September 4, 2025 • 37 mins
Host Dale Cooper and Harvey or Tom from the Peyton Law Firm discuss legal issues from listeners and matters affecting local politics.
More info: www.PeytonLawFirm.com
(304) 755-5556
2801 1st Ave, Nitro, WV 25143
The Peyton Law Firm was founded more than 30 years ago by Harvey Peyton, who was joined by his son, Tom Peyton. For more than 50 years, the Peyton team has successfully represented clients in courtrooms throughout WV and southeastern Ohio. The firm is known for its active community involvement and straightforward advice.
More info: www.PeytonLawFirm.com
(304) 755-5556
2801 1st Ave, Nitro, WV 25143
The Peyton Law Firm was founded more than 30 years ago by Harvey Peyton, who was joined by his son, Tom Peyton. For more than 50 years, the Peyton team has successfully represented clients in courtrooms throughout WV and southeastern Ohio. The firm is known for its active community involvement and straightforward advice.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Unlock your dream property with Meeks Realty Group, where Rich
the realtor makes real estate dreams a reality, whether it's
residential or commercial. We've got Charleston to Huntington covered. Your
key to exceptional real estate experience is start here Meeks
Realty Group. Contact us at Meeks dot us.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
The views and opinions expressed on this program do not
necessarily reflect the views and opinions of five eight wcchs
it's employees or WVRC media.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Our courts oh created equal.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
When Lass come here in a caton ray can rocks up, cops.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
On and a very happy good morning too. You can
put the power pathon on your side this morning. Give
us a call. Harvey Payton is here this morning from
the Paton Law Firm. You and call us this morning
at three Z are a four three four five fifty
eight fifty eight. Threes are A four three four five
fifty eight fifty eight and also text over any questions
(01:01):
you have the three zero four nine three five fives
zero zero eighth Peyton Law from one Line, Peyton Law
from dot Com, Peyton Law from dot comm and Natrol
West Virginia get you more details as the show goes
along here today, Harvey, good morning, I do this morning.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yeah, I couldn't be better. I had trouble driving in
today because who can remember how to drive in the
rain while right, so long since we've had sustained rainfall,
but really cheery morning. I hit the power ball right. Oh,
two bucks got out of my ten easy picks. One
of them was the power ball. So there's two dollars
(01:33):
coming back. But I could feel like a winner today.
Did anybody win? I didn't check.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
No, Still, nobody.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Wanted almost two billion dollars, but we did win. Saturday,
Tom and I went up to see the debut of
the Rich Rodriguez second year okay, yeah, and not disappointed.
They were rough in the first half. It turned the
ball over three times, essentially four because Jaheim White fumbled
a pitch way deep. And you know, it's an upscale offense.
(02:01):
It's a defense built around some speed. We'll see what
happens over at Athens, Ohio. We're going over for that
as well. It's close, you know, oh yeah, absolutely, And
I've never really been downtown in Athens. Were driven by
it a lot. That's usually the way. Well, my sister
in law, my wife's sister lives in Pickerington, Ohio. It
has for years, so that's on the east side of towns.
(02:22):
They always go up thirty three and seven to thirty three.
And that's kind of the way I come back from
the airport in Columbus when I fly, because I just
don't like to drive through Columbus traffic. It's horrendous. But
just you know, you ride by and you look over there,
to your right or to your left, pending on which
direction you're headed, and oh, that's a pleasant looking place.
(02:44):
That's the oldest educational institution in Ohio, perhaps other than
Marietta College. It was founded by the same New Englanders
who came to what was then the Connecticut Western Reserve
of Ohio and founded Marietta and then big emphasis on
public education. It's got an excellent Ohio university to me,
(03:08):
has an excellent academic reputation, and in the arts they
have a really good art department. There's got named Harold
Edwards who is quite popular around here. He was over
at High University as a faculty member for a while.
So we'll see what happens with Saturday. Robert Morris, my
pick was thirty eight to ten Okay, it went out
forty five to three, so I was a touchdown off
(03:29):
either way. I've got this Saturday picked as a win.
But twenty four to fourteen, the Mountaineers in a dogfight
to the fourth quarter. Hopefully you know OHI University won
the big one of the bet American Conference last year.
He could score points. Think they got score points. They've
got a good mobile quarterback, so we're going to see
(03:50):
the Mountaineers will have their hands fall. But one would
think that with twenty summer returning star returning players who
had a pretty good level of talent, and seventy seven transfers,
you can find enough in there to put thirty three
players on the field offense and defense that should be competitive.
It's hard to win on the road, so I would
(04:11):
not be stunned by a loss. I think it would
certainly hurt the program and set it back a bit.
But we'll know by it's a four o'clock kick, so
we'll know by about seven thirty eight o'clock Saturday night
what what future may hold, because they won't wait till
the next week for the pitt Panthers.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I was listening to.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Talklither you guys, the State News on the way in.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Not not a whole lot. August.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
The biggest issue here in Charleston. We have the merger
of the teachers unions. We have, you know, an ongoing
discussion about Public Employees Insurance Agency PEIA and what proposed
cost increases will mean to public servants. It's kind of
(04:59):
a top it's a bit close to my heart. I mean,
I've never been a teacher. I mean teachers in the family,
but you know, having practice law for over fifty years,
I've dealt a lot with public servants, with teachers, school administrators,
elected officials in the courthouse, the state House, and folks
that work for them. Just this morning, I was early.
(05:21):
I needed to pick something up at the Kanaw County Courthouse,
so I went in early, really open till eight. Gentlemen
saw me sitting there in the halls and hey, you
want to get in a little bit early, went in,
showed me the department to go to. Guys put down
their coffee, helped me get what I needed and left.
You know, that's valuable. And they they enjoyed their jobs,
(05:41):
they do them well, and I just fear that in
the tight job market we've gone you know, PIA employee
insurance coverage becomes significantly more expensive. We're going to see,
you know, more bleeding of teachers, teachers, aids, bus drivers,
(06:02):
folks who work at the courthouse. I'm not sure canawk
out is covered by PI. They may have opted for
a different insurance program. The city of Charleston has a thin,
a self funded program. But for all those who are
covered by PIA and living near the edge, you know,
you get a pay raise of fifty dollars a month.
But if you're insurance preming up seventy dollars a month
(06:23):
and inflation holds true at about four percent, well you're
just running in the hole. So we'll see how that
sorts out. But in the face of all that, what
could be calamitous news. The feature story is that Danny
Jones barbecue stand is going to bring you open. But
kind of on a spile about face. When I saw
that announcement last week, uh, you know, I left the
(06:47):
station here what they hung around in town, went over
to Danny's to eat lunch, just because I like him,
and you know he's kind of the he's now become.
I guess this fellow from Beckley bought the place right. Well,
and Danny ends I think the building or he owns
the certainly ends the.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
But it was apparent from the from the announcement that
Danny would be uh present to talk to customers. So
now in his notage, which is a year younger than mine,
he can be the Willie Mays of barbecue stands. Remember
when Willie Mays soon got there to.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Be in Greeen. He's like a brand ambassador, you know,
he's like a brand ambassador. He'll he'll be around and
uh and uh and sharing and it'll be it'll be
a fun time. Of course. Uh. We did a whole
entire show over there when he closed down, you know,
celebrating Danny and his restaurant and things along those lines.
So now you know that show that was uh you
know in the archives is sort of like the Who
Going on a Farewell Tour. It's another one. It's like,
(07:42):
I'm glad to see Danny Bucket's.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Because it's like the Rolling Stones, the last ride, Well,
when is going to be the last ride? I don't know.
Now it's over on Courier Street, right almost Caddy Corey
with your Dinner, which is a you know, another place
that's opened up one of the Riggs family, uh a
fellow that runs it Riggs. His grandfather, Tom Riggs, was
a really good friend of mine in the law. But
(08:04):
Tom's a bit older than me. But when I first
started working sort of around the law business in Charleston
about nineteen seventy, the lawyer I was working with assigned
me to do some work in the record room for
some rights away a utility project up Elk River. And
you know, I ran into this gentleman in the record room.
