## Facts

- A motorcyclist, Harry Edward Myer Jr., died after his motorcycle collided with a flatbed truck driven by Robert Paul Jackson at an intersection crossing a four-lane highway.
- Jackson stopped, saw oncoming traffic in the eastbound lanes, and proceeded across the lanes to make a left turn into a westbound lane.
- Myer was traveling in the right eastbound lane below the speed limit when Jackson entered the eastbound lanes.
- Myer braked and remained in the right lane, but collided with the truck near the left edge of that lane.
- The estate’s administratrix sued for wrongful death, alleging Jackson’s negligence and seeking to impose liability on the Joelynn Family Preservation Trust based on Jackson’s role as trustee.
- Jackson argued comparative negligence based on Myer’s alleged evasive error and disputed that the Trust could be liable for the accident.

## Issues

1. Whether summary judgment was proper on Jackson’s negligence and proximate causation, or whether material fact disputes (including comparative negligence) required a jury determination.
2. Whether a tort claim could be asserted against Jackson in his fiduciary capacity, making the Trust liable under W. Va. Code § 44D-10-1010(c), on the theory that the tort occurred “in the course of administering” the trust.
3. Whether prejudgment interest could be awarded on the verdict’s lost-wage component.

## Decision

- The court affirmed summary judgment establishing Jackson’s liability for the collision.
- The court reversed the denial of judgment as a matter of law as to the Trust and directed entry of judgment for the Trust because the tort was not committed in the course of administering the trust.
- The court affirmed the award of prejudgment interest on lost wages.
- The case was affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded with directions.

## Legal Principles

- Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine dispute of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law; speculative theories of comparative fault do not defeat summary judgment when the record permits only one reasonable conclusion on negligence and causation.
- Under W. Va. Code § 44D-10-1010(c), a tort claim may be asserted against a trustee in a fiduciary capacity only if the tort was committed in the course of administering the trust; absent that connection, trust-capacity liability does not attach.
- Prior West Virginia decisions are overruled to the extent they conflict with W. Va. Code § 44D-10-1010(b) and (c) regarding trust-related tort claims.
- Prejudgment interest may be awarded on lost-wage damages as compensable economic loss under West Virginia’s interest statutes.

## Conclusion

The court held the truck driver negligent as a matter of law for failing to yield, upheld prejudgment interest on lost wages, and rejected trust liability because the accident was not shown to have occurred during administration of the trust, requiring partial reversal and remand for entry of judgment for the Trust.


Jackson v. Brown, 239 W. Va. 316, 801 S.E.2d 194 (W. Va. 2017)