DAVIS, Justice:
This case was brought under this Court's original jurisdiction by Advance Stores Company and its employee Donn Free, petitioners herein and defendants below (collectively "Advance Stores"). Advance Stores seeks a writ of prohibition to prevent enforcement of an order of the Circuit Court of Ohio County that denied, in part, Advance Stores' motion to dismiss a third amended complaint filed by Scott McMahon and Karen John, respondents herein and plaintiffs below (collectively "plaintiffs").
In March 2004, Scott McMahon purchased a car battery from Advance Stores.
Syl. pt. 2, McMahon I, 227 W.Va. 21, 705 S.E.2d 131.
After answering the certified question, this Court "remand[ed] this matter to the Circuit Court of Ohio County for further proceedings consistent with th[e] opinion." McMahon I, 227 W.Va. at 27, 705 S.E.2d at 137. While the case was pending on remand, the trial court allowed the plaintiffs to amend the complaint to add an additional cause of action for a violation of the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, 15 U.S.C.A. § 2301 et seq. In addition, the plaintiffs premised their cause of action on the actual receipt that was given for the purchase of the battery, i.e., alleging the receipt was a purported express warranty.
Advance Stores asserts that the circuit court ignored the mandate of this Court in McMahon I. We have held that "[a] circuit court's interpretation of a mandate of this Court and whether the circuit court complied with such mandate are questions of law that are reviewed de novo." Syl. pt. 4, State ex rel. Frazier & Oxley, L.C. v. Cummings, 214 W.Va. 802, 591 S.E.2d 728 (2003) (hereinafter "Frazier and Oxley II"). It also was held in syllabus point 5 of Frazier & Oxley II that "[w]hen a circuit court fails or refuses to obey or give effect to the mandate of this Court, misconstrues it, or acts beyond its province in carrying it out, the writ of prohibition is an appropriate means of enforcing compliance with the mandate." Id. In Syllabus point 4 of State ex rel. Hoover v. Berger, 199 W.Va. 12, 483 S.E.2d 12 (1996), we explained that,
With these standards in view, we turn to the issues presented by this case.
The issues presented by Advance Stores may be divided into two parts. First, Advance Stores contends that the mandate in McMahon I did not allow the plaintiffs to amend their complaint on remand. Second, Advance Stores has attacked the merits of the amendment and its application to various legal theories. We need only address the first issue, i.e., whether the circuit court exceeded the scope of the mandate in McMahon I by allowing the complaint to be amended. Because we determine that the circuit court did, in fact, exceed the scope of the remand, we need not discuss the second issue.
This Court extensively discussed the scope of a mandate in the seminal case of Frazier & Oxley II, which was before this Court on a writ of prohibition for the second time. In the first proceeding, State ex rel. Frazier & Oxley, L.C. v. Cummings, 212 W.Va. 275, 569 S.E.2d 796 (2002) (hereinafter "Frazier & Oxley I"), the circuit court entered a partial summary judgment order that required the defendants to vacate an office that was being subleased from the plaintiffs. This Court prevented enforcement of the partial summary judgment order in Frazier & Oxley I and remanded the case to the circuit court to
We agreed with the defendants in Frazier & Oxley II that the mandate in Frazier & Oxley I did not allow the plaintiff to amend the complaint to assert a new theory for voiding the lease. The opinion in Frazier & Oxley II noted that, even though no language appeared in Frazier & Oxley I that expressly limited what could occur on remand, the remand was limited.
(Footnote added).
Applying the principles set out in Frazier & Oxley II, it is clear that our remand in McMahon I was a limited remand. This is true for several reasons, but primarily because of the nature of the proceeding in McMahon I.
As previously noted, the decision in McMahon I was a certified question. Our cases have implicitly recognized, and we so hold, that when the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia remands a case to a circuit court after answering a certified question, the remand ordinarily is limited. This is so because, as "[w]e have repeatedly said[,] a certified question will not be considered by this court unless the disposition of the case depends wholly or principally upon the construction of law determined by the answer, regardless of whether the answer is in the negative or affirmative." Bass v. Coltelli, 192 W.Va. 516, 521, 453 S.E.2d 350, 355 (1994), superseded by statute on other grounds as recognized by Smith v. Consol. Pub. Ret. Bd., 222 W.Va. 345, 664 S.E.2d 686 (2008). As we observed in Hairston v. General Pipeline Construction, Inc., 226 W.Va. 663, 672 n. 5, 704 S.E.2d 663, 672 n.5 (2010), "[o]nly those questions should be certified up before judgment which bring with them a framework sufficient to allow this Court to issue a decision which will be pertinent and inevitable in the disposition of the case below." (Internal quotations and citations omitted). See Morningstar v. Black & Decker Mfg. Co., 162 W.Va. 857, 861, 253 S.E.2d 666, 669 (1979) ("[C]ertification is limited to those questions which may be determinative of the cause then pending in the certifying court[.]" (internal quotations and citations omitted)). In the final analysis, this Court
The decision in Abrams v. West Virginia Racing Commission, 164 W.Va. 315, 263 S.E.2d 103 (1980), illustrates this point. In Abrams, the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia asked this Court to answer the certified question of whether a specific state statute and rule violated the Due Process or Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution or the Due Process Clause of the West Virginia Constitution. We declined to answer the certified question because our answer would not have been dispositive of the controlling issue in the case. That is, the federal court was not bound to follow our interpretation of the federal constitutional component of the certified question. We addressed the matter in Abrams as follows:
Abrams, 164 W.Va. at 318-19, 263 S.E.2d at 106 (citations omitted). See also Palmore v. First Unum, 841 So.2d 233, 235 (Ala.2002) ("In order for this Court to consider a certified question from a federal court, the question must be, among other things, determinative of [the underlying] cause."); Keller v. City of Fremont, 280 Neb. 788, 790 N.W.2d 711, 712 (2010) ("In interpreting the certified request and deciding whether to accept it,... requires us to consider whether the certified question may be determinative of the pending federal cause. The `determinative' requirement is also consistent with state courts' holdings declining to answer certified questions asking for advisory opinions."); Jefferson v. Moran, 479 A.2d 734, 738 (R.I. 1984) ("[O]ur response to the Federal District Court's inquiry would not resolve the controversy between the parties — since further state-court involvement would be necessary — we must decline its [certified question] request.").