(08:24):
He helped me find the books and it was Tom
Riggs and just the nicest guy in the world. And
of course Tom's got I think his two boys, Marty
and I don't know the other boys name they have.
They owned most of these, a lot of these Class
B office space buildings downtown. And that's one of their
sons who has the Courier Diner. Another place worth a try. Yeah,
you don't have a lot of trouble parking. They have
(08:45):
good parking because the street parking is excellent. Try and
encourage folks who are downtown if you want to stop
and anybody try the Quarier Diner. It's an all ole
time Charleston institution and across the street. You've got sort
of an old time Canac County institution and let's see
Delegate Sheriff and Mayor Jones.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
That's right. It's actually a nice little duo of there
on that corner. I give a Qurier Diner a lot
of credit. They opened up, reopened up that place, and
I think found a nice balance between having you know,
food that you don't find everywhere, but not something that's
so outrageous that the cost is crazy. They have pretty
decent costs and it's a decent I mean, I really
like it there.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
And cost control is so essential to restaurants. Now you
see that McDonald's is cutting prices across the board and they.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Got a little overit talking about over their skis. They
you know, COVID allowed everybody to get a little crazy
with their pricing, and you know some places are starting
to say, okay, well, you know, we made a good
pen and penny for a while.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
And now this morning, I think I believe it was
the McDonald's boarded directors voted to withdraw from the National
Restaurant Association. Is that right, Yeah, apparently there's a dispute
the Nastal Restaurant Association. Most of the major members report
earned tips. They actually w two those. If they had
(09:56):
tips that come in on credit cards, they can account for. McDonald's.
For whatever reason, seems to be opposed to that, because
there's not a whole lot of tipping that goes on
to McDonald's except always try to leave like a dollar
on the counter if somebody takes your order, because you
bust your own tables. And sometimes I think Ronald A.
McDonald a lot to pay me for being.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
A bus boy.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
But that's the national scene. Yeah, there's a case working
up to the Supreme Court now, I think from a
Fifth Circuit, which is a fairly conservative circuit. A Fifth
Circuit ruling last week with regard to the imposition of tariffs.
It's a really really interesting case to me. I've read
(10:40):
a bit about it. You know, under the United States Constitution,
the poirate, a tax is reserved to the legislative branch.
And regardless of what you call tariff, it's a tax.
It's paid by somebody. It's a tax on importers. It's
not a tax on the foreign manufacturer or producer. Whoever
brings the product into the cun tree pays the tariff
(11:03):
at the border before it enters the United States, and
no question, it generates a lot of money, but it
also has other effects, which is why, as with all
other forms of taxation, it should be debated and considered
by Congress. There are certain exceptions national emergency other enumerated
(11:23):
exceptions in the law that give a chief executive the
right to impose tariffs on a restricted basis for I
think a maximum period of forty five days without congressional oversight.
So the question becomes, well, does that mean you can
impose sweeping tariffs on every country in the world based
upon a perception of a trade in balance. That's just
(11:44):
what we're going to have to sort out. It's going
to have to be decided one way or the other.
Congress has been a bit flaccid in responding in my estimation,
and you can see unfortunately. You know, India, which is
the second largest democracy in the world as far as
population is concerned, probably the largest as far as population
(12:08):
is concerned, but one of the oldest, a fifty percent
tariff on all of their products coming to the United
States because of their policy relative to Russian oil has
driven They're the Prime Minister of India, mister Moody to Beijing,
which is where he spent last week's troublesome But we'll
see what the Supreme Court has to say about this.
(12:29):
It's a really to me, it's more interesting than the
other issues, a lot of which are policy and anything
about well, can you dispatch federal troops and National guardsmen
to the District of Columbia. One of the answer is yes,
the District of Columbia. There is no Washington, there's no
city of Washington. Washington City was dissolved in the late
(12:51):
eighteen hundreds and it's just the District of Columbia. It's
ruled by essentially Congress, although the home rule locked allows
you to they have a mayor ousehol But yeah, I
mean that there's no question that there's authority to invoke
federal jurisdiction in the District of Columbia. It's not like
a separate sovereign state. And in fact, the mayor says
(13:16):
thanks for the help. That's not you know, you can
challenge that all you want on the string port, but
you know, it is the National Guard, it is the
President of the United States, and there is some difference
to be given to a chief executive when he makes
a determination of some need, some emergency, I don't think
to litigate them all in times of his exegent circumstance.
(13:38):
Whether those circumstances exist, well, that may be, indeed a
political question for the voters to decide, as opposed to
the courts. But the tariff iss you, I mean, I'm
sure that the business community is watching that carefully because
it is costing. You know, multinational corporations and solid American
(14:00):
companies like John Deere is losing six hundred million dollars
over tariffs on metal. So we'll see how that shakes out. Locally,
there is a sad and tragic criminal trial going on
in Judge Aker's court. I believe a fifteen year old
young man is being tried for murder a murder robbery.
(14:23):
He's being tried as a as an accomplice, which means
he's just as guilty of the crime as the primary actor.
He didn't shoot the gun. It's alleged the young man
who's now on trial was a lookout. He stood lookout
while the robbery was taking place, and as a part
of that felony robbery, the store clerk was killed. That's
(14:46):
felony murders first degree murder regardless of premeditation. It just
his first degree murder by statute and the commission of
a robbery. The perpetrator, the shooter, has pleaded guilty awaits sentencing.
It may have been since sorry life to life imprisonment
with the possibility of parol after fifteen years with mercy,
(15:09):
which is the maximum that the young man who's on
trial can face. The Supreme Court of the United States
declared over a decade ago that the sentencing of a
juvenile tender year certainly less than sixteen years of age
to life in prison without any possibility of parole, amounted
to cruel inhuman cruel unusual punishment. Fifth Amendment man on that.
(15:36):
So that's the maximum we can determine. We'll see what happens.
In order to be an aid or and a better
the state has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that
the person on the outside was there with the intent
and for the purpose of helping the actor in the
first degree, who actually committed the act. How do you
(16:00):
approve intent? It's something that's in a person's mind. It's circumstance.
There'll be I'm sure some video footage of the store
security footage. However, the person acted, whatever their conduct was,
and the jury will look at that and determined, well,
is there enough here that we can conclude beyond reasonable
(16:21):
doubt that these circumstances exclude every possibility reasonably consistent with
innocence and by the man guilty.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
In this case, it doesn't matter if he knew his
that the other young man, like if he thought, Hey,
don't worry, I'm not going to shoot a guy no
matter what, We're just going to go and get the
money or whatever it might be. Even if the allected
lookout fought that, that doesn't really play like if he
was there for a robbery, then he was there.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
For robbery because there you know, when you look at
the murder statutes in West Virginia, there are enumerated offenses robbery, kidnapping,
sexual assault, arson, murder by lying in wait, murder by
poison that our first degree murder in and of themselves. Period.
So a murder committed during the commission of a felony
(17:08):
a robbery is first degree murder. Uh, it doesn't make
any difference if the accomplice, it doesn't make any difference
really what the intent was that the person that's shot.
Maybe he had no Maybe he fired a gun accidentally,
maybe he meant to shoot in a different direction to
scare the victim. Maybe, But the fact is a person's
dead in the commission of a felony, and that's first
(17:30):
degree murder, and that certainly transfers to the person who's outside.
If you're if you are an aider and a better
you're just as guilty as the person who whose active
conduct you are aiding in a betting. The only thing,
the only matter, that question of intent is, is that
why you intended to be there. Did you intend to
be there to aid in the commission of a robbery.
(17:51):
If you did, and there's a killing in the commission
of the robbery, that's first degree murder, and you're as
guilty as the as the actors will principle in the
first degree. Now having said that, of course that this
gentleman's innocent, untelt proven guilty, he has not enter a plea,
And perhaps under the circumstances one would say, well, why
(18:15):
would you If the maximum penalty you can face his
life with the recommendation of mercy, and there's no other offer,
And I don't suspect there is too serious a case
that what's bargaining with We just the state's got a
burden to prove its case, and sometimes they just don't
do it. And you look what's happened in the District
(18:35):
of Columbia last week. The guy that threw the subway sandwich,
I mean, he literally threw a subway sandwich and struck
a federal agent hit him with it. I mean looked
to be pretty clearly to me it would be a
misdemeanor battery under state law. But under the the guidance
(18:57):
of Genie Prero, who's now the US attorney for the district,
the man was charged with a felony. And that case
was presented to a grand jury at least twice, maybe
three times, and the grand jury just refused to indict.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, it's weird because I've always heard the expression, as
ironic as it is, that prosecutors wol get a grand
jury to indict a hand sandwich. Usually it's such a
rubber stamp that it's not really that big of a deal.
