October 30, 2025 • 36 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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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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 of Courts. Oh Created equal.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
When nats come here in a caton ray can.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Robson tops On, you can have the long win for you.
This morning, it is time to put the power of
Peyton on your side. Three zero four three four five
fifty eight fifty eight. Give us a call, control the conversation.
Tom Payton is in studio with us this morning. Tom,
Good morning. How are you doing this morning?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I'm doing great? How are you doing Dale?
Speaker 4 (00:58):
I'm doing okay. It's a I think it's officially autumn.
The weather this morning is very autominal. It was inevitable,
of course, and you know nice, Honestly, I kind of
like it other than.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
The different boardrobe. Now it's our ward robe.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
And you know, like my stepfather, he grew up in
Florida and then moved to West Virginia with no connection
here whatsoever. And he always said he he traveled through
and just kind of wanted to get somewhere where there
were seasons and uh. I guess you can get tired
of the sun. I'm kind of like hot weather, and
(01:32):
I think like a lot of people do. But there's
nothing like that first good spring day after you've been
through a dreary wintertime. And I kind of see where
he was coming from. But that was his reason for
moving here from Florida, was he liked the seasons and uh,
and some other things. Obviously because he never moved back
(01:53):
and lived here for forty years of his life.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I think so.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
But Yeap, got some rain out there, so be careful
driving in. Actually, the interstate traffic was really really good.
I didn't see any crazy drivers, you know, tailgating or
leaving out of traffic at unreasonable speeds. Hopefully it stays
that way this morning and tills the season. It's time
for college basketball season.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Unbelievable, we're already at the college basketball part of the year.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, I don't remember.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
It's starting this early all the time, but it is
this year, and so we got a little giveaway. It's
time for some some giveaways. Yeah, that's right. So we've
got tickets to the opening game for WVU games Tuesday evening.
I believe it starts at seven o'clock and I collect
(02:45):
to go see it. We got all new players except
one I think, and the one player that's a holdover
I don't think really had any playing time previously, which
we've got Ross Hodge as the coach. So you usually
would think it's a rebuilding year, just like we thought
going into last year. But as you can, as we
know from last year, anything can happen, and uh hopefully
(03:08):
they'll have a good a good season. But we have
season tickets and Dad and I can't make it on
Tuesday evenings, so we got our season ticket package available
we're going to give it away. There's four seats. There
are actually two and two, so there's two seats that
are court level actually just kind of left of underneath
(03:29):
one basket, but right there at the end of the
visitors bench, basically my seat.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Yeah, it's good.
Speaker 5 (03:34):
It's you know, if you've I've been to a lot
of games at the coliseum. You sit up high, it's
it's good to be in that atmosphere, but man, it's
especially with my eyes, it's really hard to see the action.
Sometimes you can't tell if the ball even goes through
the hoop when you're sitting up in the top level,
and it's it's two years of giving. We've been lucky
enough to get these good seats, and we hate to
(03:55):
have them stay empty. I hope that's not. It may
re redo the seating process in Morgantown here for too long.
That's what we're hearing anyway, and so I just hope
it's not. They're not made unaffordable for everyone because you
get big businesses by them. I just think that sometimes
they go in a desk drawer and you get a
lot of empty seats. We always like to try and
(04:16):
have ours given to somebody who will appreciate them and
who wants to use them. So we have two seats
right on the floor. We have two seats on the
third row lower ball as well, so really good. We
also have a parking pass so you can count quite
a lot, so you can just pull right in next
to the call, see them walk in, maybe know somebody
in Morgantown. But we'll do a little little gifting. We'll
(04:38):
make it easy, I think with Google these days, but
since we have an all new team. But we'll do
is if anybody wants them that can call in, they
can name three of the players from our team for
this year. Then they will get this ticket package. And
I really hope you use them and don't sell them.
You know, I can't control that ultimately, but we really
want to get.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Ye get them used.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Let's let's do it in good faith. Threes are a
four three four five fifty eight, three four five fifty
eight fifty eight if you're interested in these tickets to
West Virginia Mountaineers, the first basketball game of the regular season.
This is a regular season game that's going to be
taking place against Saint Mary's on Tuesday, November fourth. We
already got calls coming in this morning, so let's go
ahead and go straight to the phone line. Identify yourself, caller.
What's your first name?
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Luther?
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Hello, Hey, Luther, go ahead. Do you have the answer
for Tom?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yes, Tray some Eagle staff. We have obi Aha. I
think I'm pronouncing that right, and we have Honor Huff.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Let's see I think obi aha, what's his first name?
Speaker 4 (05:44):
If you could give me a call back there? I
accidentally just h you call her. I apologize for that
trying to find that one.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Oh yeah, there he is, okay, I had to look
it up as well.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Did he get off reading?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
He got all three?
Speaker 4 (05:54):
All right?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
That was Luther.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
I think that yeah, Luthering. Are you back with us? Yes, sir, okay,
sorry about that one, great fault.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, thanks for calling in.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
So Luther, you're our winner. Let me get information. I
just need your phone number here. Which is the phone
number that you called in on? Is that a good
one to contact yet?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
And what we've got with these are hard copy tickets
because we have a parking pass and I have them
with me. So would you rather pick them up here
at the station or you can come buy our office
in Nitro.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Actually I'll be down that way here shortly.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
At the at the station. Here the station, okay, I'll
leave them at the front desk. Great, enjoy the game.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Very good, Luther, I got your information here. We'll leave
before you up front.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
All right. That was easy.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
Mount Saint Mary's so it should be a should be
a wind knock on wood.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Let's go ahead and see we have other callers on.
We don't have any more tax if you maybe don't
have a question or com maybe someone wants to talk
to Tom. That's very true, good morning caller. We did
go we did give away our tickets already. But you're
on the air with Tom Payton. If you have anything
you want to discuss this morning.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Well, I do appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I enjoy your show, and thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Yeah, thanks for calling in. We might have some more
later on. Thanks for calling in this morning. We really
appreciate it. Right, So the ticket part of the show
is done with it with Google the Well it was,
but I'm more. I'm more, I'm more encouraged by the
pace of the calls. That means that there's some excitement
about that's the season and people are anticipating opening.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Game, first game of the season. I don't.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
I mean Mount Saint Mary's is obviously a smaller school.
They've had some good teams in the past, and you
never know coming out. I mean remember one year, it
was a different ballgame, different type of team, but we
did lose our opening game one year to Buffalo.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I think end up being pretty good.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
I remember that I think they made instuble a and
then they were pretty good the following year, so we
kind of overlooked them. I don't think we'll have that
problem with all new players and a new coach. They
should be motivated to play. And I mentioned to see
him in season when we're trying to get to a
game as soon as I can. But yeah, hopefully Luther
will enjoy these. I'll leave them right out front at
the front dew so we can stop buying and get them.
That's good stuff, all right, good? And uh, what's actually
(07:51):
some big things going on in the legal world. We had, Uh,
we have the ongoing litigation saga of the opioid crisis
here locally unfortunately, and you know a lot of those,
almost all of them I think resolved in some manner.
