Opinion ID: 1405111
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: New Retroactive Application Test

Text: The majority now concludes that the existing test for determining when to retroactively apply a newly established principle of law, set forth in Bradley v. Appalachian Power Co., 163 W.Va. 332, 256 S.E.2d 879 (1979), is insufficient for the case at hand, [11] because the Bradley test is narrowly confined to deciding whether to retroactively apply a new principle of law that was created in a case that overruled prior precedent. Thus, the majority, relying on the United States Supreme Court's decision in Chevron Oil Company v. Huson, 404 U.S. 97, 92 S.Ct. 349, 30 L.Ed.2d 296 (1971), overruled by Harper v. Virginia Department of Taxation, 509 U.S. 86, 113 S.Ct. 2510, 125 L.Ed.2d 74 (1993), now sets forth a new test designed for situations in which the new principle of law addresses an issue of first impression, rather than overturning prior precedent: First, we will determine whether the new principle of law was an issue of first impression whose resolution was clearly foreshadowed. Second, we must determine whether or not the purpose and effect of the new rule will be enhanced or retarded by applying the rule retroactively. Finally, we will determine whether full retroactivity of the new rule would produce substantial inequitable results. In applying this test to the instant case, the majority finds that its new principles of law relating to forum-selection clauses were clearly foreshadowed, that the purpose of the new principles is furthered by applying them retroactively, and that retroactive application is not inequitable. The majority's application of its new retroactivity test to the instant case, however, is arbitrary and unjust. Indeed, when applied to this case, even the new test clearly weighs against retroactive application. Not only are the majority's new principles of law relating to forum-selection clauses not clearly foreshadowed, enforcement of these new principles plainly produces a substantially inequitable result.