State Ex Rel. Frazier v. Hrko

STARCHER, Justice:

This petition for a writ of prohibition arises from a lawsuit in which the petitioner, Robert Frazier, alleged he was injured on the job through the negligence of his employer, a company (or possibly two companies) that had been declared in default of the employer’s obligations under the West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act (“the Act”). Under the Act, if an employer fails to abide by certain statutory requirements, then the employer forfeits any protections provided by the Act, may be subjected to common-law liability, and is prohibited from relying on any common-law…