November 20, 2025 • 39 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 WCHS
it's employees or WVRC Media.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Our courts all.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Created equal.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
We're mass come here in a Kate Ray can Rob
say tops on.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
It's Thursday morning at eight twenty. Once again, you do
not have to fight the law. You can put the
law on your side. Tom Payton from the Payton Law
Firm joins us this morning on Ask the Lawyer three
or four three four five fifty eight fifty eight is
our number. Tom Payton now joins us from a location
this morning times out of us studio and joins us
on the phone time, Good morning, how are you doing
this morning?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Good morning? Yeah, I can't give my traffic update this
morning because I'm appearing remotely by fire and hate to
not be in the studio, but both Dad and I traveled.
We're down in the Carolina's came down to watch raw
odds and the Mountaineers in the tournament. I guess the
event basketball event down here. So we're gonna go to
(01:24):
the Clemson game Friday and then see who they play
on Sunday. And they're doing really well. Looks like we
didn't need daring degrees to come back and coach us
this year. So we're we're down here, bright and sunny here.
Hopefully you guys are getting decent weather up there in
West Virginia.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
A little bit on the dark and rainy side this morning,
but better than it has been the earlier in the week,
so it's not too bad today. Good.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah. So a whole lot in the news last couple
of days from a legal standpoint. One thing that has
been in the news lately that I've taken notice of
as Department of Highways work in Putnham County, and I
know it's been joked about. And then the roundabout project
(02:12):
that they were proposing there on Tayese Valley Road, and
that was going to be you know, from the crook
what we call the Crooked Creek Interchange, which is the
newer one maybe built fifteen years ago, ten years ago,
all the way to where you think of this where
Kroger's is, and they were going to be four roundabouts
and expansion of the road, and of course VUH probably
(02:37):
in the last few weeks decided not to do the
project at all. And there's been a lot of negative
commentary really on social media, which if you read social media,
are always going to see negative commentary on anything, but
about how Putnam County is lost out. They're not progressive.
Any other part of the state would have welcomed the
(02:58):
project from the Department Highways, and some of the a
lot of citizens spoke out against it, folks that live
along the road or have businesses along the road that
didn't want the roundabout alternative. And I feel like maybe
a little explanation on behalf of those citizens is warranted
because I was one that was not for this particular
(03:20):
project and for a reason though. I mean, I think
I've told you before. I've been the chairperson on the
Board of Governors for the Dumont Tray County YMCA for
a number of years, and of course when you're when
you're on the board of a nonprofit charitable organization, you
have what's called a produciary duty to that organization. And so, uh,
(03:45):
my job in essence is to advocate for the why,
and we try and do that the best we can.
And in this instance, I don't live along the road.
Obviously I traveled frequently to go to the YMCA there,
but I was certainly involved in the public commentary about
this project. And we've got all the calls. We got
(04:06):
calls on the radio, and we got calls at the office.
Folks that live and have businesses along the road concerned
about how it will affect their business in particular where
they could continue to carry on business with this particular project.
But for the Y and C, if you haven't been
there in Tes Valley and Scott Depot, I encourage everyone
to go and check it out. We've got a lot
of upgrades and we're going to do a big expansion
(04:28):
hopefully next year, with more options for exercise and healthy
living for the folks there in Putnam County. But the
way you get into the YMCA's one road for Ingress
and Egress to tes Valley Road. It's a black top,
non lined road, and of course when you exit the
(04:49):
Y you can go left or right it's just a
normal Tees Valley road right now is just a two
lane road with a double center line, no passing on it,
no center turn lane in the area of the YMCA.
And so I think it was spring, Actually it was winter.
February of this year. The Department of Highways put out
(05:10):
an ice prow sure they were going to have some
public meetings about the project, and and that's when we
learned that the roundabout proposal alternatives would prohibit anyone from
turning left out of the YMCA or into the YMCA.