And we had a big case that actually went to
(08:13):
trial and it wasn't a jury trial. It was a
bench trial, so meaning it was the judge serves in
essence in the place of the jury. It was in
federal court City of Huntingdon. I don't think it was
the Cabal County entity itself, but the city of Huntington
at least, and there may have been other plaintiffs, but
(08:34):
the City of Huntington is the is the is the
lead I think plaintiff in this case. But they tried
a case for I don't remember how long the trial went,
you know, weeks and weeks, and then it was Judge
Faber in Federal District Court, judge, long time experienced judge, but.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
He should have written ruling. It's been years now.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
Probably two to three years ago, and and ruled against
the the city and dismissed the claim.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And it was.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Kind of a novel claim. It's under a they filed
a cause of action under what's called nuisance law, which
nuisance you think of as normal people. Well, that's something annoying,
is that that's a nuisance. But it's a term of
art in the legal field, and it allows a lawsuit
(09:25):
or a cause of action. Basically the normal way in
which you see it is when there's an unreasonable condition
or use of land and it unreasonably interferes with a
person's use of and enjoyment of their property. And then
(09:45):
in West Virginia, our Supreme Court has kind of subdivided
those claims into what they call quote public nuisance and
private nuisance and private nuisance in essence as if it's
an acute problem, it affects one person, like maybe one
property in it. Example would be maybe somebody puts in
a gun range or an ATV track and a residential
(10:10):
neighborhood and the noise affects property values and the and
the other neighbors use of enjoyment of their property and
un reasonable manner. That could be a private nuisance, and
potentially those that are harmed by that could file lawsuit
to stop that conduct. Then we have a public nuisance,
which is something that you know, interferes more generally with
(10:34):
the public as opposed to an individual property center. And
that's the that's the case that was filed regarding these shipment.
It was against the drug manufacturers against the shipment of opioids.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Uh, I mean.
Speaker 5 (10:51):
Grossly disproportionate amount of opioids into the state of Westvinia
based upon our our citizenship and and learly in my
mind anyway, and based on what I know contributed significantly
to our you know, drug addiction and all the two
opioids and all the fallout that comes there front, which
(11:12):
is you know, burden on the abuse neglects system. A
lot of grandparents raising grandkids because the parents are have
drug problems.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
But the.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
Yeah It's favor ended up dismissing it on on a
couple of different grounds. One he just found that this
nuisance law that the plaintiffs were were asserting doesn't provide
a cause of action for the distribution of opioids and
(11:46):
its effect on the general public. He just said, well,
that's not what it's traditionally been applied to, and so.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
No cause of action there.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
And then what the City of Huntington had done is
they had they had kind of an evidence put forth
what's called an abatement plan, a plan to try and
fix the nuisance or the results of the nuisance. And
it was a comprehensive, I think two point five billion
dollar plan. I don't know the details of it. It
was a mixture of you know, rehabilitative facilities and things
(12:19):
like that. And I think certainly Cable County and maybe
the City of Huntington also were participants in other cases
that resolved. So just because this case was lost didn't
mean they didn't receive any of the funds. And we
actually have a task force in West Virginia. Now I'm
not shoot sure who's on it. But to help decide
how the funds from settlements are distributed within the state.
(12:45):
But the planet's appealed that to the Fourth Circuit Court
of Appeals, which is the Federal Court of Appeals, and
it's been pending for quite some time. I think they
submitted it on brief and maybe argued it about a
year and a half ago. But the Fourth Circuit issued
they're ruling this week. And what it's been a long
(13:05):
time in coming because in this type case, even though
it's in federal court, it's based on West Virginia law.
So federal court has jurisdiction or some particular jurisdiction law
that allows certain claims to proceed in federal court even
though the federal court is attempting to apply West Virginia law.
(13:26):
And of course not of course, but you know, our
state Supreme Court ultimately is the arbiter on what on
the interpretation of West Virginia law. So when it got
to the Four Circuit on appeal, the Fourth Circuit actually
certified a question back to our Supreme Court, meaning they said, hey,
we're basically trying to predict what Westernia Supreme Court will do.
(13:49):
So here's the question. Does West Virginia nuisance law provide
a cause of action for what's assume of over distribution
or excess of distribution of opioids by manufacturers, And our
Supreme Court declined to answer the question. They said it
was very short opinion, but it was in essence, we
(14:12):
declined to answer that because it's too factual dependent, and
you know, the question didn't have you don't get to
list all the evidence in a certified question. It's a
very short question and it doesn't really provide any facts.
So our State Supreme Court balked on it. And so
it's factory based. This would be more of an advisory
(14:33):
opinion without you know, knowing the underlying facts or being
before our Supreme Court. And so it went right back
to the Fourth Circuit. They're left and they recite this
in their opinion this week that you know, we invited
the Western Supreme Court to decide it, and they decided
not to decide.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
As couldn't they decide that an abstract or do they
have to have all the way they say it is
possible depending on facts, I mean, just to know if
it's a possible outcome.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
I kind of thought that they could as a as
a as a general matter. I didn't think the question
was too broad or lack specificity, but but they didn't
and said, you know, we're staying out of it. It's
it depends on the facts of the case. Now what
they They didn't answer it in the negative and say no.
Of course, they didn't say there is a cause of
(15:20):
actions either, but they seem to leave the question open
when they reference facts based on it just depends on
the factional scenario. So it wasn't it wasn't an answer
to the question, but it kind of you can almost
infer from it. Yeah, I think so, because it's kind
of like, well, if the implication from our Supreme Court's
response is that, well, you it's possible, it just depends
(15:43):
on the facts. And so Force Circuit takes it back,
and of course they have a fairly lengthy opinion that
recites a lot of facts. And then some of the
defenses were, you know, the drug distribution companies were arguing, well,
we complied with there's a lot of federal regulations governing this,
with the DA et cetera. And and you know we
(16:04):
technically we complied with federal law, so we didn't do
anything unlawful and you know, they're basically at they're they're
the top line of distribution. So we you know, we
just fill pharmacies orders and then we have doctors prescribing them,
and then you have you know, folks that are of
course prescribed medications who are getting them potentially illegally and
(16:26):
spreading them to folks who don't have prescriptions. So there's
all kinds of causes for this problem between us and
the ultimate harm. And so we we can't be at
fault anyway. But it was uh for circuit disagreed. So
they found that there is a cause of action for
this type of case and and the type of remedy
(16:49):
or the or what the city was seeking is is
a plausible remedy under nuisance law. And they so they
overturned the ruin and now it's going to be I
didn't say what the results should be. They send it
back to the trial court now for basically what you
can think of as a reconsideration based on the principles
(17:12):
of spouse in this in this new case, so they don't
have a whole another round.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
I don't think it will require.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Necessarily unless the judge asked for it, any more evidence
be presented or another trial. But the judges is going
to have to take the evidence that he already analyzed
the court and then.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Apply this clear set law.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Now the manufacturers can appeal in the next I think
they can ask for a decision from the full panel
of the Four Circuit. These were three appellate judges that
decided this one, and I don't remember how many are
on the Four Circuit Court of Appeals, but many more
than that, and they can ask for a full hearing
with all the judges, and then ultimately they can appeal
it to the US Supreme Court. If if that happens,
(18:00):
I don't know the Spreme Court would address it much.
But of course that will delay things again. But otherwise
it's you know, when you read it, the the basic
directions to the trial court judge when it gets sent
back is you'll have a very narrow route to take
(18:23):
from a legal perspective, almost telling him what to do.
I think. But he could still rule against the City
of Huntington, I suppose. But with this ruling from the
Four Circuit, it looks really good for the City of Huntington,
and that's that's good for everyone around here because the
more money we can get to help continue to resolve
this problem that went on for over a decade.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
It's better.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
So you know, it's of lawyers involved in that, some
some local Tony Magestro here I think, arguted on on brief.
