitoring expenses brought against Martinsburg by current and former firefighters (hereinafter referred to as "Respondents") employed by the city. Martinsburg maintains that the lower court committed clear legal error by denying its motion for judgment on the pleadings, thereby requiring Martinsburg to proceed with litigating the case, despite the statutory immunity afforded it by the provisions of the Governmental Tort Claims and Insurance Reform Act (hereinafter referred to as "Governmental Tort Claims Act"), West Virginia Code Chapter 29 Article 12A. After careful consideration of this matter, we grant the writ as requested for the reasons stated below.