Lowe v. Richards

The Hegyi Trust filed an action against Dean and Martha Lowe involving certain real property. The Lowes filed a counterclaim against the Trust and a third-party complaint against Joseph and Joyce Richards, seeking to obtain property situated on the border of West Virginia and Virginia. The circuit court dismissed the Lowes’ counterclaim and third-party complaint, concluding (1) the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the Lowes’ claims because they involved a determination of a boundary line between West Virginia and Virginia, and (2) the Lowes failed to join indispensable parties to the litigation - the States of West Virginia and Virginia. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the circuit courts of West Virginia have subject matter jurisdiction to resolve interstate boundary line disputes between private litigants involving the issue of whether real property is located within West Virginia or another state; and (2) the circuit court erred in determining that West Virginia and Virginia were indispensable parties because the rights of neither state would be impaired or impeded by the circuit court’s decision on the merits of the Lowes’ claims. View "Lowe v. Richards" on Justia Law