He's a Charleston lawyer, and Paul Ferrell Junior from Huntington
was I think at least locally the lead attorney on it,
and real big case really has implic significant implications locally.
It's a good decision for for us here in West Virginia.
(19:09):
And so we'll see how that one plays out. But
that's what we've been waiting on. It's a little dry,
but it's a good u good decision and and it's
coming back to Huntington at some point hopefully, and we'll see.
I mean, the trial judge that decided it could probably
fairly quickly render a decision that just kind of is
in line what was implied from the four circuit where
(19:31):
he can he can use there what is in essence
modified principles of law and still find that the city
didn't win. But I think that would be that is
unlikely at this point. So and what what may happen
ultimately is once the appeal process is exhausted. Now that
(19:52):
the law is clarified, and the strength of this for
circuit opinion, probably the case will settle.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Never know, but.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
If I was a betting man, that's what I would suggest,
and so that would obviously any settlement will result in
significant influx of funds to the City of Huntington to
help resolve this epidemic or the fallout from it.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
It's really something else and from somebody who lived out
of state for a long time and came back in
twenty ten, and it's really I don't know that it
could be quantified, and there's been some people tried that's
tried to do it, but I don't know if it
could be quantified exactly the damage that epidemic had to
this area. I mean, obviously a depressed area that had
struggled anyway, trying to dig your way out and find
(20:36):
white at the end of everything, and then just for
this to be dropped at like a bomb in the
middle of certain areas in this state of people that
were already struggling, it's just I mean, it was a
massive setback and continues to be. I mean, when you
talk about city services being taxed and the unhoused problem,
different things like that. I mean, it's all a lot
of the root of that just goes back to these opioids.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
It does.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
And if you watch much various documentaries some where they
follow first responders in the city of hunting and it
just takes so and it's it's really sad because you
get folks that are addicted and they they're on death's
door and they get you know, was it in the
lock zone or the drugs they put in them and
(21:20):
just kind of wake them up and then you know,
it might be the same person the same situation two
nights later. And it takes a lot of resources obviously
with the City of Huntington dealing with that when they
could be out dealing with with other law enforcement issues.
But uh yeah, it's and and like you it's you know,
difficult to really even comprehend all the different types of harms.
(21:41):
And that was that was kind of my I thought
was the difficulty with the case from the planets point is, well,
how do you you know you can only go so
far out on causation. I mean, what you cause this
problem here and there's a domino effect way way way
down there in the point you gotta can't go on forever.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
It's almost like the co morbidy, you cause this problem
here and there's.
Speaker 5 (22:06):
A domino effect way way way down there. What citting
a point you gotta can't go on forever.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
It's almost like the co morbidity, uh morbidity argument over
pandemics and stuff like, at what point is safety and
what point does the co morbidity take over from what
happened with the disease and all that different?
Speaker 5 (22:22):
How do you approve you know that you know this person,
this particular person was a direct victim of the over
excessive shipment of you know, opioids to legitimate pharmacies or
pharmacies that were licensed at least some of them aren't anymore,
and then doctors prescribing them, and then maybe individuals getting
(22:47):
them legally at least with a prescription, and then you know,
transferring them or selling them to other people, which is
a crime, and then people taking them illegally. And so
that was part of the argue and is for the manufacturer, Well,
how can we be responsible for that when there's criminal
conduct that clearly contributes to this problem in between what
(23:09):
we did and the ultimate harm? And uh, but four
circuit kind of went through that analysis and found that
that's it's not still they can prove proximate what's called
proximate cause or the cause of the harm. Potentially it's
possible based on the set of facts. And so uh, yeah,
(23:30):
we'll get sent back and we'll see. If we don't
see as I think they'll it's got to run through
the appeal process. But I suspect we'll see some settlement resolution,
but maybe not. If not, I think we'll see a
good outcome on behalf of the of the City of Huntington.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
Well, listen to this to do it and take our break.
We could come back and we'll still have about ten
minutes left in the program. If you want to control
the conversation, you have some questions, you want to put
the power of paton on your side. You have some
questions about the law this morning for your your yourself
or maybe a loved one who you know has a
question something that you maybe want to be reconsidered that
you've asked somebody else about and you want a second
opinion on anything along those lines. You can give us
a call this morning and Tom from the Payton Law
(24:08):
Firm can help you out three zero four three four
five fifty eight fifty eight is our number three zero
four three four five fifty eight fifty eight. You can
text three zero four non three five five zero zero
eight three zero four non three five five zero zero eight.
More information online Payton Lawfirm dot com and Nitro West
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I'll give you the rest of the information a little
bit later on. Let's go ahead and take a break.
We'll be back right off this. You're listening to ask
the lawyer with Tom Peyton from the Payton Law Firm
(24:30):
on five A whs.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
The Boys of Charleston.
Speaker 6 (24:32):
If you've been injured, you need a lawyer who knows
West Virginia because they live in West Virginia. Tom and
Harvey Peyton were born and raised here. They've spent decades
fighting for injury victims and they know how to get results.
At the Peyton Law Firm, you get straight talk, strong representation,
and local attorneys who care. Call seven five five fifty
(24:54):
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The attorney's referenced in this Adorne Flong residents and our
licensed to practice law in the state of West Virginia.
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It is twelve minutes to the toffee hour. You're listening
to ask the law. You're five adwchs the Voice of Charleston.
I'm Deel Cooper. Tom Peton is in studio with us
this morning, and you can give us a call to
talk to Tom, not to talk to me. You have
any questions about the law, you can put it on
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(26:08):
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fifty six three zer a four seven five five fifty
five fifty six. If you go to the website Payton
Lawfirm dot com, you can also write an email there
(26:28):
and I know Tom and Harvey check the email all
the time and we'll respond to those when they get
a chance. So that's a good way to contact.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Directly to each of us.
Speaker 5 (26:35):
No no filtration or no, no can't. We don't have
an answering service. Now, if you call after hours, you
can leave a voicemail and.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Ordinarily that will.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
Come through on my email, so we can certainly if
there's something that is an emergency where we are available
in that since twenty four hours a day. If I
wake up in the evening and see it voicemail it
comes through, I'll I'll listen to it and we handle it.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
So yeah, we do.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
And you know, just to rehash a bit, we do,
you know, we're trial lawyers. We do civil litigation, mostly
mostly on the kind of consumer or ordinary person side
of the equation. A lot of a lot of insurance disputes,
whether it's a homeowner's claim or an auto insurance issue,
life insurance, disability insurance. We do awful lot of those
(27:24):
type claims. But you know, you don't know when you're
going to need a lawyer for something like that, because
normally it's unexpected occurrence. Is what people do need lawyers
for on a regular basis, everyday type things or wills, deeds,
property issues, things like that. And so we try and
(27:44):
help people and we know how to do those things.
