Opinion ID: 1372836
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Subsequent Facts

Text: By Order dated October 6, 2005, this Court consolidated the various petitions for writ of prohibition for purposes of our review. We issued a rule to show cause with respect to the consolidated petitions on March 29, 2006. In April 2006, the Governor of the State of West Virginia directed Jane L. Cline, Insurance Commissioner for the State of West Virginia and Administrator of the Workers' Compensation Old Fund, to reinstate dependents' death benefits that had been terminated based upon Policy Statement 2.02-2003. By letter dated April 17, 2006, Insurance Commissioner Cline directed BrickStreet Administrative Services, as third-party administrator [8] of the Workers' Compensation Old Fund, [9] to restore and reinstate all dependents' death benefits that have been terminated pursuant to policy 2.02 of the former Workers' Compensation Commission, and to cease the application of this policy to all claims for dependents' death benefits against the Old Fund. In addition, BrickStreet Administrative Services is hereby directed to issue payment for all benefits that would have been payable to any dependent claimant but were not paid due to the application of policy 2.02 of the former Workers' Compensation Commission. That same day, the Workers' Compensation Commission filed a motion to dismiss the consolidated petitions for writs of mandamus and to vacate the rules to show cause. Petitioners Georgette Carte, Sherry Grubb and Jackie Jenkins filed a response opposing the dismissal of their petitions, while petitioner Lola Crist, on May 1, 2006, filed a motion to withdraw her petition for writ of mandamus asserting that she had been made whole by the Insurance Commissioner. For reasons that will be explained below, we denied the motion to dismiss and the motion to withdraw. Meanwhile, on April 28, 2006, a motion to intervene was filed on behalf of the Sago Mine widows. [10] We granted the motion to intervene. We now grant the writ of mandamus.