If the tenant in possession of any land shall, pending any suit to recover or charge such land, with knowledge of such suit, commit any waste thereon, the court, in which the suit is, may command the sheriff or other officer to take possession of the land; and, if the plaintiff succeed in recovering or charging the land, he may recover, in an action on the case against him who committed the waste, three times the amount of damages assessed therefor.
West Virginia Legal Code