Judge in Kanawha vaccine lawsuit not sure what impact pending Raleigh order will have

by Lori Kersey, West Virginia Watch
October 15, 2025

The Kanawha County judge presiding over a lawsuit regarding the state’s compulsory school vaccination law and religious freedom said he’s not sure whether a Raleigh County judge has authority to certify a class made up of plaintiffs with similar cases there and around the state. 

Judge Richard Lindsay said the only context he knows for class certification are cases when plaintiffs have been injured.

“Is there a difference between that and what we have before us in these cases, wherein the issue is one of law, not of injury?” Lindsay asked Corey Palumbo, an attorney representing the Kanawha County Board of Education. “Is that a distinction that can be made between what my understanding of… certification of classes, versus what we have here?

“Effectively the plaintiff here is claiming some type of injury, but it’s not a determination of whether one party was negligent or whether or not a specific physical injury was sustained,” he said. “Here we have basically a question of law as to whether or not the compulsory vaccination law applies.”

Wednesday’s hearing was in the case of Nakesha Watson vs. the Kanawha County Board of Education. Watson filed the complaint on behalf of KJ, III, her child. According to the suit, the state Bureau for Public Health granted KJ a religious exemption to the school vaccine requirements, but the school board is not letting him attend school with the exemption. 

Watson, who is representing herself in court, was a no-show for the hearing, scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday. She had filed motions for a temporary injunction in the case and for emergency review of the case. Lindsay rescheduled the hearing for later this week.

By that time, Palumbo noted, Raleigh County Circuit Judge Michael Froble is expected to have entered a written order certifying a class that may include Watson in a similar case Froble is overseeing. 

In the Raleigh County case, families are suing the state and Raleigh County school boards to make them allow their students to attend school with a religious exemption to the school vaccination requirements. 

West Virginia law has allowed only medical exemptions to those requirements. Gov. Patrick Morrisey earlier this year issued an executive order requiring the state to allow religious exemptions to the law, citing a 2023 religious freedom law. He’s not rescinded the order, even though the state Legislature earlier this year rejected a bill that would have put the religious exemptions in state law. The state school board directed county school boards not to recognize religious and philosophical exemptions. 

Froble has already granted a preliminary injunction in that case. During a permanent injunction hearing last week in Beckley, Froble said he would certify a class to include anyone who has asked the state Department of Health for a religious or philosophical exemption to the state’s school vaccination requirements. As of last week, the state Department of Health had granted about 575 nonmedical exemptions. Froble is expected to make a ruling on permanent injunction in the case by the end of November.

Defendants in the Raleigh County case — the state and Raleigh school boards— opposed the class certification, Palumbo noted.

“The defendants in that case did not believe that that was proper and objected to that decision,” he said. “The judge is doing it anyway, obviously. [He] has not entered an order yet, but again, we expect that order to be entered from what the judge said by the end of this week.”

Lindsay said as he understands the state’s legal system, West Virginia circuit courts operate similarly to the federal judiciary. One federal appeals court may decide one way and another may reach a different ruling, but ultimately the federal Supreme Court decides the issue, Lindsay said.

“I would think that these cases, just without knowing anymore, and I’m more than happy to research it more, but it would follow that type of pattern,” Lindsay said. “So ultimately, the Supreme Court can decide this issue as to whether or not the [compulsory vaccination law] applies, whether or not the state has a compelling interest with regard to vaccination of children.”

The hearing in the Kanawha case is now set for 9 a.m. Friday. 

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