And not only this case, but apparently there's been several
cases in DC that the grand jury's just said no,
there's no they're there and is that unusual.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Well, it may be unusual on that scale, and what
happens in the District of Columbia is heavily reported upon.
I mean, if the person's arrest in charge with the felony,
they are a ragin in front of a magistrate judge,
and then within thirty days their case under the law
in DC has to be presented to a grand jury
either indict them or or the case is dismissed. So
(19:57):
that everybody on the press, school or in the district.
Those that's what we have to watch for. These are
the timeframes. And so when nothing happens and you see,
well here's a not true bill, here's a not true bill.
So that's big news in today's paradigm, it's not that uncommon.
It's not common, but it's it's sort of in the
(20:18):
middle ground for grand juries not to indict for everything
the prosecutor wants. And I've been involved in a homicide
case in Putnam County where the grand jury just refused
to indict the accused for murder. They indicted him for
voluntary manslaughter, which the jury ultimately acquitted him, but he
(20:40):
clearly it was presented as a murder. He took a
shotgun and shot another person killed him. But the circumstances
were such, and the police are honest as they most
often are, and told the jury what the circumstances were.
They just said, no, we're not going to indicte him.
So they returned an indictment for a felony or for
a misdemeanor. Volunteer manslaughters. We are involuntary, and so that's
(21:02):
where we went. It's uh, you know, it's it's troubling
for lawyers, most lawyers to watch the law just being
pummeled around on a political basis as if it's a
sword or a shield, and when the law really should
(21:24):
be what the law is. It's neutral, it's applied evenly
to everybody, and uh, it's not meant to be used
as something to make people mad at each other, which
seems to be fairly common. I mean, think about the
think about the the Cracker Barrel logo. There's the most apolitical,
(21:45):
erroneous move made by major corporation. You know. Cracker Barrel
has been a sort of a mid Atlantic Southern Great
Great Great Plains sort of restaurant since it started back
in the late sixties, but their sales have dropped off
twenty percent, then their wren comes down twenty percent. Since
(22:06):
the end of the pandemic, people got used to eating
at ho I think most of these big family restaurant
chains have the same experience. You know, people got used
to eating at home. They don't go out as much.
And so Cracker Barrel hired a lady who was she
was president of Taco Bell. She was working for Young
(22:27):
which is the biggest fast food restaurant chain company in
the world, to come in and revive the sales. And
she thought it would be a good idea to streamline
Cracker Barrel restaurants. To take the knick knocks off the wall.
Had to take Uncle Herschel and the Cracker Barrel off
the side and just say Cracker Bear, well you remember
(22:49):
the new coke. It's just the new coke. It just
didn't work. Had nothing to do with the politics. They
were trying to make money.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Yeah, that's the thing that I think that people get
these corporate boards and these people aren't in there to
make you know, people interpret it into political decisions. But
if you look at what happened to Taco Bell, you
can go back to the history of Taco Bell while
she was in charge of there, and look at some
of the esthetic modifications that they made. They did the
act same thing. It's just the culture now is such
a place where somebody can't do a business maneuver without
(23:20):
somebody put putting it into a political context.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
I think with Taco Bell, the plan sort of worked,
h for sure, it did. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Obell was
more or less, you know, a very small drive through
sort of set up. Now they've got a standardized construction plan,
beautiful new place down in Nitro.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
They work with Big Cheese and that's a true story.
They worked greatly with the dairy administry. All these new
recipes that they roll out, They work with Cheese to
put these things out. I mean, whatever you think about it,
but they've found a niche with this and that's one
of the reasons that their menu keep going getting better
as they put different things on there. And I think
that's all they were trying to do, you know, try
to channel some of that into Rocker Bert. What I
(24:01):
think where they missed was culturally people associate that with something.
I mean, the truth of the matter is it's kind
of bad versions of food you love. I mean, yeah,
in a lot of ways. It's not very good versions
of really good food.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
You can't really work much around the meat loaf, mashed
potatoes and gravy. I mean, it's just.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Good, right, exactly.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Yeah, but there is a cultural connection. I was watching
I think it was NPR, maybe been the Nightly News
or Washington Week, and they interviewed a gentleman who was
a professor of marketing and branding at the Wharton School,
University of Pennsylvania. So he's one of those people who
is just so smart and so obviously attuned to what
he's saying. You think, boy, I wish I could have
(24:39):
taken a class to this person. And that was his
He said, you just have to realize there are certain
iconic brands in the United States which which the customers
identify socially. It's not really a political issues, but they
feel comfortably. And this fellow he was originally from now
in Mississippi somewhere, he said, you know, it's just the South.
It's sort of the way. It is a lot of change,
(25:01):
And it was just viewed as well, why do they
have to change this? Not the great political hubbub that
was created by people who make money on making other
people mad at each other. Yeah, that's the Laura Lumers
of the world who make money making other people mad
at each other. Yeah, enough said, take a break.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Let's take a break. Let's take a break. We have
some more things we can talk about. When to come back,
give us a call. Three zero four, three four five
fifty eight fifty eight three four five fifty eight fifty eight.
You can also text the questions. The threes are four
non three five fives a year zero eight. If you
holler loud enough staying outside eleven of Virginia Street, you
might be able to even hear you there. You can
put the flower paton on your side this morning. Three
zero four, three four five fifty eight fifty eight online
Payton Lawfirm dot com. We'll take a break and be
(25:38):
back right after this. You're listening to ask the lawyer
on five adwc HS the Voice of Charleston.
Speaker 5 (25:42):
Why do people trust Peyton Law Firm for personal injury
claims in West Virginia? Simple, Tom and Harvey are from here,
They live here, and they're proud of it. If you've
been hurt and you want no nonsense representation that gets results,
you want the Peyton Law Firm don't let insurance come
banies take advantage of you. Call three zero four seven
(26:03):
five five fifty five fifty six today for a free consultation.
Discover more at Peytonlawfirm dot com.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
Football season is here. Get Mountaineer football coverage and watch
live high school football games every week by downloading the
Metro News Television app. It's Metro News shows all day,
including Talklines, Sports Line, three Guys Before the Game, Metro News,
Middays Hotline, and our new feature State of Minds, right
on your smart TV or streaming device. Get more information
at WV metronewstv dot com. Metro News Television is powered
(26:34):
by Dancaba, gmc go, Mark lou Wendel, Marines, Thike, Wealth Enhancement,
Panhandle Cleaning and Restoration, and Polka Valley.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Hey, thanks for tuning in this morning. You're listening to
the Faith and Law Firm. Want to ask the lawyer
of five ed c HS the voice of Charleston. I'm
Deel Cooper. Thanks for tuning in this morning. You can
put the power of painting on your side this morning.
Three zero four three four five fifty eight fifty eight
three four five fifty eight fifty You can also text
if you'd like to. Our text line number is three
zero four nine three five five zero zero eight three
zero four nine three five five zero zero eight. You
can put the power paid on on your side by
(27:17):
finding the Paytent Law from one line. It's Paytent Lawfirm
dot com, p E. Y t in Peyton Lawfirm dot Com.
Their phone number at Nighter West, Virginia three zero four
seven five five fifty five fifty six. Three zero four
seven five five fifty five fifty six. I had a
situation with an acquaintance of mine, and I thought this
might be an interesting situation to bring up in the
realm of because it's one of those questions, one of
those situations where people just don't know, they don't know
(27:39):
what they're what they can do, because they feel like
there was an injustice somewhere. So I had to have
a a family member of my wife's who was in
a just a physical alter She fell and hurt herself.