(05:31):
So if you're traveling from the Hurricane area to try
and come to our YMCA, you cannot turn left into
the YMCA right the access right, you have to go
all the way down to a roundabout I think three
quarters of a mile perhaps, and back to get in.
And then, of course if you're leaving the why you
(05:51):
can't from left because that project called for a solid
median all the way down between the different you know,
traffic going one direction, then a median that you cannot
drive through, and then traffic going the opposite direction. So
as you can imagine, they'll you're like me and a
lot of people out there sometimes getting to the gym
(06:12):
is you need that motivation and right if if it's
made less convenient, oftentimes you have people just won't come
work out, especially when you know the last ten years,
the YMC has had some competition because there's a whole
variety of other kind of big box stores we'll call
(06:32):
them fitness centers in Kay's Valley in particular, and so
we were concerned about folks getting in and out of
our facility. We were concerned about the time that would
take emergency responders to get there. We do have a
pool and gym and you know, waights and things like that.
So from time to time with that type of operation,
(06:53):
you're going to need emergency services there, and timing can
be critical sometimes depending on what's happening health wise. So
that road needs some improvement for sure. But reading the
brochure that the Department of Highways put out, there were
(07:15):
two alternatives there, not just the roundabouts. The other alternative
was a center turn lane rather than roundabouts, so it
would be like the longer portion of Taes Valley Road
in between the Taes Valley accident and the city of Hurricane,
and that seemed to be a better fit for the
lay of the land, and certainly for the YNCA, so
we advocated for that alternative, and the brochure lays out
(07:42):
the two alternatives. They cost it out and looks like
they did some engineering for both alternatives. The one with
the roundabouts is labeled quote the preferred alternative in the brochure,
but nowhere does it say that it is the only alternative.
In fact, says they developed to build alternatives to address
(08:07):
the traffic issues and some safety issues. So the way
MCA and other local citizens, at least in my mind,
it was, you know, if there's a uploar regarding one
of the alternatives or negative about it, they would consider
the other alternative. And then three weeks ago I believe
(08:30):
something like that, d uh announces that, well, we're just
not going to do the project at all because too
many people didn't want the roundabout alternative, which I did
not think would happen. I thought they would go with
the other alternatives. They had studied and published it and
made it available. I kind of saw it as well,
(08:51):
we prefer the other alternative. This is D eight. So
if you won't do that, then we just won't do anything.
Kind of like I'm taking my ball and going home
when somebody gets upset as a child when they don't
get their way, and then there's been all kinds of
fallout after that. Since Putnam County went I lose out
on probably tens of millions of dollars in road work.
(09:11):
But they this week they had a transportation committee meeting
and in Putnam County, and I thought that was telling
because it was disclosed, I think for the first time
as far as I know, that the project was to
be funded by federal funds, think up to fifty three
(09:33):
million dollars actually, And now they say it had to
be used for roundabouts, which I think duh generally is
a good neighbor when they do these projects. But nobody
likes misrepresentation from government, and I think nobody was ever told.
(09:55):
I don't believe the citizens and certainly the YNCA folks
officials were never We're told that if we don't go
with the roundabout project, then we don't get a project
at all. But that apparently was the case all along,
so I don't know why they had an alternative. Now
there's a person from the Department of Highways who commented
in a gazette article this week who claims that I asked, well,
(10:22):
why did you put an alternative option in the measure
before the people if it wasn't really and we all
know what the word alternative means, and the word preferred
doesn't mean mandatory in relation to the roundabout option, and
it was a Mister White, I think, is the maintenance
(10:43):
director of District one that covers that area and claims
and with the Gazette this week that the alternate options,
which there was only one alternate option as far as
I know, included turn lanes instead of roundabouts, but were
brought up by the citizens, not the Department of Highways,
(11:04):
so they were not considered it needed to include roundabouts,
were nothing at all. So I just thought that was,
you know, d H is talking about being good neighbors,
but in the sense of the good folks at Putnam
County who signed petitions and voiced their concern about the
roundabouts one. The alternatives were not put forward by citizens
(11:30):
at public meetings. They were actually published by the DUH
as an alternative with costs, engineering, designs, statistics, et cetera.
