Ryan Marstiller v. Masters of Disasters, LLC ( 2024 )

FILED
November 26, 2024
C. CASEY FORBES, CLERK
SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS
OF WEST VIRGINIA
STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA
SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS
Ryan Marstiller,
Claimant Below, Petitioner
v.) No. 23-639 (JCN: 2022019803)
(ICA No. 23-ICA-119)
Masters of Disasters, LLC,
Employer Below, Respondent
MEMORANDUM DECISION
Petitioner Ryan Marstiller appeals the September 5, 2023, memorandum decision of the
Intermediate Court of Appeals of West Virginia (“ICA”). See Marstiller v. Masters of Disasters,
LLC, No. 23-ICA-119, 2023 WL 5696096 (W. Va. Ct. App. Sept. 5, 2023) (memorandum
decision). Respondent Masters of Disasters, LLC filed a response.1 The issue on appeal is whether
the ICA erred in affirming the February 28, 2023, decision of the West Virginia Workers’
Compensation Board of Review, which affirmed the claim administrator’s May 20, 2022, order
denying the claim.
The claimant asserts that he repeatedly and consistently described an isolated fortuitous
event that resulted in an occupational injury. The employer counters by arguing that the Board
properly found that the claimant lacked credibility in claiming a workplace injury in this case. The
employer further argues that the claimant points to no erroneous procedure, no arbitrary or
capricious conclusions, and no abuse of discretion or jurisdictional error by the tribunals below.
This Court reviews questions of law de novo, while we accord deference to the Board of
Review’s findings of fact unless the findings are clearly wrong. Syl. Pt. 3, Duff v. Kanawha Cnty.
Comm’n, 250 W. Va. 510, 905 S.E.2d 528 (2024). Upon consideration of the record and briefs, we
find no reversible error and therefore summarily affirm. See W. Va. R. App. P. 21(c).
Affirmed.
1
The claimant is represented by counsel J. Thomas Greene, Jr. and T. Colin Greene, and
the employer is represented by counsel Steven K. Wellman and James W. Heslep.
1
ISSUED: November 26, 2024
CONCURRED IN BY:
Chief Justice Tim Armstead
Justice Elizabeth D. Walker
Justice John A. Hutchison
Justice William R. Wooton
Justice C. Haley Bunn
2