West Virginia taxpayers have dealt with increased consumer and healthcare costs for decades, tied to our formerly poor litigation climate. As our state courts have become fairer in recent years due to legal reforms that have improved our overall economy, the personal injury lawsuit industry has found a new deep pocket to go after–the state of West Virginia itself. Lawsuit after lawsuit has been filed against school boards and other non-profit organizations that use the state’s insurance agency, the West Virginia Board of Risk and Insurance Management.

In just the last couple of years, the number and size of payouts have started to skyrocket. In 2023 and 2024, BRIM paid out more than $500 million in claims and expenses, all from state agencies and non-profit organizations. This is money that could have been used for much better purposes. And even without digging through the very large BRIM financial statements one could tell that the personal injury lawyers were making a large amount from BRIM-related lawsuits, because social media users and daytime television viewers continue to be bombarded with ads targeting the institutions that BRIM insures.

Accompanying these escalating costs have been increased premiums, which are negatively impacting the state, county school boards, and many organizations around the state. As the situation gets worse, pressure could further build, calling for a state bailout. The lack of effective policy limits and outlandish rules of statute of limitation have created opportunities for the personal injury lawsuit industry to make millions of dollars off our state.

The West Virginia Legislature has started to address the situation. SB 875 from the 2024 session provided a moratorium on new insurance until July 1 of next year. A hearing during the December legislative interim meetings heard further details from BRIM Director Melody Duke. Delegate Dr. Matt Rohrbach even discussed the need to “rebuild those reserves and assure the financial solvency of the program.”

As of now, only county boards of education have policy limits set. The current limits need to be reviewed, and expanding these limits to other BRIM policies would most certainly be a step in the right direction. West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse hope that the legislature will keep in mind the role that the personal injury lawsuit industry has played in this new problem affecting our state and that any reforms will, first, stop lawsuit abuse against BRIM and prevent increased costs for West Virginia taxpayers.

Marshall County native Greg Thomas is the Executive Director of West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse–a non-profit, non-partisan citizen legal watchdog group.