It was nothing crazy or anything like that, but she
hurt the lower part of her body around her pelvis area,
her cockys, you know, or her tailbone, and was in
(28:00):
a lot of pain for a while. Eventually went to
go see her doctor. Her doctor start started with, Okay, well,
let's see if the pain goes away, and I think
put her on some like mild pain management for you know,
a week or something. See what happens. It got worse,
didn't get any better, so they sent her to get
X rays to see what was going on. And of course,
in the state of things anymore, you don't get x
raysed the next day. It's a few weeks. Wait, you
get your x rays, you get your results in. And
(28:21):
it turned out that when she went in to get
her results evaluated, they scanned the wrong part of her,
Like it wasn't even the part that was hurting. She's like,
that's my upper body, it's my pelvis area that's hurting,
it's my tailbone and stuff. This isn't even the right thing.
So that it took her I think it was about
six weeks to get a reschedule for her for her
(28:42):
X ray and stuff. And so the x ray came
back was just yesterday. You know, it was bad. She
has like a separate attendon with it's a complete tear
that's going to require repair. She has inflammation in both
of her hips. I mean, it's a fairly bad result
on her X ray, and so she's like, she understands
she hurt herself. I mean, there's no question about that,
but she's thinking, it's been like two or three months
(29:02):
since she hurt herself now, and she's just now getting
to the point where they've identified what was wrong. She
wonders if there's an area in there where maybe it
wasn't so bad.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Well, the covenist question we have and deal with at
the Peyton Law Firm relative to medical malpractice, medical negligence,
negligence in the medical community, whether it's a hospital, a
nursing home, a physician, a physician's assistant, is a person
feels as if they're aggrieved? Is it as if an
injustice has been done? And perhaps in this case that's correct.
(29:35):
The question you've got to explore first is, well, was
what happened here actually a deviation from an accepted standard
of care? Those are the magic words in medical negligence.
You know, what would a reasonable physician or healthcare provider
who do or have done under the same or similar
circumstances and keeping with a standard of care that's appropriate
(29:58):
for the injury look and say, first of all, for
this lady, Well, what was the order for the X ray?
What do the orders say to to be x ray?
If it was indefinite or refer to the upper body
as opposed to the appropriate part. Maybe there was a
deviation from the standard of care. Somebody miss miss prescribed
an X ray. That happens. It's a mistake. It's like
(30:21):
running a stop sign. Did the X ray tech just
missed the order and x ray the wrong part? Okay,
so if you say either one of those could be
a deviation of a standard of care, well, now there
may be some liability. Next question is, okay, it doesn't
(30:43):
happen in a vacuum. Is there a material adverse effect
on the patient because of the standard of care? I mean,
people go to the hospital emergency all the time with
the fall in, a pain in their arm, and the
er docs an X ray. They get an x ray,
they read it late in the evening, the radiologist reads
(31:04):
it as negative. Pain persists a week later, go back
another X ray. May be a more skillful technician, maybe
a more studious radiologist. Oh wait a minute, there's a fracture,
so we've got to cast this. Well, okay, they missed it.
They made a mistake. But if treatment is promptly administered
(31:26):
and the result is the same as it would have
been but for the black standard, there's no case and
you have to suffer a demonstrable harm. So in the
case of your friend, and the question is, all right,
let's look at the treatment options that may have been
available back when as opposed to what treatment options are
(31:50):
available now. And then you say, well, can you prove that,
because if they x ray the wrong party of your
body three months ago, how are you going to prove
what the condition was that needed to be treated then
as opposed to now. So you know, it's full of pitball.
The thing. You know, every every accident, every mistake, is
(32:14):
not an actionable claim. And in the field of medical malpractice,
tom my Son does some. But I'll tell you, like
everybody else who is in the planeiffs business who represents
folks who are injured, you've got to be really selective
about the cases you take. And you have to quiz
folks about, you know, what is the effect of this,
(32:36):
what happened here? And then maybe get a preliminary opinion
from an expert about well, he said, but this happens.
It's like a punctured I mean, I've got an appointment
this morning at eleven o'clock with my oncologist. You know,
it comes up every six months. You get to go
down and sit in dread to wait and see if
they're smiling or frowning. But I didn't have part of
my colon removed seven years ago because I had cancer.
(32:59):
Well prior to that, they had to have a biopsy.
Doctor Rarbauld, who's up in the legislature, he did the colonoscopy. Well,
sometimes the bell gets nicked. It happens. I mean, it's
it's nothing's perfect. And when you sign up a consent
to that surgery, sign a waiver that you understand that's
(33:21):
a side effect. Now, that doesn't mean if you start
to get sick with flu like symptoms, a high temperature
pain in the abdomen and go to the emergency room
shortly after you've had a colonoscopy or a similar procedure
and they give you some pills for flu and sends
you home. Now that's where a case starts. Because the
standard of care there is no, no, no, no, admit
(33:43):
this person. Do some advanced plot work. See let's see
what we've got here. Because parent nitis can kill you.
And if you don't treat a nicked bell, but if
you treat it in time, there's some inconvenience on the patient,
maybe some additional pain and discomfort, but if their ultimate
result is good, acceptable, that's not really a case that
can be litigated. Got to remember, there's a lot of
(34:05):
criticism about plaintiff lawyers. I mean, you've got Greg Thomas
over here. This usual question when a lawyer calls them, well,
what do you drive? What kind of car do you drive?
I guess as if working hard and making some money
doesn't entirely drive a car. You know, I drive an Avalon.
Let me say, because they made the transmission in Buffalo.
(34:26):
It costs a lot of money to litigate these cases.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
You know, you.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Cannot file a medical malpractice case in ninety nine percent
of the cases that come up here in West Virginia.
There are very few exceptions unless you have a certificate
from an expert in the same similar field as the
healthcare professional that you believe committed malpractice, saying there's probable
(34:52):
cause to believe here that this standard of care has
been breached, and you have to give that to the
other side before you can file a loss. It's jurisdictional.
Well that's not cheap. You mean you take a case. Well,
it looks to me like the equities are on our
client side. Someone went in to the hospital, they appeared
perfectly healthy. A couple of days later, they start to
(35:15):
get a little worse. The doctors doesn't come around. It's
over the weekend, nobody checks in, and then boom, you
have a bad event. Person dies. Well, certainly, and if
it's a younger person, it certainly is a tremendous loss.
I mean, it's a loss for any life, but a
wage earner parent loss is considerably more significant in the
(35:35):
eyes of the law because of the long term effect. So, okay,
we're going to send this to gather up all the
medical records, which can cost hundreds of dollars to get
copies of all these medical records from whatever center you're in.
You send them. First of all, you find an expert,
you maybe use a search a headhunter service to find
(35:56):
a qualified expert to review those, and you review them,
and then you're in there for three or four thousand
dollars and you find out, well, you don't have a case.
So and but that's one of the benefits of coming
to a firm like the Paytent Law Firm. We are
well capitalized. We finance cases for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I actually had a products case against Ford where we
(36:17):
put in a considerable amount of money one against GM.
They both were successful, fortunately. But if you've got a loss,
you don't need to go to the biggest or the
biggest advertiser to get a lawyer. Here can get you
some really good results and has the money and the
experience to do it. You can call the Paytent Law
Firm at three oh four seven five five five five
five six, or go online at Paytonlawfirm dot com and
(36:39):
you'll find somebody as qualified or more than you see
on billboards and TV to help you handle your case.
That's all. I don't know if I'll see you next
week or not. Tom maybe here next week. Well, whichever,
we'll have a good show again. Yeah, absolutely, and we
do this every Thursday.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
The Payton Law Firm is here for ask the Lawyer
and has been doing this for decades, and we encourage
you tune in then again and have your questions ready
next time. We'd like to take phone calls at three
zero four three four five fifty eight fifty eight. That's
going to do it for us today. If you want
to get catch this show, you can find it on
our podcast if Uchs network dot com slash expert. You
can find cast up there for Ask the Expert. Coming
up next, it's gonna be Dave Allen with five eighty
(37:16):
LOB and that starts our Morning of Day Who's Like Normal?