And so if you have those basic everyday needs, certainly
give us a call and we be glad to help
you with that as well. And we probably I think
we do a pretty good job with that type of
work because we also kind of look at it from
a littgation angle, because we do litigate actually a lot
of a state litigation issues with how someone's handling in
(28:06):
a state, or whether a will's valid or not, and
that kind of thing. But so when we draft, everybody
wants their documents to be we get asked, well, can
they challenge this like a will, well, yeah, I mean
I guess anybody can follow alsover anything. But the fact
they a potential beneficiary that thinks they are entitled to
something doesn't get anything by a will is not a
(28:28):
reason for a cause of action.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Like kids.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
For example, if you pass away and don't have a
will and you're not married at the time, and under
West Virginia law, the children legal children, biological or adopted.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Or are the heirs.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
But when you draft a will, with the exception of spouses,
there's some special rules there. I mean, nobody's entitled to anything,
including children. So you know, maybe you have a child
that you already gave a lot of money to, so
you don't want to put them in your will because
you want to give things to the other children. And
when we do those type cases where I have some
(29:08):
concern a potential beneficiary might cause a problem, then you know,
I think of that, how will this play out from
a litigation standpoint? How will this if if we get sued,
how can we defend? Because I want to get done
with my client wants and that's all I really care
as long as we can do it. Some people come
in with ideas that aren't really something we can put
(29:29):
into effect, but you want to get done with the
client wants, and then they always have concern you know,
it's going to be challenged, and anybody can challenge anything,
but not not validly and not successfully. And so we
we kind of have a process we use multifaceted to
make sure that you know, when we get your estate
(29:52):
planning done the lawyer lawyer that it tends to it.
If a lawyer tends to a will, the execution and
drafting and and discussions and preparation of it, then that
lawyer ultimately is a witness in any type of case,
or could be if there's a challenge to a will.
And so we we do that type work with kind
of the the eye towards One of the aspects we
(30:12):
look at is to make sure this is in essence
ironclad so it won't be successfully challenged. And so I
don't think I've ever had a will that I've drafted
that's ever been successfully challenged, but I think it helps
us do it those every day things, even some some
deed work. You know, you kind of think of that
sometimes depending depending on the the scenario. And so we
(30:33):
do that type thing. So we have any type of issue,
you can give us a call or send us an email.
And and and you know, if we get questions about
issues that we're just not experienced in or not comfortable handling,
well we'd be glad. You know, we're in We're networked
with a lot of other lawyers here in the local
area and even across the country, so we can spend
a few minutes sometimes putting some feelers out and maybe
(30:54):
finding if we don't, if we're not aware of an
attorney that does that type work, fine one for you
and give you a referral, So don'tate to give us
a call. And then and then what we ask is,
you know, if you if you or a family member
is in an automobile accident, or it does have an
issue with an insurance company or or a business that's
harmed you in some way, then think about us, because
(31:18):
we do a good job. We do and we pay
attention and we're very particular on those type cases because
we just don't have a mill of them, more particular
on the on the type of cases we accept, and
then we pay close attention to them and work them
up really hard.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Is there a is there any consideration to how do
I Well, let me explain that. One of the things
that I've adopted in my personal life in the last
couple of years is I treat every green light like
a stop sign, because I've just noticed way too often
people not just one beat going through the red light,
but beat beat me people just driving through. I have
a daughter, Now I'm not taking that chance. I treat
(31:55):
every green light like a stop sign, and it saved
my life or at least an accident, at least a
handful of times over the last couple of years. If
there's an egregious traffic situation like somebody runs a red
light by seconds or or something that where they're not
necessarily drinking and driving, or something like it's just a
really bad situation where they obviously broke all kinds of
traffic laws and caused an accident. Is the degree of
(32:17):
of what the victim in that case can seek. Does
that scale with the issue there or is it all so?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Is the what you have?
Speaker 5 (32:25):
You know, first of all, if you if you have
a automobile accident or a collision, the law in western
is based on fault. Whose fault is it? And a
lot of times it's you know, you're in collision, with
some exceptions is almost universally the fault of the person
behind the other person who hit them. But you have
(32:49):
egregious coming. We've had cases with I had one in
Morgantown unfortunately side case where it was a hit and
run one night you're actually from from the Charles scenario,
was hit and passed away. It was a drunk driver,
didn't stop, kept going, apprehended a couple of days later,
(33:09):
made some misrepresentations to the police about what happened. But
they had this person red handed basically based on all
the they have video from surveillance and things like that
and other witnesses. But in that case, we actually had
a trial on it.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
And so.
Speaker 5 (33:25):
If the conduct is so egregious, then you can get
what's called punitive damages and that's I think what comes
into play, and that in our case we got a
significant I can't remember the award for punitive damages, but
it was, I mean it was at least one million.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
And so yeah, you get somebody that we have multiple
witnesses it's clearly ran a red light or they're intoxicated,
then that opens the door fornitive normal negligence. You don't
get punitive damages. That you get damages to compensate you
for being injured, lost wages, medical bills, things like that.
(34:01):
But if you get egregious conduct, then it exposes the
bad actor to potential pianotive damage award. And so yeah,
but I feel you there. I mean, you just got
to be real careful when lights go from red degree. Yeah,
that's crazy. That the way, it's clear. I got to
be careful of myself because I've been driving this Tesla
now for five and a half years, and of course
(34:21):
it has no fuel. Mean, it's you press that accelerator. Yeah,
so you don't want to be just chopping at the bit.
As soon as the light turns green, you just gun
it because you'll get hit.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
Ye. I saw a guy. The worst one I saw
in a while was earlier, No, I think it was
late last week. It was a guy driving a cement
truck in Keanas City on thirty ninth Street. The light
there turn green when I was the first in first position,
and I did what I always do, look one way,
look the other way, looked back, just like a stop
sign before I went, and I saw this guy. Then
it was at least four or five seconds after the
light turn, I could see him clear as day, his
(34:53):
phone up in front of his face, right, not paying
any attention, going probably sixty on McCorkle in a cement
truck through a red light.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah, that's unfortunate. And you know, actually.
Speaker 5 (35:04):
Quite a few citations out there for people using their
handheld devices while driving. But that's just something we didn't see,
of course twenty twenty five years ago. And oh gosh,
seventy percent of the time you pull up to a
car that's driving a little radically and there they are
staring at their phone. So I was staring at my
phone one time. I admit, this has been a long
(35:26):
time ago, getting on the on ramp here, like getting
on to go east, look down for a minute at
my phone, and look up, and the traffic stopped in
front of me. Now, luckily I was able to take
action stop without conducting the car in front of me.
But it scared me, and I don't I just won't
use you know, I don't talk on my cell phone
handheld anymore, and thinking about roads and safety.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
So we it.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
Oh we're out of time, just a minute, okay, Well,
I was going to go into an issue to take
a little more time than that. But yeah, if anybody's
out there it needs some legal help, send us an
email Peyton. You can get our website Peyton law Firm
dot com and submit an email. You can give us
a call at three zero four seven five five five
five five six, or stop Body Office if we're available.
(36:08):
We'll we'll talk to you for a minute or two
and if you want to set an appointment, all our
staff has authority of set appointments with me and uh,
we'll be glad to help you.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
That's great stuff. You can catch the Pathon law firm
here on Ask the Lawyer every Thursday at eight twenty
right here on five ADW CHS Network dot com slash
ask the Lawyer. That's going to do it for us today.
Dave Lean's up next with five eighty Live. I'll be
back this afternoon at three o six with Dave Weekly
on hotline. Have a great day, everyone listening to five
ad W c HS the Voice of Charleston.
Speaker 6 (36:43):
Five eight Whsam ninety six point five. That's them Charleston
one oh four point five Cross Lane, a WVRC media station.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
We're proud to live here too.
Unlock your dream property with Meeks Realty Group, where Rich
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Speaker 2 (00:15):
The views and opinions expressed on this program do not
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it's employees or WVRC media of Courts. Oh Created equal.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
When nats come here in a caton ray can.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Robson tops On, you can have the long win for you.
