Opinion ID: 1298362
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Absence of a Petition for Appeal

Text: As noted, Appellant's stated objection is that Appellee failed to file a Petition for Appeal in circuit court. West Virginia Code § 50-5-12(c) (1994) appears to contemplate that when the matter was heard in magistrate court by a jury, a party wishing to appeal to the circuit court will file in circuit court a petition setting forth the grounds for appeal and a designation of the portions of the record below deemed material. W.Va. Code § 50-5-12(c) (1994). Opposing parties may supplement Appellant's designation of the record, and the circuit court may by general or special order limit the record to be brought up from the magistrate court. [14] In the case before us, Appellee did not file a document in the circuit court denominated a petition setting forth grounds or a petition for appeal at any time. Rather, after the entry of an order by the circuit court setting forth a briefing schedule for the parties, each of the parties set forth their grounds for and against the appeal in those briefs, and the circuit court reached and published its decision. The circuit court had earlier determined, by order, that Appellee's appeal from the magistrate court judgment was to be heard de novo, a disposition appropriate only to a civil case heard by the magistrate court without a jury. W.Va.Code § 50-5-12(d) (1994). Since the matter was actually heard in magistrate court by a jury, that circuit court order was in error. [15] In matters heard in magistrate court without a jury, West Virginia Code § 50-5-12(d) (1994) contemplates that the appellant file in the circuit court a petition for appeal and trial de novo.  In appeals de novo, the magistrate court record before the circuit court consists only of the exhibits, papers, and requests filed below, excluding the testimony taken and trial proceedings had in magistrate court. W.Va.Code § 50-5-12(d)(1) (1994). Since the circuit courtat least initiallytreated this appeal as de novo, West Virginia Code § 50-5-12(d) (1994) may fairly be considered to be the law applicable to this case with respect to the necessity of filing of a petition for appeal, despite the reality that the case was heard in magistrate court before a jury. Giving due regard to the entry of the erroneous order by the circuit court, neither of the parties here may have been fairly alerted to any obligation to file a designation or supplemental designation of the record to be brought from the magistrate court. Moreover, since there is no time specified for the filing of a petition of appeal under either West Virginia Code § 50-5-12(c) or (d) (1994), this Court is of the opinion that the timely filing by the parties of their respective briefs, setting forth their appeal grounds and responses pursuant to the order of the circuit court, satisfied the statutory requirements for such a petition for appeal. We perceive that the real office of such a petition for appeal is to advise the circuit court and opposing parties of the legal and factual bases of the appeal. It appears that the briefs required by the order of the circuit court substantially accomplished that purpose in this case. [16]