After that will be TJ. Meadows and Dave Wilson on
talk Line, and then Dave Allen will be back with
Channel thirteen's Amanda Baron for midday in the afternoon, and
I'll be back this afternoon with Dave weekly at three
o'clock for Metro News Hotline. Thanks for tuning in everyone
you're listening to five eight w c HS. We are
the voice of Charleston.
Speaker 5 (37:41):
Five eight Whsam ninety six point five that then Charleston
one oh four point five Cross Lane WVRC Media Station.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
We're proud to live here too.
Unlock your dream property with Meeks Realty Group, where Rich
the realtor makes real estate dreams a reality, whether it's
residential or commercial. We've got Charleston to Huntington covered. Your
key to exceptional real estate experience is start here Meeks
Realty Group. Contact us at Meeks dot us.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
The views and opinions expressed on this program do not
necessarily reflect the views and opinions of five eight wcchs
it's employees or WVRC media.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Our courts oh created equal.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
When Lass come here in a caton ray can rocks up, cops.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
On and a very happy good morning too. You can
put the power pathon on your side this morning. Give
us a call. Harvey Payton is here this morning from
the Paton Law Firm. You and call us this morning
at three Z are a four three four five fifty
eight fifty eight. Threes are A four three four five
fifty eight fifty eight and also text over any questions
(01:01):
you have the three zero four nine three five fives
zero zero eighth Peyton Law from one Line, Peyton Law
from dot Com, Peyton Law from dot comm and Natrol
West Virginia get you more details as the show goes
along here today, Harvey, good morning, I do this morning.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yeah, I couldn't be better. I had trouble driving in
today because who can remember how to drive in the
rain while right, so long since we've had sustained rainfall,
but really cheery morning. I hit the power ball right. Oh,
two bucks got out of my ten easy picks. One
of them was the power ball. So there's two dollars
(01:33):
coming back. But I could feel like a winner today.
Did anybody win? I didn't check.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
No, Still, nobody.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Wanted almost two billion dollars, but we did win. Saturday,
Tom and I went up to see the debut of
the Rich Rodriguez second year okay, yeah, and not disappointed.
They were rough in the first half. It turned the
ball over three times, essentially four because Jaheim White fumbled
a pitch way deep. And you know, it's an upscale offense.
(02:01):
It's a defense built around some speed. We'll see what
happens over at Athens, Ohio. We're going over for that
as well. It's close, you know, oh yeah, absolutely, And
I've never really been downtown in Athens. Were driven by
it a lot. That's usually the way. Well, my sister
in law, my wife's sister lives in Pickerington, Ohio. It
has for years, so that's on the east side of towns.
(02:22):
They always go up thirty three and seven to thirty three.
And that's kind of the way I come back from
the airport in Columbus when I fly, because I just
don't like to drive through Columbus traffic. It's horrendous. But
just you know, you ride by and you look over there,
to your right or to your left, pending on which
direction you're headed, and oh, that's a pleasant looking place.
(02:44):
That's the oldest educational institution in Ohio, perhaps other than
Marietta College. It was founded by the same New Englanders
who came to what was then the Connecticut Western Reserve
of Ohio and founded Marietta and then big emphasis on
public education. It's got an excellent Ohio university to me,
(03:08):
has an excellent academic reputation, and in the arts they
have a really good art department. There's got named Harold
Edwards who is quite popular around here. He was over
at High University as a faculty member for a while.
So we'll see what happens with Saturday. Robert Morris, my
pick was thirty eight to ten Okay, it went out
forty five to three, so I was a touchdown off
(03:29):
either way. I've got this Saturday picked as a win.
But twenty four to fourteen, the Mountaineers in a dogfight
to the fourth quarter. Hopefully you know OHI University won
the big one of the bet American Conference last year.
He could score points. Think they got score points. They've
got a good mobile quarterback, so we're going to see
(03:50):
the Mountaineers will have their hands fall. But one would
think that with twenty summer returning star returning players who
had a pretty good level of talent, and seventy seven transfers,
you can find enough in there to put thirty three
players on the field offense and defense that should be competitive.
It's hard to win on the road, so I would
(04:11):
not be stunned by a loss. I think it would
certainly hurt the program and set it back a bit.
But we'll know by it's a four o'clock kick, so
we'll know by about seven thirty eight o'clock Saturday night
what what future may hold, because they won't wait till
the next week for the pitt Panthers.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I was listening to.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Talklither you guys, the State News on the way in.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Not not a whole lot. August.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
The biggest issue here in Charleston. We have the merger
of the teachers unions. We have, you know, an ongoing
discussion about Public Employees Insurance Agency PEIA and what proposed
cost increases will mean to public servants. It's kind of
(04:59):
a top it's a bit close to my heart. I mean,
I've never been a teacher. I mean teachers in the family,
but you know, having practice law for over fifty years,
I've dealt a lot with public servants, with teachers, school administrators,
elected officials in the courthouse, the state House, and folks
that work for them. Just this morning, I was early.
(05:21):
I needed to pick something up at the Kanaw County Courthouse,
so I went in early, really open till eight. Gentlemen
saw me sitting there in the halls and hey, you
want to get in a little bit early, went in,
showed me the department to go to. Guys put down
their coffee, helped me get what I needed and left.
You know, that's valuable. And they they enjoyed their jobs,
(05:41):
they do them well, and I just fear that in
the tight job market we've gone you know, PIA employee
insurance coverage becomes significantly more expensive. We're going to see,
you know, more bleeding of teachers, teachers, aids, bus drivers,
(06:02):
folks who work at the courthouse. I'm not sure canawk
out is covered by PI. They may have opted for
a different insurance program. The city of Charleston has a thin,
a self funded program. But for all those who are
covered by PIA and living near the edge, you know,
you get a pay raise of fifty dollars a month.
But if you're insurance preming up seventy dollars a month
(06:23):
and inflation holds true at about four percent, well you're
just running in the hole. So we'll see how that
sorts out. But in the face of all that, what
could be calamitous news. The feature story is that Danny
Jones barbecue stand is going to bring you open. But
kind of on a spile about face. When I saw
that announcement last week, uh, you know, I left the
(06:47):
station here what they hung around in town, went over
to Danny's to eat lunch, just because I like him,
and you know he's kind of the he's now become.
I guess this fellow from Beckley bought the place right. Well,
and Danny ends I think the building or he owns
the certainly ends the.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
But it was apparent from the from the announcement that
Danny would be uh present to talk to customers. So
now in his notage, which is a year younger than mine,
he can be the Willie Mays of barbecue stands. Remember
when Willie Mays soon got there to.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Be in Greeen. He's like a brand ambassador, you know,
he's like a brand ambassador. He'll he'll be around and
uh and uh and sharing and it'll be it'll be
a fun time. Of course. Uh. We did a whole
entire show over there when he closed down, you know,
celebrating Danny and his restaurant and things along those lines.
So now you know that show that was uh you
know in the archives is sort of like the Who
Going on a Farewell Tour. It's another one. It's like,
(07:42):
I'm glad to see Danny Bucket's.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Because it's like the Rolling Stones, the last ride, Well,
when is going to be the last ride? I don't know.
Now it's over on Courier Street, right almost Caddy Corey
with your Dinner, which is a you know, another place
that's opened up one of the Riggs family, uh a
fellow that runs it Riggs. His grandfather, Tom Riggs, was
a really good friend of mine in the law. But
(08:04):
Tom's a bit older than me. But when I first
started working sort of around the law business in Charleston
about nineteen seventy, the lawyer I was working with assigned
me to do some work in the record room for
some rights away a utility project up Elk River. And
you know, I ran into this gentleman in the record room.
(08:24):
He helped me find the books and it was Tom
Riggs and just the nicest guy in the world. And
of course Tom's got I think his two boys, Marty
and I don't know the other boys name they have.
