Opinion ID: 1323426
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Procedural IssueMultiple Theories of Recovery

Text: The case herein went to the jury on a claim for overtime wages and on a claim of denial of procedural due process, as well as on a claim of retaliatory discharge. The plaintiff/appellant's request that special interrogatories on each of the three theories of recovery be submitted to the jury was denied by the trial court. The defendant/appellee did not join in this request. The jury returned a general verdict for the plaintiff/appellant. The trial court subsequently granted the defendant/appellee's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. In syllabus point 6 of Orr v. Crowder, ___ W.Va. ___, 315 S.E.2d 593 (1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 981, 105 S.Ct. 384, 83 L.Ed.2d 319 (1984), this Court held: Where a jury returns a general verdict in a case involving two or more liability issues and its verdict is supported by the evidence on at least one issue, the verdict will not be reversed, unless the defendant has requested and been refused the right to have the jury make special findings as to his liability on each of the issues. Accord, Keller v. Hartman, ___ W.Va. ___, ___, 333 S.E.2d 89, 96 (1985). As discussed ante, the verdict is supported in this case by the evidence on the retaliatory discharge issue. The defendant/appellee did not request special findings as to its liability on each of the three theories of recovery. The general verdict, therefore, will not be reversed by us, and we need not address the other two theories of recovery.