Brooks v. Isinghood

In Brooks v. Isinghood, 213 W. Va. 675, 584 S.E.2d 531 (WVa 2003), the plaintiff's complaint alleged "that the City, through certain employees acting within the scope of their employment with the City, acted recklessly and in willful disregard of the safety of Mr. Brooks." Id. at 536. The plaintiff, however, had omitted naming individual employees as defendants. Plaintiff's attorney claimed a mistake of law based on the language of WVaCode, 29-12A-1 to -18. He "believed he could not name the individual employees." Id. The relevant part of the West Virginia Code is: (b) Suits instituted pursuant to the provisions of this article shall name as defendant the political subdivision against which liability is sought to be established. In no instance may an employee of political subdivision acting within the scope of his employment be named as defendant. WVaCode 29-12A-13(b) (1986) .