They owned most of these, a lot of these Class
B office space buildings downtown. And that's one of their
sons who has the Courier Diner. Another place worth a try. Yeah,
you don't have a lot of trouble parking. They have
(08:45):
good parking because the street parking is excellent. Try and
encourage folks who are downtown if you want to stop
and anybody try the Quarier Diner. It's an all ole
time Charleston institution and across the street. You've got sort
of an old time Canac County institution and let's see
Delegate Sheriff and Mayor Jones.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
That's right. It's actually a nice little duo of there
on that corner. I give a Qurier Diner a lot
of credit. They opened up, reopened up that place, and
I think found a nice balance between having you know,
food that you don't find everywhere, but not something that's
so outrageous that the cost is crazy. They have pretty
decent costs and it's a decent I mean, I really
like it there.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
And cost control is so essential to restaurants. Now you
see that McDonald's is cutting prices across the board and they.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Got a little overit talking about over their skis. They
you know, COVID allowed everybody to get a little crazy
with their pricing, and you know some places are starting
to say, okay, well, you know, we made a good
pen and penny for a while.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
And now this morning, I think I believe it was
the McDonald's boarded directors voted to withdraw from the National
Restaurant Association. Is that right, Yeah, apparently there's a dispute
the Nastal Restaurant Association. Most of the major members report
earned tips. They actually w two those. If they had
(09:56):
tips that come in on credit cards, they can account for. McDonald's.
For whatever reason, seems to be opposed to that, because
there's not a whole lot of tipping that goes on
to McDonald's except always try to leave like a dollar
on the counter if somebody takes your order, because you
bust your own tables. And sometimes I think Ronald A.
McDonald a lot to pay me for being.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
A bus boy.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
But that's the national scene. Yeah, there's a case working
up to the Supreme Court now, I think from a
Fifth Circuit, which is a fairly conservative circuit. A Fifth
Circuit ruling last week with regard to the imposition of tariffs.
It's a really really interesting case to me. I've read
(10:40):
a bit about it. You know, under the United States Constitution,
the poirate, a tax is reserved to the legislative branch.
And regardless of what you call tariff, it's a tax.
It's paid by somebody. It's a tax on importers. It's
not a tax on the foreign manufacturer or producer. Whoever
brings the product into the cun tree pays the tariff
(11:03):
at the border before it enters the United States, and
no question, it generates a lot of money, but it
also has other effects, which is why, as with all
other forms of taxation, it should be debated and considered
by Congress. There are certain exceptions national emergency other enumerated
(11:23):
exceptions in the law that give a chief executive the
right to impose tariffs on a restricted basis for I
think a maximum period of forty five days without congressional oversight.
So the question becomes, well, does that mean you can
impose sweeping tariffs on every country in the world based
upon a perception of a trade in balance. That's just
(11:44):
what we're going to have to sort out. It's going
to have to be decided one way or the other.
Congress has been a bit flaccid in responding in my estimation,
and you can see unfortunately. You know, India, which is
the second largest democracy in the world as far as
population is concerned, probably the largest as far as population
(12:08):
is concerned, but one of the oldest, a fifty percent
tariff on all of their products coming to the United
States because of their policy relative to Russian oil has
driven They're the Prime Minister of India, mister Moody to Beijing,
which is where he spent last week's troublesome But we'll
see what the Supreme Court has to say about this.
(12:29):
It's a really to me, it's more interesting than the
other issues, a lot of which are policy and anything
about well, can you dispatch federal troops and National guardsmen
to the District of Columbia. One of the answer is yes,
the District of Columbia. There is no Washington, there's no
city of Washington. Washington City was dissolved in the late
(12:51):
eighteen hundreds and it's just the District of Columbia. It's
ruled by essentially Congress, although the home rule locked allows
you to they have a mayor ousehol But yeah, I
mean that there's no question that there's authority to invoke
federal jurisdiction in the District of Columbia. It's not like
a separate sovereign state. And in fact, the mayor says
(13:16):
thanks for the help. That's not you know, you can
challenge that all you want on the string port, but
you know, it is the National Guard, it is the
President of the United States, and there is some difference
to be given to a chief executive when he makes
a determination of some need, some emergency, I don't think
to litigate them all in times of his exegent circumstance.
(13:38):
Whether those circumstances exist, well, that may be, indeed a
political question for the voters to decide, as opposed to
the courts. But the tariff iss you, I mean, I'm
sure that the business community is watching that carefully because
it is costing. You know, multinational corporations and solid American
(14:00):
companies like John Deere is losing six hundred million dollars
over tariffs on metal. So we'll see how that shakes out. Locally,
there is a sad and tragic criminal trial going on
in Judge Aker's court. I believe a fifteen year old
young man is being tried for murder a murder robbery.
(14:23):
He's being tried as a as an accomplice, which means
he's just as guilty of the crime as the primary actor.
He didn't shoot the gun. It's alleged the young man
who's now on trial was a lookout. He stood lookout
while the robbery was taking place, and as a part
of that felony robbery, the store clerk was killed. That's
(14:46):
felony murders first degree murder regardless of premeditation. It just
his first degree murder by statute and the commission of
a robbery. The perpetrator, the shooter, has pleaded guilty awaits sentencing.
It may have been since sorry life to life imprisonment
with the possibility of parol after fifteen years with mercy,
(15:09):
which is the maximum that the young man who's on
trial can face. The Supreme Court of the United States
declared over a decade ago that the sentencing of a
juvenile tender year certainly less than sixteen years of age
to life in prison without any possibility of parole, amounted
to cruel inhuman cruel unusual punishment. Fifth Amendment man on that.
(15:36):
So that's the maximum we can determine. We'll see what happens.
In order to be an aid or and a better
the state has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that
the person on the outside was there with the intent
and for the purpose of helping the actor in the
first degree, who actually committed the act. How do you
(16:00):
approve intent? It's something that's in a person's mind. It's circumstance.
There'll be I'm sure some video footage of the store
security footage. However, the person acted, whatever their conduct was,
and the jury will look at that and determined, well,
is there enough here that we can conclude beyond reasonable
(16:21):
doubt that these circumstances exclude every possibility reasonably consistent with
innocence and by the man guilty.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
In this case, it doesn't matter if he knew his
that the other young man, like if he thought, Hey,
don't worry, I'm not going to shoot a guy no
matter what, We're just going to go and get the
money or whatever it might be. Even if the allected
lookout fought that, that doesn't really play like if he
was there for a robbery, then he was there.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
For robbery because there you know, when you look at
the murder statutes in West Virginia, there are enumerated offenses robbery, kidnapping,
sexual assault, arson, murder by lying in wait, murder by
poison that our first degree murder in and of themselves. Period.
So a murder committed during the commission of a felony
(17:08):
a robbery is first degree murder. Uh, it doesn't make
any difference if the accomplice, it doesn't make any difference
really what the intent was that the person that's shot.
Maybe he had no Maybe he fired a gun accidentally,
maybe he meant to shoot in a different direction to
scare the victim. Maybe, But the fact is a person's
dead in the commission of a felony, and that's first
(17:30):
degree murder, and that certainly transfers to the person who's outside.
If you're if you are an aider and a better
you're just as guilty as the person who whose active
conduct you are aiding in a betting. The only thing,
the only matter, that question of intent is, is that
why you intended to be there. Did you intend to
be there to aid in the commission of a robbery.
(17:51):
If you did, and there's a killing in the commission
of the robbery, that's first degree murder, and you're as
guilty as the as the actors will principle in the
first degree. Now having said that, of course that this
gentleman's innocent, untelt proven guilty, he has not enter a plea,
And perhaps under the circumstances one would say, well, why
(18:15):
would you If the maximum penalty you can face his
life with the recommendation of mercy, and there's no other offer,
And I don't suspect there is too serious a case
that what's bargaining with We just the state's got a
burden to prove its case, and sometimes they just don't
do it. And you look what's happened in the District
(18:35):
of Columbia last week. The guy that threw the subway sandwich,
I mean, he literally threw a subway sandwich and struck
a federal agent hit him with it. I mean looked
to be pretty clearly to me it would be a
misdemeanor battery under state law. But under the the guidance
(18:57):
of Genie Prero, who's now the US attorney for the district,
the man was charged with a felony. And that case
was presented to a grand jury at least twice, maybe
three times, and the grand jury just refused to indict.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, it's weird because I've always heard the expression, as
ironic as it is, that prosecutors wol get a grand
jury to indict a hand sandwich. Usually it's such a
rubber stamp that it's not really that big of a deal.