So that seems to be a misrepresentation or maybe miscommunication
for mister White here. And we certainly were not told
that if the roundabout preferred alternative was not used, then
(11:55):
we just wouldn't have a project at all. So I
didn't want to clarify that because a lot of negativity about,
you know, as if the you know, the citizens of
Putnam County just stunned their nose at an improvement project.
But at least from my perspective, you can see the
other side of the equation and information that wasn't provided,
(12:16):
so that project's not going. There are a lot of
projects going in Putnam County and we actually if anyboy
out there listening is subject to a condemnation case by
the Department of Highways. Condemnation you know, the government has
what's called the power of eminent domain. So there's a
road project going through. Once it gets approved and is rolling,
(12:40):
you know, unfortunately, it's almost impossible to stop the project
or get them to reroute it around your property. And
most folks don't want to be forced to sell their property.
And that's in essence what happens when a road project
comes through. But you don't have to accept what Department
of Highways offers, and we probably have a half a
dozen of those claims going right now. So if anybody
(13:02):
has an issue by the condemnation matter or the Department
of Highways is making offers to purchase portions of property,
you do have options there and we regularly represent folks
who are subject to condemnation proceedings. The around It Out
project isn't going to get that far at this point
because they're not going to do it, but there are
various other projects in Puttnam. Un Ultimately you get if
(13:25):
you can't agree on an amount that Department of Highways
owes you for taking your land. It's not just the
value of the land they take, it's also you know,
if they take half of your front yard for example,
yes there's a value to the land that they took,
but there's also damage to the rest of your property.
(13:46):
If you have large trucks or traffic twenty feet closer
to your front door, then the residue of your property
is going to be devalued. And so it's a little complicated,
but if anybody has an issue like that pending condemnation
cases in Putnam or Cannall County, then certainly that's that
is one of the things that we do and regularly litigate,
(14:06):
and ultimately you get a set by statue, you actually
get a it's a civil trial, but you get a
trial with twelve landowners from the county versus six, which
is the normal civil case. And we've we've tried those
cases with some success, but just kind of wanted to
get that out there public service announcement for why some
(14:26):
folks like me did oppose the They're roundabout project, but
always thinking there was going to be an alternative and
certainly did not. It is not against progress there in
Putnam County and.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Perhaps a little bit of a missed opportunity for the alternative.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I guess, yeah, they well, I guess from my standpoint,
if DH would have said, we're publishing this alternative, but
it's really not an alternative, right, yeah, right, we're not
going to do it if we don't do Many times
they will not do an alternative. They will just put
out here's the project we're going to do. And then
(15:02):
they do have public meetings to get input and sometimes
there can be you know, fairly minor modifications to accommodate
businesses or residences, but no one was told as far
as I can tell, that if we don't all approve
the roundabout project is proposed by duhs. Then there just
(15:22):
won't be one and we'll lose tens of millions in
federal dollars to be put into roadwork in Putnam County.
And I just wish that would have been known. It
might have changed some positions. I'm not sure my position
would have changed, but maybe some kind of hybrid rather
than either one of the alternatives. But anyway, got that
(15:43):
out there this morning. So yeah, I just wanted to
kind of take up for the citizens whore getting negative
commentary about them and give a little different perspective on that.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
One does make a lot of sense. I wanted to
just for a second ask you about you You mentioned
for a few minutes you were talking about condemnation and
eminent domain properties, and I know that I've been in
a few situations where I've witnessed some people that have
tried to, you know, push back against eminent domain. Although
I wasn't alive when this happened. My grandmother moved out
of out of Beaumont, West Virginia in the Clinton and
(16:15):
area back in the fifties or whatever it was, and
the first house she bought was basically about where Leo
Sullivan Way exit. I think is right now, but it
was before the highway, so she actually had her house.
