High Court starts work Wednesday

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals begins its fall term Wednesday with a 10-item oral argument docket.

The first case up is an appeal from the state Department of Health and Human Resources of a June 2014 lower court ruling that would, in part, require the agency to increase starting salaries of new health care workers at the two state-run mental hospitals.

The five justices will also consider a writ of prohibition in a wrongful death case from Berkeley County where a man drowned in a Tough Mudder event.

Also on the argument docket Wednesday, cases dealing with property rights, workers’ compensation and retirement benefits. There’s also an appeal of a Raleigh County murder case.

The cases heard this fall will be decided on by Nov. 19.