This morning, it is time to put the power of
Peyton on your side. Three zero four three four five
fifty eight fifty eight. Give us a call, control the conversation.
Tom Payton is in studio with us this morning. Tom,
Good morning. How are you doing this morning?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I'm doing great? How are you doing Dale?
Speaker 4 (00:58):
I'm doing okay. It's a I think it's officially autumn.
The weather this morning is very autominal. It was inevitable,
of course, and you know nice, Honestly, I kind of
like it other than.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
The different boardrobe. Now it's our ward robe.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
And you know, like my stepfather, he grew up in
Florida and then moved to West Virginia with no connection
here whatsoever. And he always said he he traveled through
and just kind of wanted to get somewhere where there
were seasons and uh. I guess you can get tired
of the sun. I'm kind of like hot weather, and
(01:32):
I think like a lot of people do. But there's
nothing like that first good spring day after you've been
through a dreary wintertime. And I kind of see where
he was coming from. But that was his reason for
moving here from Florida, was he liked the seasons and uh,
and some other things. Obviously because he never moved back
(01:53):
and lived here for forty years of his life.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I think so.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
But Yeap, got some rain out there, so be careful
driving in. Actually, the interstate traffic was really really good.
I didn't see any crazy drivers, you know, tailgating or
leaving out of traffic at unreasonable speeds. Hopefully it stays
that way this morning and tills the season. It's time
for college basketball season.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Unbelievable, we're already at the college basketball part of the year.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, I don't remember.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
It's starting this early all the time, but it is
this year, and so we got a little giveaway. It's
time for some some giveaways. Yeah, that's right. So we've
got tickets to the opening game for WVU games Tuesday evening.
I believe it starts at seven o'clock and I collect
(02:45):
to go see it. We got all new players except
one I think, and the one player that's a holdover
I don't think really had any playing time previously, which
we've got Ross Hodge as the coach. So you usually
would think it's a rebuilding year, just like we thought
going into last year. But as you can, as we
know from last year, anything can happen, and uh hopefully
(03:08):
they'll have a good a good season. But we have
season tickets and Dad and I can't make it on
Tuesday evenings, so we got our season ticket package available
we're going to give it away. There's four seats. There
are actually two and two, so there's two seats that
are court level actually just kind of left of underneath
(03:29):
one basket, but right there at the end of the
visitors bench, basically my seat.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Yeah, it's good.
Speaker 5 (03:34):
It's you know, if you've I've been to a lot
of games at the coliseum. You sit up high, it's
it's good to be in that atmosphere, but man, it's
especially with my eyes, it's really hard to see the action.
Sometimes you can't tell if the ball even goes through
the hoop when you're sitting up in the top level,
and it's it's two years of giving. We've been lucky
enough to get these good seats, and we hate to
(03:55):
have them stay empty. I hope that's not. It may
re redo the seating process in Morgantown here for too long.
That's what we're hearing anyway, and so I just hope
it's not. They're not made unaffordable for everyone because you
get big businesses by them. I just think that sometimes
they go in a desk drawer and you get a
lot of empty seats. We always like to try and
(04:16):
have ours given to somebody who will appreciate them and
who wants to use them. So we have two seats
right on the floor. We have two seats on the
third row lower ball as well, so really good. We
also have a parking pass so you can count quite
a lot, so you can just pull right in next
to the call, see them walk in, maybe know somebody
in Morgantown. But we'll do a little little gifting. We'll
(04:38):
make it easy, I think with Google these days, but
since we have an all new team. But we'll do
is if anybody wants them that can call in, they
can name three of the players from our team for
this year. Then they will get this ticket package. And
I really hope you use them and don't sell them.
You know, I can't control that ultimately, but we really
want to get.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Ye get them used.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Let's let's do it in good faith. Threes are a
four three four five fifty eight, three four five fifty
eight fifty eight if you're interested in these tickets to
West Virginia Mountaineers, the first basketball game of the regular season.
This is a regular season game that's going to be
taking place against Saint Mary's on Tuesday, November fourth. We
already got calls coming in this morning, so let's go
ahead and go straight to the phone line. Identify yourself, caller.
What's your first name?
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Luther?
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Hello, Hey, Luther, go ahead. Do you have the answer
for Tom?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yes, Tray some Eagle staff. We have obi Aha. I
think I'm pronouncing that right, and we have Honor Huff.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Let's see I think obi aha, what's his first name?
Speaker 4 (05:44):
If you could give me a call back there? I
accidentally just h you call her. I apologize for that
trying to find that one.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Oh yeah, there he is, okay, I had to look
it up as well.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Did he get off reading?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
He got all three?
Speaker 4 (05:54):
All right?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
That was Luther.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
I think that yeah, Luthering. Are you back with us? Yes, sir, okay,
sorry about that one, great fault.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, thanks for calling in.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
So Luther, you're our winner. Let me get information. I
just need your phone number here. Which is the phone
number that you called in on? Is that a good
one to contact yet?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
And what we've got with these are hard copy tickets
because we have a parking pass and I have them
with me. So would you rather pick them up here
at the station or you can come buy our office
in Nitro.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Actually I'll be down that way here shortly.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
At the at the station. Here the station, okay, I'll
leave them at the front desk. Great, enjoy the game.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Very good, Luther, I got your information here. We'll leave
before you up front.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
All right. That was easy.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
Mount Saint Mary's so it should be a should be
a wind knock on wood.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Let's go ahead and see we have other callers on.
We don't have any more tax if you maybe don't
have a question or com maybe someone wants to talk
to Tom. That's very true, good morning caller. We did
go we did give away our tickets already. But you're
on the air with Tom Payton. If you have anything
you want to discuss this morning.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Well, I do appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I enjoy your show, and thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Yeah, thanks for calling in. We might have some more
later on. Thanks for calling in this morning. We really
appreciate it. Right, So the ticket part of the show
is done with it with Google the Well it was,
but I'm more. I'm more, I'm more encouraged by the
pace of the calls. That means that there's some excitement
about that's the season and people are anticipating opening.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Game, first game of the season. I don't.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
I mean Mount Saint Mary's is obviously a smaller school.
They've had some good teams in the past, and you
never know coming out. I mean remember one year, it
was a different ballgame, different type of team, but we
did lose our opening game one year to Buffalo.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I think end up being pretty good.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
I remember that I think they made instuble a and
then they were pretty good the following year, so we
kind of overlooked them. I don't think we'll have that
problem with all new players and a new coach. They
should be motivated to play. And I mentioned to see
him in season when we're trying to get to a
game as soon as I can. But yeah, hopefully Luther
will enjoy these. I'll leave them right out front at
the front dew so we can stop buying and get them.
That's good stuff, all right, good? And uh, what's actually
(07:51):
some big things going on in the legal world. We had, Uh,
we have the ongoing litigation saga of the opioid crisis
here locally unfortunately, and you know a lot of those,
almost all of them I think resolved in some manner.