She had her property seized through intimate domain, and part
of the money that she got from that went into
some other money that she had in it bought the
house that I eventually when I moved back to West Virginia,
(16:37):
I bought and remodeled and things along those lines. But
I've been a business owner where I've had other businesses
around me that I wasn't unlucky enough to be in
the target area of encroachment on properties or eminent domain
from a city standpoint and things like that. But I've
seen the battle before, so there it is important for
you to know. You know, there may not be a
whole lot necessarily you can do completely stop, but you
(16:57):
don't know unless you seek your options and seek out
legal count because it can be very complicated and feel like, hey,
there's this immovable force coming right at me and there's
just nothing I can do.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Yeah, I'll tell you. Sometimes, you know, they send out
land agents and things, and sometimes right or wrong, I
think folks get the feeling that, you know, whatever they offer,
they just have to accept, and that's absolutely not the case.
And if you can't reach an agreement. The process of
Department of Highways will filow what's called a condemnation case
(17:28):
in the circuit court of the county where the property
is located, and they usually will dep deposit the amount
they've offered the citizen, and in most cases we're able
to get that money deposit with the clerk with the
court in essence, and in most cases that allows VOHS
to go ahead and get the project started, and we're
(17:49):
pretty successful in getting that amount for our clients right
off the bat. And then the rest of the case
is about what additional compensation is, if any, the citizen
is entitled to for the government taking their property. Most
property rights are just kind of sacred, especially in West Virginia.
We have a lot of home ownership and nobody likes
(18:13):
to have the government come in and tell you that
you have to sell your property in that they're taking it.
And you get a lot of family property too. That's
you know, maybe in rural areas, has been handed down,
you know, generation after generation, and it can be a
real affront to those folks to learn that, you know,
the government's going to come in and maybe put a
road bisect their land or something like that. But but
(18:35):
we can help them. Sometimes there's no harm in calling
us and asking and and if you'll hold out, there's
not a lot of downside if you think the Department
Highways is not offering enough money, because you know they
file a case against you. It's just about the amount
of compensation. And if you don't get a penny more it,
you know, you don't don't pay theh's lawyer's fees or
(18:57):
anything like that. So there really isn't farm and holding
out and seeing if there are other alternatives available. But
we handle those bigually. And sometimes there are cases we
can't get in because the Toartment Highways offers fair and
sometimes we have ways to even handle those on contingency fee,
So it doesn't hurt to give us a call meeting.
(19:19):
Depending on what we see with the case, we might
take it on a contingency so that we don't you
don't pay us, and we don't recover our fees or
our costs unless we succeed in getting additional money from
the Department of Highways. So it's no harm, no foul
to give us a call or make an email inquiry
(19:40):
if you have some concerns and the Department Highways will
give you an itemized statement, you know that sort of
justifies how much they're paying and why they're paying it.
They won't always give you the full appraisal, but you know,
you can see what your neighbors are getting and do
comparables and that kind of thing. So they're a little complicated,
but but yeah, there's there's going to be multiple households
(20:01):
subject to condemnation in Putnam County. Well now there's multiple
cases filed, and then we've got a couple with the
Cross Lanes Road expansion in Canacking as well. So if
you have concerns and the government's taking your property, feel
free to give us a call or send an email,
and you know those consultations initially we never charge a fee,
(20:22):
so we'll be glad to give you some input if
you have those concerns.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, you can find out more about the Peyton Law
from one line. It's Peyton Law from dot Com p
y two and Peyton Law from dot Com. The phone
number threes are a four seven, five, five fifty five
fifty six. Threes are a four seven, five five fifty
five to fifty six. I'll tell you what, Tom, we're
about half past the show. Why don't we go and
take our break. We'll let the folks. If you have
any questions, you can give us a call three zer
a four three four five fifty eight fifty eight three
four five fifty eight fifty eight. You can also texting
(20:46):
your questions if you're in a situation where you can't call,
or just prefer to that. Numbers three's are a four
non three five five zeros. Your eighth threes are a
four non three five five zeros or eight. Tom, if
you don't mind holding one for a second, we'll go
and take a break and we'll be back after this
sounds good, Thanks a lot. That's Tom Payton from the
Eath and Law Firm online Peyton Lawfirm dot com P
E Y t O N. Peyton Lawfirm dot com. Will
take a break and be back right after this. You're
listening to ask the Lawyer on five EWCHS the Voice
(21:08):
of Charleston.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
If you've been injured, you need a lawyer who knows
West Virginia. Because they live in West Virginia. Tom and
Harvey Payton 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
(21:30):
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The attorney's referenced in this ad are lifelong residents and
are licensed to practice law in the state of West Virginia.
