200 W. Va. 446 - Huber v. Huber’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In spite of the legislative preference for classifying property as marital, this Court has found some exceptions to the preference. One such exception is personal injury awards. This Court articulated in syllabus point 1 of Hardy v. Hardy, 186 W.Va. 496 , 413 S.E.2d 151 (1991) that, “[t]o the extent that its purpose is to compensate an individual for pain, suffering, disability, disfigurement, or other debilitation of the mind or body, a personal injury award constitutes the separate nonmarital property of an injured spouse.” However, we also held that “economic losses, such as past wages and medical expenses, which diminish the marital estate are distributable as marital property when recovered in a personal injury award or settlement.” Id., 186 W.Va. at 501 , 413 S.E.2d at 156 . Additionally we stated in syllabus point 4 of Hardy that “[a] loss of consortium claim is the separate nonmarital property of the uninjured spouse.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 216 W. Va. 696 - Conrad v. Conrad

2. “In a divorce proceeding a noninjured spouse who claims money from a tort settlement or verdict award as loss of consortium, must prove the same by a preponderance of the evidence. The injured spouse who claims money for noneconomic loss and post-divorce economic loss must prove the same by a preponderance of evidence. If either or both parties carry their burdens of proof, the money proven under such burdens shall be deemed separate property. To the extent that the parties do not provide sufficient evidence to make a reasonable allocation of all of the tort settlement or verdict award under their respective burdens, such balance shall be classified as marital property and divided accordingly.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 205 W. Va. 490 - Mayhew v. Mayhew

3. “W.Va.Code, 48-2-l(e)(l) (1986), 2 defining all property acquired during, the marriage as marital property except for certain limited categories of property which are considered separate or nonmarital, expresses a marked preference for characterizing the property of the parties to a divorce action as marital property.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 216 W. Va. 696 - Conrad v. Conrad