General Pipeline Construction, Inc. v. Hairston

KETCHUM, Justice:

In this appeal from the Circuit Court of Logan County, we are asked to review a jury’s verdict finding that two defendants desecrated numerous graves in an old, rural cemetery. The plaintiffs established that the defendants bulldozed a road through the cemetery, damaging the graves of their de- - ceased next-of-kin.

West Virginia Code § 29-l-8a [1993] protects ancient, unmarked gravesites of historic significance. The statute preempts an exceptionally narrow class of common law grave desecration claims, and permits only the State Director of the Historic Preservation Section…