CHARLESTON – A suspended county coroner accuses a state agency and its leader of racial discrimination.
Iva Thomas filed her complaint in Kanawha Circuit Court against the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and Chief OCME Administrator Matthew Izzo.
According to the complaint, Thomas is a full-time autopsy technician for the OCME, which provides medicolegal death investigations across all 55 counties in West Virginia to determine the cause and manner of death in every case which falls within its jurisdiction.
Thomas, a Black woman, was appointed by the Kanawha County Commission on November 14, 2014. Since then, she has also performed duties for the Kanawha County Coroner’s office, which is a subdivision of the Bureau for Public Health.
She is the only Black person to serve as an autopsy technician in West Virginia, and the only Black coroner in the Kanawha County Coroner’s office.
During her time as a county coroner, Thomas says she has received fewer assignments than her white co-workers.
“When determining who handles reports of deaths in Kanawha County, the practice has been to assign more cases to white persons working for the county coroner’s office, and despite her availability to handle calls, the defendants have refused to allow Ms. Thomas to respond to the same, which results in her earning less than her similarly-situated white coroners,” the complaint states.
Thomas claims the culmination of the discrimination and mistreatment against her occurred in March 2025 when her great aunt died.
“The only living son of Ms. Thomas’ great aunt was present, and did not know how to handle his mom’s passing, and called Ms. Thomas for help,” the complaint states, noting she was not acting as a county coroner nor was she contacted by the county coroner’s office about the death. “After Ms. Thomas arrived at her great aunt’s home, she simply called the coroner’s office to notify it of her aunt’s passing and did not disturb or otherwise take any actions in her capacity as a county coroner, much less any actions that would compromise, interfere or impede a county coroner’s investigation into her aunt’s death.”
The next day, Thomas was suspended by the OCME and accused of “unprofessional and inappropriate conduct during the performance of [her] duties as a County Coroner.”
“The allegations that Ms. Thomas engaged in ‘unprofessional and inappropriate conduct during the performance of [her] duties as a County Coroner’ is a demonstrable, egregious and flat out lie,” the complaint states. “At no time previous to March 30, 2025, had the defendants or anyone working under their authority ever notified Ms. Thomas that she could not report a death in the family when she was off duty.
“The defendants do not have any written policy or rule that prohibits any appointed county coroner from simply notifying authorities of a death in their family. If, in fact, the defendants had concern about Ms. Thomas’ report of a death in the family, then it had every opportunity to assign another coroner to investigate the same, if required.”
Thomas says the OCME did not open an investigation or assign any coroner to investigate her great aunt’s death.
That, she says, “is evidence of race discrimination … and its insensitive treatment” of her.
“Rather than allow Ms. Thomas a chance to grieve over the death of a family member, defendants seized the opportunity to continue their discrimination against her, and accused of her misconduct,” the complaint states.
Since her suspension, Thomas says members of the community, including people at her church, have noticed she no longer serves as a coroner and have asked her about it.
“Izzo’s conduct arose from hatred and ill-will toward plaintiff and a desire to harm her and with the wrongful and illegal intention to damage her character, reputation and credentials, and shame plaintiff with the ultimate goal of sabotaging her efforts in keeping her gainful employment as county coroner, a position in which she had excelled for nearly ten years,” the complaint states.
Thomas says her indefinite suspension as a county coroner is discriminatory and a violation of the West Virginia Human Rights Act.
She accuses the defendants of race discrimination, negligent infliction of emotional distress and defamation. She seeks immediate reinstatement to her position as a county coroner, actual damages for lost wages, lost compensation and fringe benefits, general and compensatory damages for annoyance, inconvenience, embarrassment, humiliation and distress as well as pre- and post-judgment interests, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
Thomas is being represented by Hoyt Glazer of Glazer Saad Anderson in Huntington. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge David Hardy.
Hardy denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss, and the case now is in discovery. Izzo is being represented by Benjamin Vanston and Jacob Layne of Pullin Fowler Flanagan Brown & Poe in Charleston.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 25-C-697
