Bradshaw v. Soulsby

(Filed Dec. 12, 2001)

The majority decision in this case violates both the settled law of this Court and the principles of sound reasoning.

The doctrine of stare decisis mandates that we follow this Court’s unanimous opinion in Miller v. Romero, 186 W.Va. 523, 413 S.E.2d 178 (1991), in deciding this case. Stare deci-sis rests upon the important principle that the law by which people are governed should be “fixed, definite, and known,” Booth v. Sims, 193 W.Va. 323, 350 n. 14, 456 S.E.2d 167, 194 n. 14 (1995) (citation omitted), and not subject to frequent modification in the absence of…