And we had a big case that actually went to
(08:13):
trial and it wasn't a jury trial. It was a
bench trial, so meaning it was the judge serves in
essence in the place of the jury. It was in
federal court City of Huntingdon. I don't think it was
the Cabal County entity itself, but the city of Huntington
at least, and there may have been other plaintiffs, but
(08:34):
the City of Huntington is the is the is the
lead I think plaintiff in this case. But they tried
a case for I don't remember how long the trial went,
you know, weeks and weeks, and then it was Judge
Faber in Federal District Court, judge, long time experienced judge, but.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
He should have written ruling. It's been years now.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
Probably two to three years ago, and and ruled against
the the city and dismissed the claim.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And it was.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Kind of a novel claim. It's under a they filed
a cause of action under what's called nuisance law, which
nuisance you think of as normal people. Well, that's something annoying,
is that that's a nuisance. But it's a term of
art in the legal field, and it allows a lawsuit
(09:25):
or a cause of action. Basically the normal way in
which you see it is when there's an unreasonable condition
or use of land and it unreasonably interferes with a
person's use of and enjoyment of their property. And then
(09:45):
in West Virginia, our Supreme Court has kind of subdivided
those claims into what they call quote public nuisance and
private nuisance and private nuisance in essence as if it's
an acute problem, it affects one person, like maybe one
property in it. Example would be maybe somebody puts in
a gun range or an ATV track and a residential
(10:10):
neighborhood and the noise affects property values and the and
the other neighbors use of enjoyment of their property and
un reasonable manner. That could be a private nuisance, and
potentially those that are harmed by that could file lawsuit
to stop that conduct. Then we have a public nuisance,
which is something that you know, interferes more generally with
(10:34):
the public as opposed to an individual property center. And
that's the that's the case that was filed regarding these shipment.
It was against the drug manufacturers against the shipment of opioids.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Uh, I mean.
Speaker 5 (10:51):
Grossly disproportionate amount of opioids into the state of Westvinia
based upon our our citizenship and and learly in my
mind anyway, and based on what I know contributed significantly
to our you know, drug addiction and all the two
opioids and all the fallout that comes there front, which
(11:12):
is you know, burden on the abuse neglects system. A
lot of grandparents raising grandkids because the parents are have
drug problems.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
But the.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
Yeah It's favor ended up dismissing it on on a
couple of different grounds. One he just found that this
nuisance law that the plaintiffs were were asserting doesn't provide
a cause of action for the distribution of opioids and
(11:46):
its effect on the general public. He just said, well,
that's not what it's traditionally been applied to, and so.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
No cause of action there.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
And then what the City of Huntington had done is
they had they had kind of an evidence put forth
what's called an abatement plan, a plan to try and
fix the nuisance or the results of the nuisance. And
it was a comprehensive, I think two point five billion
dollar plan. I don't know the details of it. It
was a mixture of you know, rehabilitative facilities and things
(12:19):
like that. And I think certainly Cable County and maybe
the City of Huntington also were participants in other cases
that resolved. So just because this case was lost didn't
mean they didn't receive any of the funds. And we
actually have a task force in West Virginia. Now I'm
not shoot sure who's on it. But to help decide
how the funds from settlements are distributed within the state.
(12:45):
But the planet's appealed that to the Fourth Circuit Court
of Appeals, which is the Federal Court of Appeals, and
it's been pending for quite some time. I think they
submitted it on brief and maybe argued it about a
year and a half ago. But the Fourth Circuit issued
they're ruling this week. And what it's been a long
(13:05):
time in coming because in this type case, even though
it's in federal court, it's based on West Virginia law.
So federal court has jurisdiction or some particular jurisdiction law
that allows certain claims to proceed in federal court even
though the federal court is attempting to apply West Virginia law.
(13:26):
And of course not of course, but you know, our
state Supreme Court ultimately is the arbiter on what on
the interpretation of West Virginia law. So when it got
to the Four Circuit on appeal, the Fourth Circuit actually
certified a question back to our Supreme Court, meaning they said, hey,
we're basically trying to predict what Westernia Supreme Court will do.
(13:49):
So here's the question. Does West Virginia nuisance law provide
a cause of action for what's assume of over distribution
or excess of distribution of opioids by manufacturers, And our
Supreme Court declined to answer the question. They said it
was very short opinion, but it was in essence, we
(14:12):
declined to answer that because it's too factual dependent, and
you know, the question didn't have you don't get to
list all the evidence in a certified question. It's a
very short question and it doesn't really provide any facts.
So our State Supreme Court balked on it. And so
it's factory based. This would be more of an advisory
(14:33):
opinion without you know, knowing the underlying facts or being
before our Supreme Court. And so it went right back
to the Fourth Circuit. They're left and they recite this
in their opinion this week that you know, we invited
the Western Supreme Court to decide it, and they decided
not to decide.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
As couldn't they decide that an abstract or do they
have to have all the way they say it is
possible depending on facts, I mean, just to know if
it's a possible outcome.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
I kind of thought that they could as a as
a as a general matter. I didn't think the question
was too broad or lack specificity, but but they didn't
and said, you know, we're staying out of it. It's
it depends on the facts of the case. Now what
they They didn't answer it in the negative and say no.
Of course, they didn't say there is a cause of
(15:20):
actions either, but they seem to leave the question open
when they reference facts based on it just depends on
the factional scenario. So it wasn't it wasn't an answer
to the question, but it kind of you can almost
infer from it. Yeah, I think so, because it's kind
of like, well, if the implication from our Supreme Court's
response is that, well, you it's possible, it just depends
(15:43):
on the facts. And so Force Circuit takes it back,
and of course they have a fairly lengthy opinion that
recites a lot of facts. And then some of the
defenses were, you know, the drug distribution companies were arguing, well,
we complied with there's a lot of federal regulations governing this,
with the DA et cetera. And and you know we
(16:04):
technically we complied with federal law, so we didn't do
anything unlawful and you know, they're basically at they're they're
the top line of distribution. So we you know, we
just fill pharmacies orders and then we have doctors prescribing them,
and then you have you know, folks that are of
course prescribed medications who are getting them potentially illegally and
(16:26):
spreading them to folks who don't have prescriptions. So there's
all kinds of causes for this problem between us and
the ultimate harm. And so we we can't be at
fault anyway. But it was uh for circuit disagreed. So
they found that there is a cause of action for
this type of case and and the type of remedy
(16:49):
or the or what the city was seeking is is
a plausible remedy under nuisance law. And they so they
overturned the ruin and now it's going to be I
didn't say what the results should be. They send it
back to the trial court now for basically what you
can think of as a reconsideration based on the principles
(17:12):
of spouse in this in this new case, so they don't
have a whole another round.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
I don't think it will require.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Necessarily unless the judge asked for it, any more evidence
be presented or another trial. But the judges is going
to have to take the evidence that he already analyzed
the court and then.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Apply this clear set law.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Now the manufacturers can appeal in the next I think
they can ask for a decision from the full panel
of the Four Circuit. These were three appellate judges that
decided this one, and I don't remember how many are
on the Four Circuit Court of Appeals, but many more
than that, and they can ask for a full hearing
with all the judges, and then ultimately they can appeal
it to the US Supreme Court. If if that happens,
(18:00):
I don't know the Spreme Court would address it much.
But of course that will delay things again. But otherwise
it's you know, when you read it, the the basic
directions to the trial court judge when it gets sent
back is you'll have a very narrow route to take
(18:23):
from a legal perspective, almost telling him what to do.
I think. But he could still rule against the City
of Huntington, I suppose. But with this ruling from the
Four Circuit, it looks really good for the City of Huntington,
and that's that's good for everyone around here because the
more money we can get to help continue to resolve
this problem that went on for over a decade.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
It's better.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
So you know, it's of lawyers involved in that, some
some local Tony Magestro here I think, arguted on on brief.
He's a Charleston lawyer, and Paul Ferrell Junior from Huntington
was I think at least locally the lead attorney on it,
and real big case really has implic significant implications locally.
It's a good decision for for us here in West Virginia.
