When the court, on a thorough examination of the whole case, finds that substantial justice has been done, the judgment will not be reversed for any error committed by the circuit court, unless such error, if it had not been committed, would have tended in some measure to produce a different result. Syl. pt. 4, Barnes v. City of Grafton, 61 W. Va. 408, 56 S.E. 608 (1907); accord, Maynard v. National Fire Ins. Co. of Hartford, 147 W. Va. 539, 129 S.E.2d 443 (1963); Ward v. Sams, 182 W. Va. 735, 391 S.E.2d 748 (1990) ( per curiam); Town of Bancroft v. Turley, 170 W. Va. 1, 287 S.E.2d 161 (1981) ( per curiam). In the instant case, Mr. Fredette and National Fuels faced either civil actions or criminal prosecution in several jurisdictions for the gas voucher scam.