Speaker 6 (21:39):
As you shop for others, Fourth Avenue Financial invites you
to give yourself the gift of professional financial planning. What
better way to start the new year than consolidating old
four onks, examining your current investments and preparing for retirement.
Call me John Burdette at three zero four seven four
six seven nine seven seven or contact at Fourth Avenue
(22:01):
Financial dot com.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Security offer through JNIBU, Call Financial Incorporated member for Finnacific
Advisory services offer through JENBU coll Advisors in corporated, JWCO Financial,
JWBA Advisors, and Fourth Avenue Financial or unaffiliated entities. Here
(22:23):
listening to ask the lawyer on WHS the Voice of Charleston.
That's five eight WCHS the Voice of Charles. I want
to remind you, if you've been listening to the station
of the last week or so, you've probably heard about
the Turkey Drop. This is the third annual Turkey Drop
that we're doing as a station. It's put on officially
through all of our stations here at West Virginia Radio
Corporation in Charleston. Rob Reel of ninety six to one
(22:43):
KWS is kind of the brainchild of this of this
initiative we have going on today. Our parking lot is
open now. It's really easy. You can drive through our
parking lot. It's a circle so you don't have to
get out of the car. If we're taking turkeys. We
already have over thirty turkeys. We've just been open for
a little over an hour and a half. Now we
already we have over thirty turkeys this morning. You're welcome
to bring by turkeys. They're also taking cash donations. I
(23:05):
believe there's you can use the QR code on your
phone as well to make donations. So just come on
about eleven eleven Virginia Street. We're here until six o'clock
today for the third annual Turkey Drop. It brought to
you by Afflatian Power and it's to benefit Union Mission.
Tom Payton is just joining me now. He is one location,
so he's on the phone. You can give us a
call this morning. If you have any questions about the wall.
You can put the law on your side this morning
with Tom from the Peyton Law Firm. Threes are A
(23:25):
four three four five fifty eight fifty eight three four
five fifty eight fifty eight. You can also text three
zer A four non three five five zero zero eight
three zero four non three five five zero zero eight you.
Tom's still with me.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah, I'm still with you. So that just I'm not
there to see the turkey drop. And I think that's
through Union mission, correct, That is correct? Yep. Yeah. Is
today the only day to donate?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Today's the only day we're selecting. We're taking turkeys here
where we have staff at the station that's collecting those things. Yes,
so it's a twelve hour initiative that we're doing today.
We'll do it through six o'clock this evening, and folks
are welcome to come by all day long. You don't
have to get out of your car an.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Actual turkey or do donate money. Yep.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
You can do either one. You can do either one
or both or whatever you want to do. And we've
had folks that have that have brought tons of turkeys,
this morning. Now, I think that one lady came through
and bought ten turkeys and dropped them off already. So
there were really and this happens every time that we
that we make available the opportunity for West Virginians to
help West Virginians. People always show up every time.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Yeah, well I'll contact you new mission indirect. Obviously we're
not there to deliver turkeys today. Hayton Law firms in
on that, so we will. We'll make a donation for sure.