(19:09):
And so we'll see how that one plays out. But
that's what we've been waiting on. It's a little dry,
but it's a good u good decision and and it's
coming back to Huntington at some point hopefully, and we'll see.
I mean, the trial judge that decided it could probably
fairly quickly render a decision that just kind of is
in line what was implied from the four circuit where
(19:31):
he can he can use there what is in essence
modified principles of law and still find that the city
didn't win. But I think that would be that is
unlikely at this point. So and what what may happen
ultimately is once the appeal process is exhausted. Now that
(19:52):
the law is clarified, and the strength of this for
circuit opinion, probably the case will settle.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Never know, but.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
If I was a betting man, that's what I would suggest,
and so that would obviously any settlement will result in
significant influx of funds to the City of Huntington to
help resolve this epidemic or the fallout from it.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
It's really something else and from somebody who lived out
of state for a long time and came back in
twenty ten, and it's really I don't know that it
could be quantified, and there's been some people tried that's
tried to do it, but I don't know if it
could be quantified exactly the damage that epidemic had to
this area. I mean, obviously a depressed area that had
struggled anyway, trying to dig your way out and find
(20:36):
white at the end of everything, and then just for
this to be dropped at like a bomb in the
middle of certain areas in this state of people that
were already struggling, it's just I mean, it was a
massive setback and continues to be. I mean, when you
talk about city services being taxed and the unhoused problem,
different things like that. I mean, it's all a lot
of the root of that just goes back to these opioids.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
It does.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
And if you watch much various documentaries some where they
follow first responders in the city of hunting and it
just takes so and it's it's really sad because you
get folks that are addicted and they they're on death's
door and they get you know, was it in the
lock zone or the drugs they put in them and
(21:20):
just kind of wake them up and then you know,
it might be the same person the same situation two
nights later. And it takes a lot of resources obviously
with the City of Huntington dealing with that when they
could be out dealing with with other law enforcement issues.
But uh yeah, it's and and like you it's you know,
difficult to really even comprehend all the different types of harms.
(21:41):
And that was that was kind of my I thought
was the difficulty with the case from the planets point is, well,
how do you you know you can only go so
far out on causation. I mean, what you cause this
problem here and there's a domino effect way way way
down there in the point you gotta can't go on forever.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
It's almost like the co morbidy, you cause this problem
here and there's.
Speaker 5 (22:06):
A domino effect way way way down there. What citting
a point you gotta can't go on forever.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
It's almost like the co morbidity, uh morbidity argument over
pandemics and stuff like, at what point is safety and
what point does the co morbidity take over from what
happened with the disease and all that different?
Speaker 5 (22:22):
How do you approve you know that you know this person,
this particular person was a direct victim of the over
excessive shipment of you know, opioids to legitimate pharmacies or
pharmacies that were licensed at least some of them aren't anymore,
and then doctors prescribing them, and then maybe individuals getting
(22:47):
them legally at least with a prescription, and then you know,
transferring them or selling them to other people, which is
a crime, and then people taking them illegally. And so
that was part of the argue and is for the manufacturer, Well,
how can we be responsible for that when there's criminal
conduct that clearly contributes to this problem in between what
(23:09):
we did and the ultimate harm? And uh, but four
circuit kind of went through that analysis and found that
that's it's not still they can prove proximate what's called
proximate cause or the cause of the harm. Potentially it's
possible based on the set of facts. And so uh, yeah,
(23:30):
we'll get sent back and we'll see. If we don't
see as I think they'll it's got to run through
the appeal process. But I suspect we'll see some settlement resolution,
but maybe not. If not, I think we'll see a
good outcome on behalf of the of the City of Huntington.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
Well, listen to this to do it and take our break.
We could come back and we'll still have about ten
minutes left in the program. If you want to control
the conversation, you have some questions, you want to put
the power of paton on your side. You have some
questions about the law this morning for your your yourself
or maybe a loved one who you know has a
question something that you maybe want to be reconsidered that
you've asked somebody else about and you want a second
opinion on anything along those lines. You can give us
a call this morning and Tom from the Payton Law
(24:08):
Firm can help you out three zero four three four
five fifty eight fifty eight is our number three zero
four three four five fifty eight fifty eight. You can
text three zero four non three five five zero zero
eight three zero four non three five five zero zero eight.
More information online Payton Lawfirm dot com and Nitro West
Virginia p e Y t you in Payton lawfrom dot com.
I'll give you the rest of the information a little
bit later on. Let's go ahead and take a break.
We'll be back right off this. You're listening to ask
the lawyer with Tom Peyton from the Payton Law Firm
(24:30):
on five A whs.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
The Boys of Charleston.
Speaker 6 (24:32):
If you've been injured, you need a lawyer who knows
West Virginia because they live in West Virginia. Tom and
Harvey Peyton were born and raised here. They've spent decades
fighting for injury victims and they know how to get results.
At the Peyton Law Firm, you get straight talk, strong representation,
and local attorneys who care. Call seven five five fifty
(24:54):
five fifty six today or visit Peyton Law Firm dot com.
The attorney's referenced in this Adorne Flong residents and our
licensed to practice law in the state of West Virginia.
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It is twelve minutes to the toffee hour. You're listening
to ask the law. You're five adwchs the Voice of Charleston.
I'm Deel Cooper. Tom Peton is in studio with us
this morning, and you can give us a call to
talk to Tom, not to talk to me. You have
any questions about the law, you can put it on
your side with the Payton Law Firm. Let me give
you the information and then you can give us a
call if you'd like to you and call us this
morning three zero four three four five fifty eight fifty eight.
(26:08):
You can text three zero four non three five five
zero zero eight. You can also find out more information
online about the Payton Law Firm. That is Payton Lawfirm
dot com, p E Y t O and Payton Law
Firm in Nitro, West Virginia. Their phone number to the
office is three zero four seven five five fifty five
fifty six three zer a four seven five five fifty
five fifty six. If you go to the website Payton
Lawfirm dot com, you can also write an email there
(26:28):
and I know Tom and Harvey check the email all
the time and we'll respond to those when they get
a chance. So that's a good way to contact.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Directly to each of us.
Speaker 5 (26:35):
No no filtration or no, no can't. We don't have
an answering service. Now, if you call after hours, you
can leave a voicemail and.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Ordinarily that will.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
Come through on my email, so we can certainly if
there's something that is an emergency where we are available
in that since twenty four hours a day. If I
wake up in the evening and see it voicemail it
comes through, I'll I'll listen to it and we handle it.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
So yeah, we do.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
And you know, just to rehash a bit, we do,
you know, we're trial lawyers. We do civil litigation, mostly
mostly on the kind of consumer or ordinary person side
of the equation. A lot of a lot of insurance disputes,
whether it's a homeowner's claim or an auto insurance issue,
life insurance, disability insurance. We do awful lot of those
(27:24):
type claims. But you know, you don't know when you're
going to need a lawyer for something like that, because
normally it's unexpected occurrence. Is what people do need lawyers
for on a regular basis, everyday type things or wills, deeds,
property issues, things like that. And so we try and
(27:44):
help people and we know how to do those things.
