Opinion ID: 1288202
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: reviewable facts limited to pre-trial record

Text: Turning first to the more substantive issues of the case, the Dissenting opinion launches into a lengthy, twenty-two page discussion of the evidence admitted during the trial of this matter and certain determinations made by the circuit court based upon that evidence. The dissent then uses this trial evidence and associated court rulings to justify its position on how the instant case should have been resolved. I do not believe this analysis by the dissent to be legally sound. Due to the posture of the instant appeal, i.e., the dispositive matters actually before this Court on appeal, this Court's review is limited. As a court of appeals, this Court simply cannot consider issues not appealed by the parties or the evidence that was admitted during trial on such non-appealed issues. Specifically, there were two dispositive issues before this Court for review: (1) the circuit court's denial of the Massey defendants' pre-trial motion to dismiss for improper venue in light of the forum-selection clause contained in the 1997 CSA, and (2) the Massey defendants' motion for summary judgment based upon the doctrine of res judicata. With respect to the Massey Defendants' pre-trial motion to dismiss based upon the forum-selection clause, the Majority opinion correctly limits its review to the facts that were before the circuit court at the time of its ruling on the motion. Indeed, the Majority opinion correctly observes that the forum-selection clause issue was addressed below in the context of a motion to dismiss; therefore, we consider the claims as they were asserted in the complaint. Maj. op. at 241. See also Maj. op. at 248 n. 30 (The proper question ... is whether enforcement of the forum-selection clause was unjust or unreasonable at the time of the Massey Defendants' motion to dismiss based upon the forum-selection clause.  (emphasis added)). [6] Cf. Powderidge Unit Owners Ass'n v. Highland Props., Ltd., 196 W.Va. 692, 700, 474 S.E.2d 872, 880 (1996) (Although our review of the record from a summary judgment proceeding is de novo, this Court for obvious reasons, will not consider evidence or arguments that were not presented to the circuit court for its consideration in ruling on the motion. To be clear, our review is limited to the record as it stood before the circuit court at the time of its ruling.  (emphasis added)). With respect to the Massey defendants' motion for summary judgment based upon the doctrine of res judicata, the Majority opinion correctly observes that the circuit court properly denied the Massey Defendants' original motion for summary judgment as there was no final order in the Virginia action at the time that the original summary judgment motion was made to the circuit court. However, the Majority opinion goes on clearly to explain that the summary judgment issue could be raised for the first time on appeal, and appropriately addresses the issue in the same manner that the circuit court would have had the Virginia case been final at the time the Massey Defendants' original summary judgment motion was made before the circuit court. Therefore, the Dissenting opinion's reliance upon facts developed during the eventual trial of this matter to support its position herein is simply wrong because those facts were not before the circuit court at the time the summary judgment motion was filed and ruled upon.