Particularly important. I mean most of us, including me, I've
had the luxury, have not ever really being really hungry.
You know, you can't afford food. Well it's sometimes in
(24:44):
college when we were scraping the bottom of the barrel there,
but you know, you always had a good parent. My
parents are the fallback. So it wasn't we were not
going to starve. But to be actually hungry is something
most of us don't feel. And I just think, you know,
it's what's happened with the GUP shut down. It's going
to be particularly important this year. I hope the SNAP
benefits are getting going again. I think there was probably
(25:07):
some delay and some of them may not come back.
You know what they go ahead.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
No, I just want to say that you bring up
a great point there when it comes to not understanding
what it's like to be legitimately hungry. I mean, I
too have gone through some times when I was single
and maybe there, you know, the cupboards were a little
bear and I was trying to do some things. But
again I mean that I have somebody I could contact
because I came from a strong family. Yeah, I could
have found some help there some way. But I remember,
(25:33):
when I was super young, one of my earliest memories
that going to any church at all had nothing to
do with the sermon. It was a little lady that
was talking to somebody who was upset about something. I
can't even remember the context of the situation. I just
remember that the lady said to the person that was
upset that there's really only two types of people, and
we have to understand that it's the people that are
hungry and that have to experience that hungry every day,
(25:53):
and the people that forgot what it was like to
be hungry, and bridging that gap is what it meant
to be humanity. And I was like wow, as like
a six or older or something, I thought that was
profound and it stuck with me ever since.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Yeah, in the country like ours, we just shouldn't have hunger. Really,
I don't think based upon the lifestyles many of us lead.
So so we're going to do our part. I I
will reach out direct to actually my brother in law,
my sister's husband works at Union Mission there, Brian, and
so the one who plays our country grade sir, Oh, yes, yes,
(26:25):
that'll coming in. So I'm gonna when I get off
the show here, I'm going to make some contact and
we'll see how many turkeys Peyton Law Firm can supply.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Sounds good. I think we have a color this morning, Tom,
great color. We had to put your right on the
earn our Drac you. So i' go ahead and identify
yourself and what's your question for Tom?
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Okay, my name is Alan, and I have a kind
of an odd deal. I have an active case and
what I've been advised and I won't name anybody or whatever,
but what my question is, I have a bad loss.
I lost a house and property whatever, and we're getting
ready hear in a few months ago trial with the
(27:01):
mediation and all for me, I was offered much less
than half of the money that I've lost would actually
be money that I would have gotten in return. And
I've been advised kind of I'm a lawyer more or less. Hey,
just go ahead and take it. You don't want to
take a chance on going to trial. And my question is,
(27:23):
if in fact we go to trial, is there an
opportunity for me to get what I lost and above that,
get the expenses that the lawyers and whatever it cost me.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Sure? And of course you know this is an informational show,
not particular legal advice on our show, and you know,
might I'm always hesit, just you know, I will not
be able to assess your case like the lawyer that
you have hired. But could you explain if you don't
mind when you say a loss, could you get what's
the nature? Was it a fire or was it a
(27:54):
what's the nature of the laws? No?
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Actually a company went below me and cause a slip
on my part. Okay, Yeah, Ultimately I lost my house
and I got away from it. Now. Yeah, And what
I'm worried about is if we go to trial and
I get to give you know, knocking you haul lawyers.
You got to make money, and it costs money to
(28:18):
build a case and whatever but when they're telling me, hey,
that's common, you don't get any more than what you
actually lost. You can't ask for money for expensive legal
fees and expences like that above and beyond what you lost.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Yeah, so I will give you some general information, not
knowing that any more details about your case now, But
we've handled quite a few of those.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Cases over the years.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
What you see in our terrain in West Virginia, sometimes
you just have slips. It's just the nature of the
geography gets saturated to what you know, climate change is
changing things a bit, and it's nobody else's fault and
hopefully you have your own insurance to cover that butt.