And so if you have those basic everyday needs, certainly
give us a call and we be glad to help
you with that as well. And we probably I think
we do a pretty good job with that type of
work because we also kind of look at it from
a littgation angle, because we do litigate actually a lot
of a state litigation issues with how someone's handling in
(28:06):
a state, or whether a will's valid or not, and
that kind of thing. But so when we draft, everybody
wants their documents to be we get asked, well, can
they challenge this like a will, well, yeah, I mean
I guess anybody can follow alsover anything. But the fact
they a potential beneficiary that thinks they are entitled to
something doesn't get anything by a will is not a
(28:28):
reason for a cause of action.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Like kids.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
For example, if you pass away and don't have a
will and you're not married at the time, and under
West Virginia law, the children legal children, biological or adopted.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Or are the heirs.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
But when you draft a will, with the exception of spouses,
there's some special rules there. I mean, nobody's entitled to anything,
including children. So you know, maybe you have a child
that you already gave a lot of money to, so
you don't want to put them in your will because
you want to give things to the other children. And
when we do those type cases where I have some
(29:08):
concern a potential beneficiary might cause a problem, then you know,
I think of that, how will this play out from
a litigation standpoint? How will this if if we get sued,
how can we defend? Because I want to get done
with my client wants and that's all I really care
as long as we can do it. Some people come
in with ideas that aren't really something we can put
(29:29):
into effect, but you want to get done with the
client wants, and then they always have concern you know,
it's going to be challenged, and anybody can challenge anything,
but not not validly and not successfully. And so we
we kind of have a process we use multifaceted to
make sure that you know, when we get your estate
(29:52):
planning done the lawyer lawyer that it tends to it.
If a lawyer tends to a will, the execution and
drafting and and discussions and preparation of it, then that
lawyer ultimately is a witness in any type of case,
or could be if there's a challenge to a will.
And so we we do that type work with kind
of the the eye towards One of the aspects we
(30:12):
look at is to make sure this is in essence
ironclad so it won't be successfully challenged. And so I
don't think I've ever had a will that I've drafted
that's ever been successfully challenged, but I think it helps
us do it those every day things, even some some
deed work. You know, you kind of think of that
sometimes depending depending on the the scenario. And so we
(30:33):
do that type thing. So we have any type of issue,
you can give us a call or send us an email.
And and and you know, if we get questions about
issues that we're just not experienced in or not comfortable handling,
well we'd be glad. You know, we're in We're networked
with a lot of other lawyers here in the local
area and even across the country, so we can spend
a few minutes sometimes putting some feelers out and maybe
(30:54):
finding if we don't, if we're not aware of an
attorney that does that type work, fine one for you
and give you a referral, So don'tate to give us
a call. And then and then what we ask is,
you know, if you if you or a family member
is in an automobile accident, or it does have an
issue with an insurance company or or a business that's
harmed you in some way, then think about us, because
(31:18):
we do a good job. We do and we pay
attention and we're very particular on those type cases because
we just don't have a mill of them, more particular
on the on the type of cases we accept, and
then we pay close attention to them and work them
up really hard.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Is there a is there any consideration to how do
I Well, let me explain that. One of the things
that I've adopted in my personal life in the last
couple of years is I treat every green light like
a stop sign, because I've just noticed way too often
people not just one beat going through the red light,
but beat beat me people just driving through. I have
a daughter, Now I'm not taking that chance. I treat
(31:55):
every green light like a stop sign, and it saved
my life or at least an accident, at least a
handful of times over the last couple of years. If
there's an egregious traffic situation like somebody runs a red
light by seconds or or something that where they're not
necessarily drinking and driving, or something like it's just a
really bad situation where they obviously broke all kinds of
traffic laws and caused an accident. Is the degree of
(32:17):
of what the victim in that case can seek. Does
that scale with the issue there or is it all so?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Is the what you have?
Speaker 5 (32:25):
You know, first of all, if you if you have
a automobile accident or a collision, the law in western
is based on fault. Whose fault is it? And a
lot of times it's you know, you're in collision, with
some exceptions is almost universally the fault of the person
behind the other person who hit them. But you have
(32:49):
egregious coming. We've had cases with I had one in
Morgantown unfortunately side case where it was a hit and
run one night you're actually from from the Charles scenario,
was hit and passed away. It was a drunk driver,
didn't stop, kept going, apprehended a couple of days later,
(33:09):
made some misrepresentations to the police about what happened. But
they had this person red handed basically based on all
the they have video from surveillance and things like that
and other witnesses. But in that case, we actually had
a trial on it.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
And so.
Speaker 5 (33:25):
If the conduct is so egregious, then you can get
what's called punitive damages and that's I think what comes
into play, and that in our case we got a
significant I can't remember the award for punitive damages, but
it was, I mean it was at least one million.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
And so yeah, you get somebody that we have multiple
witnesses it's clearly ran a red light or they're intoxicated,
then that opens the door fornitive normal negligence. You don't
get punitive damages. That you get damages to compensate you
for being injured, lost wages, medical bills, things like that.
(34:01):
But if you get egregious conduct, then it exposes the
bad actor to potential pianotive damage award. And so yeah,
but I feel you there. I mean, you just got
to be real careful when lights go from red degree. Yeah,
that's crazy. That the way, it's clear. I got to
be careful of myself because I've been driving this Tesla
now for five and a half years, and of course
(34:21):
it has no fuel. Mean, it's you press that accelerator. Yeah,
so you don't want to be just chopping at the bit.
As soon as the light turns green, you just gun
it because you'll get hit.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
Ye. I saw a guy. The worst one I saw
in a while was earlier, No, I think it was
late last week. It was a guy driving a cement
truck in Keanas City on thirty ninth Street. The light
there turn green when I was the first in first position,
and I did what I always do, look one way,
look the other way, looked back, just like a stop
sign before I went, and I saw this guy. Then
it was at least four or five seconds after the
light turn, I could see him clear as day, his
(34:53):
phone up in front of his face, right, not paying
any attention, going probably sixty on McCorkle in a cement
truck through a red light.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah, that's unfortunate. And you know, actually.
Speaker 5 (35:04):
Quite a few citations out there for people using their
handheld devices while driving. But that's just something we didn't see,
of course twenty twenty five years ago. And oh gosh,
seventy percent of the time you pull up to a
car that's driving a little radically and there they are
staring at their phone. So I was staring at my
phone one time. I admit, this has been a long
(35:26):
time ago, getting on the on ramp here, like getting
on to go east, look down for a minute at
my phone, and look up, and the traffic stopped in
front of me. Now, luckily I was able to take
action stop without conducting the car in front of me.
But it scared me, and I don't I just won't
use you know, I don't talk on my cell phone
handheld anymore, and thinking about roads and safety.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
So we it.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
Oh we're out of time, just a minute, okay, Well,
I was going to go into an issue to take
a little more time than that. But yeah, if anybody's
out there it needs some legal help, send us an
email Peyton. You can get our website Peyton law Firm
dot com and submit an email. You can give us
a call at three zero four seven five five five
five five six, or stop Body Office if we're available.
(36:08):
We'll we'll talk to you for a minute or two
and if you want to set an appointment, all our
staff has authority of set appointments with me and uh,
we'll be glad to help you.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
That's great stuff. You can catch the Pathon law firm
here on Ask the Lawyer every Thursday at eight twenty
right here on five ADW CHS Network dot com slash
ask the Lawyer. That's going to do it for us today.
Dave Lean's up next with five eighty Live. I'll be
back this afternoon at three o six with Dave Weekly
on hotline. Have a great day, everyone listening to five
ad W c HS the Voice of Charleston.
Speaker 6 (36:43):
Five eight Whsam ninety six point five. That's them Charleston
one oh four point five Cross Lane, a WVRC media station.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
We're proud to live here too.
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