The decision in Abrams makes clear that this Court will not answer a certified question if, in doing so, we would have to render a non-controlling, advisory answer. See In re Vasquez, 228 Ariz. 357, 266 P.3d 1053, 1057 (2011) ("We answer only questions which may be determinative of the cause then pending in the certifying court.... [T]he answer to the second question is not determinative of this case and we decline to answer it."); CSX Transp., Inc. v. City of Garden City, 279 Ga. 655, 619 S.E.2d 597, 599 n. 5 (2005) ("This Court will not issue an advisory opinion. This Court will likewise decline to respond to certified questions which are anticipatory in nature."); Darney v. Dragon Prods. Co., 994 A.2d 804, 807-08 (Me.2010) ("[W]e decline to answer the certified questions. In the absence of established facts, we would be issuing an advisory opinion that might not fully dispose of the Darneys' trespass claim."); United States v.
Because McMahon I presented as a certified question, the remand was limited. We must now determine whether the trial court exceeded the limitations of the mandate.
As mentioned previously, the trial court in McMahon I granted the plaintiffs partial summary judgment. The trial court did so after concluding that "Advance shall be required to abide by its warranty notwithstanding the person attempting to assert the warranty may not have been the original purchaser." McMahon I, 227 W.Va. at 24, 705 S.E.2d at 134. In challenging the correctness of this dispositive ruling, Advance Stores asked the trial court to submit the issue to this Court as a certified question. The certified question asked this Court to decide whether the Consumer Credit and Protection Act applied "to suits for breach of limited warranty by subsequent purchasers where the limited warranty involved limits its availability to original purchasers?" McMahon I, 227 W.Va. at 22, 705 S.E.2d at 132.
In resolving the certified question in McMahon 1, this Court determined two dispositive issues. First, it was decided that "[t]he limited express warranty ... clearly and unambiguously limited the availability of the remedy to the original purchaser who held the original transactional receipt." McMahon I, 227 W.Va. at 27, 705 S.E.2d at 137. Therefore, Ms. John could not assert a cause of action under the warranty. Second, this Court concluded that "[a]t the moment the original purchaser sold the battery, Advance's limited warranty, by its express terms, ceased to exist." McMahon I, 227 W.Va. at 27, 705 S.E.2d at 137. Thus, Mr. McMahon could not assert a cause of action under the warranty.
Equally important to the resolution of the certified question was this Court's determination as to the location of the actual warranty. We noted in McMahon I that "[a]t the bottom of the [purchase] receipt was a statement directing the purchaser to Advance's website where the limited express warranty information was available. This limited warranty information was also available to the purchaser at the store." McMahon I, 227 W.Va. at 22, 705 S.E.2d at 132.
In sum, in answering the certified question in McMahon I, we conclusively determined that the plaintiffs could not assert a cause of action against Advance Stores under the limited express warranty. Thus, on remand, the plaintiffs were limited to litigating the implied warranty theory as it was set out in the second amended complaint. However, the circuit court erroneously concluded that our remand was a general remand
The plaintiffs argue that they always have contended that the purchase receipt was the actual express warranty. The truth of this assertion is of no consequence because the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act allegations in the third amended complaint were not set out in the complaint that was considered in McMahon I.
To be clear, insofar as McMahon I came to this Court as a certified question, it was incumbent upon the plaintiffs to raise the issue of the application of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act in McMahon I. Clearly, this would have been an alternative dispositive issue, and,
In view of the foregoing, we grant the requested writ of prohibition. That part of the circuit court's April 5, 2012, Memorandum of Opinion and Order that denied Advance Stores' motion to dismiss the third amended complaint, in part, is prohibited from enforcement and is vacated. On remand, the circuit court is directed to enter an order granting in full Advance Stores' motion to dismiss the third amended complaint.
Writ Granted.