WV Department of Health & Human Resources Employees Federal Credit Union v. Tennant, 215 W. Va. 387

Summary

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed a circuit court judgment against Cynthia Tennant for breach of a revolving MasterCard credit agreement. The court held that Tennant waived her right to a jury trial by failing to make a jury demand under the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure after removal to circuit court, and rejected her arguments concerning the contract, continuance, venue, intervention, and trial conduct. Separate concurring and dissenting opinions addressed the jury-demand issue.

Holdings

1. Under the majority's reasoning, a party who removes a case to circuit court must comply with the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure governing jury demands; Tennant did not do so and therefore waived the right to a jury trial.
2. Tennant also waived appellate review of the jury-trial issue by failing to object when the circuit court proceeded with a bench trial.
3. A valid credit-card contract existed between Tennant and the Credit Union, and Tennant breached it by failing to make required payments on the account.
4. The circuit court did not abuse its discretion by denying Tennant's motions for continuance.
5. Tennant's improper-venue argument lacked merit because she requested removal to the Kanawha County Circuit Court and thereby acquiesced in that venue.
6. Moses Tennant was not a party to the credit-card transaction or action, and Cynthia Tennant could not assert his alleged rights to intervention.
7. The court declined to consider Tennant's unsupported and inadequately preserved claims of trial error and affirmed the judgment.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a jury demand made in magistrate court automatically remained effective after Tennant removed the case to circuit court.
2. Whether Tennant waived her right to a jury trial by failing to make a jury demand under West Virginia Rule of Civil Procedure 38 after removal and by failing to object to the bench trial.
3. Whether the record established a valid credit-card contract and Tennant's breach of that contract.
4. Whether the circuit court abused its discretion by denying Tennant's motions for continuance.
5. Whether venue was improper in Kanawha County.
6. Whether Moses Tennant had a right to intervene or whether Cynthia Tennant could assert his alleged rights.
7. Whether Tennant's unsupported claims of trial error were preserved and supported by the record.

Disposition

affirmed