Vanmeter v. W. Va. Dept. of Motor Vehicles

In 1981, the West Virginia Legislature enacted West Virginia Code §§ 17D-2A-1 to -9 (1983 Supp.), the Security Upon Motor Vehicles Act, 1981 W.Va.Acts ch. 157. Its stated purpose is “to promote the public welfare by requiring every owner or registrant of a motor vehicle licensed in this State to maintain certain security during the registration period for such vehicle.”

As this Court stated in Dickey v. Smith, 42 W.Va. 805, 809, 26 S.E. 373, 375 (1896):

It is a fundamental principal of law that “whenever a statute is capable of two constructions, one of which would work manifest injustice, and…