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Supreme Court of Appeals for West Virginia

STATE EX REL. JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS v. WILKES, et al., No. 33500 (STARCHER, J.)(November 20, 2007). Granting a writ of prohibition to prevent enforcement of an order of the Circuit Court of Jefferson County that denied a motion to disqualify counsel. Holding that the circuit court improperly determined that each step or stage of a conditional use permit application was a separate and not substantially related matter pursuant to Rule 1.11(a) of the Rules of Professional Conduct. Holding that former counsel for the Board of Zoning Appeals was disqualified from representing a developer whose application had been under review while he was counsel for the BZA. Further holding that it was improper for the circuit court to place the burden on the BZA to recall and divulge particular confidences and instances of advice and counsel by its former attorney, because this is to be presumed where the former client establishes, as the BZA did in this instance, that the attorney is representing a client in a substantially related matter.

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