And not only this case, but apparently there's been several
cases in DC that the grand jury's just said no,
there's no they're there and is that unusual.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Well, it may be unusual on that scale, and what
happens in the District of Columbia is heavily reported upon.
I mean, if the person's arrest in charge with the felony,
they are a ragin in front of a magistrate judge,
and then within thirty days their case under the law
in DC has to be presented to a grand jury
either indict them or or the case is dismissed. So
(19:57):
that everybody on the press, school or in the district.
Those that's what we have to watch for. These are
the timeframes. And so when nothing happens and you see,
well here's a not true bill, here's a not true bill.
So that's big news in today's paradigm, it's not that uncommon.
It's not common, but it's it's sort of in the
(20:18):
middle ground for grand juries not to indict for everything
the prosecutor wants. And I've been involved in a homicide
case in Putnam County where the grand jury just refused
to indict the accused for murder. They indicted him for
voluntary manslaughter, which the jury ultimately acquitted him, but he
(20:40):
clearly it was presented as a murder. He took a
shotgun and shot another person killed him. But the circumstances
were such, and the police are honest as they most
often are, and told the jury what the circumstances were.
They just said, no, we're not going to indicte him.
So they returned an indictment for a felony or for
a misdemeanor. Volunteer manslaughters. We are involuntary, and so that's
(21:02):
where we went. It's uh, you know, it's it's troubling
for lawyers, most lawyers to watch the law just being
pummeled around on a political basis as if it's a
sword or a shield, and when the law really should
(21:24):
be what the law is. It's neutral, it's applied evenly
to everybody, and uh, it's not meant to be used
as something to make people mad at each other, which
seems to be fairly common. I mean, think about the
think about the the Cracker Barrel logo. There's the most apolitical,
(21:45):
erroneous move made by major corporation. You know. Cracker Barrel
has been a sort of a mid Atlantic Southern Great
Great Great Plains sort of restaurant since it started back
in the late sixties, but their sales have dropped off
twenty percent, then their wren comes down twenty percent. Since
(22:06):
the end of the pandemic, people got used to eating
at ho I think most of these big family restaurant
chains have the same experience. You know, people got used
to eating at home. They don't go out as much.
And so Cracker Barrel hired a lady who was she
was president of Taco Bell. She was working for Young
(22:27):
which is the biggest fast food restaurant chain company in
the world, to come in and revive the sales. And
she thought it would be a good idea to streamline
Cracker Barrel restaurants. To take the knick knocks off the wall.
Had to take Uncle Herschel and the Cracker Barrel off
the side and just say Cracker Bear, well you remember
(22:49):
the new coke. It's just the new coke. It just
didn't work. Had nothing to do with the politics. They
were trying to make money.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Yeah, that's the thing that I think that people get
these corporate boards and these people aren't in there to
make you know, people interpret it into political decisions. But
if you look at what happened to Taco Bell, you
can go back to the history of Taco Bell while
she was in charge of there, and look at some
of the esthetic modifications that they made. They did the
act same thing. It's just the culture now is such
a place where somebody can't do a business maneuver without
(23:20):
somebody put putting it into a political context.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
I think with Taco Bell, the plan sort of worked,
h for sure, it did. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Obell was
more or less, you know, a very small drive through
sort of set up. Now they've got a standardized construction plan,
beautiful new place down in Nitro.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
They work with Big Cheese and that's a true story.
They worked greatly with the dairy administry. All these new
recipes that they roll out, They work with Cheese to
put these things out. I mean, whatever you think about it,
but they've found a niche with this and that's one
of the reasons that their menu keep going getting better
as they put different things on there. And I think
that's all they were trying to do, you know, try
to channel some of that into Rocker Bert. What I
(24:01):
think where they missed was culturally people associate that with something.
I mean, the truth of the matter is it's kind
of bad versions of food you love. I mean, yeah,
in a lot of ways. It's not very good versions
of really good food.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
You can't really work much around the meat loaf, mashed
potatoes and gravy. I mean, it's just.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Good, right, exactly.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Yeah, but there is a cultural connection. I was watching
I think it was NPR, maybe been the Nightly News
or Washington Week, and they interviewed a gentleman who was
a professor of marketing and branding at the Wharton School,
University of Pennsylvania. So he's one of those people who
is just so smart and so obviously attuned to what
he's saying. You think, boy, I wish I could have
(24:39):
taken a class to this person. And that was his
He said, you just have to realize there are certain
iconic brands in the United States which which the customers
identify socially. It's not really a political issues, but they
feel comfortably. And this fellow he was originally from now
in Mississippi somewhere, he said, you know, it's just the South.
It's sort of the way. It is a lot of change,
(25:01):
And it was just viewed as well, why do they
have to change this? Not the great political hubbub that
was created by people who make money on making other
people mad at each other. Yeah, that's the Laura Lumers
of the world who make money making other people mad
at each other. Yeah, enough said, take a break.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Let's take a break. Let's take a break. We have
some more things we can talk about. When to come back,
give us a call. Three zero four, three four five
fifty eight fifty eight three four five fifty eight fifty eight.
You can also text the questions. The threes are four
non three five fives a year zero eight. If you
holler loud enough staying outside eleven of Virginia Street, you
might be able to even hear you there. You can
put the flower paton on your side this morning. Three
zero four, three four five fifty eight fifty eight online
Payton Lawfirm dot com. We'll take a break and be
(25:38):
back right after this. You're listening to ask the lawyer
on five adwc HS the Voice of Charleston.
Speaker 5 (25:42):
Why do people trust Peyton Law Firm for personal injury
claims in West Virginia? Simple, Tom and Harvey are from here,
They live here, and they're proud of it. If you've
been hurt and you want no nonsense representation that gets results,
you want the Peyton Law Firm don't let insurance come
banies take advantage of you. Call three zero four seven
(26:03):
five five fifty five fifty six today for a free consultation.
Discover more at Peytonlawfirm dot com.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
Football season is here. Get Mountaineer football coverage and watch
live high school football games every week by downloading the
Metro News Television app. It's Metro News shows all day,
including Talklines, Sports Line, three Guys Before the Game, Metro News,
Middays Hotline, and our new feature State of Minds, right
on your smart TV or streaming device. Get more information
at WV metronewstv dot com. Metro News Television is powered
(26:34):
by Dancaba, gmc go, Mark lou Wendel, Marines, Thike, Wealth Enhancement,
Panhandle Cleaning and Restoration, and Polka Valley.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Hey, thanks for tuning in this morning. You're listening to
the Faith and Law Firm. Want to ask the lawyer
of five ed c HS the voice of Charleston. I'm
Deel Cooper. Thanks for tuning in this morning. You can
put the power of painting on your side this morning.
Three zero four three four five fifty eight fifty eight
three four five fifty eight fifty You can also text
if you'd like to. Our text line number is three
zero four nine three five five zero zero eight three
zero four nine three five five zero zero eight. You
can put the power paid on on your side by
(27:17):
finding the Paytent Law from one line. It's Paytent Lawfirm
dot com, p E. Y t in Peyton Lawfirm dot Com.
Their phone number at Nighter West, Virginia three zero four
seven five five fifty five fifty six. Three zero four
seven five five fifty five fifty six. I had a
situation with an acquaintance of mine, and I thought this
might be an interesting situation to bring up in the
realm of because it's one of those questions, one of
those situations where people just don't know, they don't know
(27:39):
what they're what they can do, because they feel like
there was an injustice somewhere. So I had to have
a a family member of my wife's who was in
a just a physical alter She fell and hurt herself.
It was nothing crazy or anything like that, but she
hurt the lower part of her body around her pelvis area,
her cockys, you know, or her tailbone, and was in
(28:00):
a lot of pain for a while. Eventually went to
go see her doctor. Her doctor start started with, Okay, well,
let's see if the pain goes away, and I think
put her on some like mild pain management for you know,
a week or something. See what happens. It got worse,
didn't get any better, so they sent her to get
X rays to see what was going on. And of course,
in the state of things anymore, you don't get x
raysed the next day. It's a few weeks. Wait, you
get your x rays, you get your results in. And
(28:21):
it turned out that when she went in to get
her results evaluated, they scanned the wrong part of her,
Like it wasn't even the part that was hurting. She's like,
that's my upper body, it's my pelvis area that's hurting,
it's my tailbone and stuff. This isn't even the right thing.
So that it took her I think it was about
six weeks to get a reschedule for her for her
(28:42):
X ray and stuff. And so the x ray came
back was just yesterday. You know, it was bad. She
has like a separate attendon with it's a complete tear
that's going to require repair. She has inflammation in both
of her hips. I mean, it's a fairly bad result
on her X ray, and so she's like, she understands
she hurt herself. I mean, there's no question about that,
but she's thinking, it's been like two or three months
(29:02):
since she hurt herself now, and she's just now getting
to the point where they've identified what was wrong. She
wonders if there's an area in there where maybe it
wasn't so bad.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Well, the covenist question we have and deal with at
the Peyton Law Firm relative to medical malpractice, medical negligence,
negligence in the medical community, whether it's a hospital, a
nursing home, a physician, a physician's assistant, is a person
feels as if they're aggrieved? Is it as if an
injustice has been done? And perhaps in this case that's correct.
(29:35):
The question you've got to explore first is, well, was
what happened here actually a deviation from an accepted standard
of care? Those are the magic words in medical negligence.
You know, what would a reasonable physician or healthcare provider
who do or have done under the same or similar
circumstances and keeping with a standard of care that's appropriate
(29:58):
for the injury look and say, first of all, for
this lady, Well, what was the order for the X ray?
What do the orders say to to be x ray?
If it was indefinite or refer to the upper body
as opposed to the appropriate part. Maybe there was a
deviation from the standard of care. Somebody miss miss prescribed
an X ray. That happens. It's a mistake. It's like
(30:21):
running a stop sign. Did the X ray tech just
missed the order and x ray the wrong part? Okay,
so if you say either one of those could be
a deviation of a standard of care, well, now there
may be some liability. Next question is, okay, it doesn't
(30:43):
happen in a vacuum. Is there a material adverse effect
on the patient because of the standard of care? I mean,
people go to the hospital emergency all the time with
the fall in, a pain in their arm, and the
er docs an X ray. They get an x ray,
they read it late in the evening, the radiologist reads
(31:04):
it as negative. Pain persists a week later, go back
another X ray. May be a more skillful technician, maybe
a more studious radiologist. Oh wait a minute, there's a fracture,
so we've got to cast this. Well, okay, they missed it.
They made a mistake. But if treatment is promptly administered
(31:26):
and the result is the same as it would have
been but for the black standard, there's no case and
you have to suffer a demonstrable harm. So in the
case of your friend, and the question is, all right,
let's look at the treatment options that may have been
available back when as opposed to what treatment options are
(31:50):
available now. And then you say, well, can you prove that,
because if they x ray the wrong party of your
body three months ago, how are you going to prove
what the condition was that needed to be treated then
as opposed to now. So you know, it's full of pitball.
The thing. You know, every every accident, every mistake, is
(32:14):
not an actionable claim. And in the field of medical malpractice,
tom my Son does some. But I'll tell you, like
everybody else who is in the planeiffs business who represents
folks who are injured, you've got to be really selective
about the cases you take. And you have to quiz
folks about, you know, what is the effect of this,
(32:36):
what happened here? And then maybe get a preliminary opinion
from an expert about well, he said, but this happens.
It's like a punctured I mean, I've got an appointment
this morning at eleven o'clock with my oncologist. You know,
it comes up every six months. You get to go
down and sit in dread to wait and see if
they're smiling or frowning. But I didn't have part of
my colon removed seven years ago because I had cancer.
(32:59):
Well prior to that, they had to have a biopsy.
Doctor Rarbauld, who's up in the legislature, he did the colonoscopy. Well,
sometimes the bell gets nicked. It happens. I mean, it's
it's nothing's perfect. And when you sign up a consent
to that surgery, sign a waiver that you understand that's
(33:21):
a side effect. Now, that doesn't mean if you start
to get sick with flu like symptoms, a high temperature
pain in the abdomen and go to the emergency room
shortly after you've had a colonoscopy or a similar procedure
and they give you some pills for flu and sends
you home. Now that's where a case starts. Because the
standard of care there is no, no, no, no, admit
(33:43):
this person. Do some advanced plot work. See let's see
what we've got here. Because parent nitis can kill you.
And if you don't treat a nicked bell, but if
you treat it in time, there's some inconvenience on the patient,
maybe some additional pain and discomfort, but if their ultimate
result is good, acceptable, that's not really a case that
can be litigated. Got to remember, there's a lot of
(34:05):
criticism about plaintiff lawyers. I mean, you've got Greg Thomas
over here. This usual question when a lawyer calls them, well,
what do you drive? What kind of car do you drive?
I guess as if working hard and making some money
doesn't entirely drive a car. You know, I drive an Avalon.
Let me say, because they made the transmission in Buffalo.
(34:26):
It costs a lot of money to litigate these cases.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
You know, you.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Cannot file a medical malpractice case in ninety nine percent
of the cases that come up here in West Virginia.
There are very few exceptions unless you have a certificate
from an expert in the same similar field as the
healthcare professional that you believe committed malpractice, saying there's probable
(34:52):
cause to believe here that this standard of care has
been breached, and you have to give that to the
other side before you can file a loss. It's jurisdictional.
Well that's not cheap. You mean you take a case. Well,
it looks to me like the equities are on our
client side. Someone went in to the hospital, they appeared
perfectly healthy. A couple of days later, they start to
(35:15):
get a little worse. The doctors doesn't come around. It's
over the weekend, nobody checks in, and then boom, you
have a bad event. Person dies. Well, certainly, and if
it's a younger person, it certainly is a tremendous loss.
I mean, it's a loss for any life, but a
wage earner parent loss is considerably more significant in the
(35:35):
eyes of the law because of the long term effect. So, okay,
we're going to send this to gather up all the
medical records, which can cost hundreds of dollars to get
copies of all these medical records from whatever center you're in.
You send them. First of all, you find an expert,
you maybe use a search a headhunter service to find
(35:56):
a qualified expert to review those, and you review them,
and then you're in there for three or four thousand
dollars and you find out, well, you don't have a case.
So and but that's one of the benefits of coming
to a firm like the Paytent Law Firm. We are
well capitalized. We finance cases for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I actually had a products case against Ford where we
(36:17):
put in a considerable amount of money one against GM.
They both were successful, fortunately. But if you've got a loss,
you don't need to go to the biggest or the
biggest advertiser to get a lawyer. Here can get you
some really good results and has the money and the
experience to do it. You can call the Paytent Law
Firm at three oh four seven five five five five
five six, or go online at Paytonlawfirm dot com and
(36:39):
you'll find somebody as qualified or more than you see
on billboards and TV to help you handle your case.
That's all. I don't know if I'll see you next
week or not. Tom maybe here next week. Well, whichever,
we'll have a good show again. Yeah, absolutely, and we
do this every Thursday.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
The Payton Law Firm is here for ask the Lawyer
and has been doing this for decades, and we encourage
you tune in then again and have your questions ready
next time. We'd like to take phone calls at three
zero four three four five fifty eight fifty eight. That's
going to do it for us today. If you want
to get catch this show, you can find it on
our podcast if Uchs network dot com slash expert. You
can find cast up there for Ask the Expert. Coming
up next, it's gonna be Dave Allen with five eighty
(37:16):
LOB and that starts our Morning of Day Who's Like Normal?
After that will be TJ. Meadows and Dave Wilson on
talk Line, and then Dave Allen will be back with
Channel thirteen's Amanda Baron for midday in the afternoon, and
I'll be back this afternoon with Dave weekly at three
o'clock for Metro News Hotline. Thanks for tuning in everyone
you're listening to five eight w c HS. We are
the voice of Charleston.
Speaker 5 (37:41):
Five eight Whsam ninety six point five that then Charleston
one oh four point five Cross Lane WVRC Media Station.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
We're proud to live here too.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.