I think what you're talking about, which we've handled many
of these cases. We see folks maybe cut the toe
(29:03):
out of a hillside for a house site, for a
site for a business, and then that removes and naturally
the toe the bottom of the hill is providing lateral
support to structures and land that are above it. And
actually there's some case law and we've succeeded in arguments
that in essence, if you remove the toe of property
(29:26):
and as long as it's rather obvious that's what caused
the slip and your damage. Usually that's strict almost strict liability,
meaning the person who did the earthwork is absolutely irresponsible
for it, either the property enter or our contractor, or
a combination of them. Now, in those type cases, that's
(29:47):
a property lost case and so ordinarily arises from simple
negligence on their part, maybe they didn't do proper engineering
or soil testing. In negligent cases, negligence where there's no
intent to harm, with few exceptions, and I think on
that type case, the advice you've been given that you
(30:10):
can't get your lawyer's fees on top of what other
damages is accurate. It's the American rule that each side
pays their own lawyer, and of course, you know you
probably have done this on a contingency fee. Sometimes just
contingency fees are very good because it gives ordinary citizens
that don't have the ability to pay tens of thousands
(30:32):
of dollars up front or maybe even six figures and
attorney fees to hire lawyers who can fund the case
and compete with you know, we can compete with the
biggest casually insurers in the world, and we have regular
citizens that can come to us and we fund them.
So you always have that. If you win, though, then
of course the client pays a percentage of what's recovered,
(30:54):
and ordinarily you don't get your lawyer's fees on top
of that. Now, on property loss claims, as a general matter,
you should get made whole, meaning anything out of block.
If it ruined your property and it can't be rebuilt
like a home or a structure, then you know the
full value of your property. If it's been diminished basically
(31:17):
to nothing, should be paid.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Right.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
You also have not lawyer's fees. But if you, in
my opinion, if that case were to be tried to
a jury, there would be an element of what they
call general damages. So you have your specific amounts, like
let's say you paid a contractor to remediate your property.
Maybe you had to put a retaining wall or pilings
in or something, so that's your hard numbers. But you
(31:42):
also get to tell the jury, hey, this has been
three years where I've had to have a alternative housing.
You know, maybe we stayed in the structure for a
while and we were worried it was going to slide
down the hill. And it's really your your aggravation, annoyance
and inconvenience type general damages for having to deal with
the entire situation. In my opinion, you get to go
(32:04):
before a jury and talk about all that, and then
those six people when they go back to deliberate, should
have a blank for general damage, which in West Virginia
you can't ask for a certain amount in general damage.
So the jury, here's your story or your testimony and
your evidence, and they go back and let's just say
your property is worth one hundred grand and it's ruined,
(32:27):
So there's one hundred grand that they should give you.
Then there's another blank if they feel it's appropriate for
the jury to award you some general amount that those
six people come up with for having to go through
this aggravation and be in litigation. And it's really rather broad,
and you can't say to a jury. The lawyer can't say,
(32:49):
and we want a million dollars for that. The law
in West Virginias you can't suggest a particular amount, but
the jurors can award you whatever where they feel is appropriate,
as long as it's based on the evidence. And so
when we were careful on property damage claims or we
you know, the ultimate goal was to satisfy the client
(33:10):
and of course, you want the client to be able
to recover net after lawyer's fees and costs, you know,
enough to get their property repaired or replace it with
some different property after the lawyer's fees and things are
taken out. That's the ultimate goal, and the way you
have to get there sometimes is that general damage, because
nobody knows what the jury is going to do with
(33:31):
that until the jury comes back. So you know, the
defense may be arguing, well, this isn't you know, he
moved over here to a family, he's residents, and it
really wasn't inconvenience that much, so we don't think a
jury will give them very much. And of course you
obviously have worried and head stressed and or in litigation
over this, so you think it should be a significant amount,
(33:52):
but nobody knows until the jury comes back who's right,
and it might be somewhere in between. But that risk
is what often tons gets cases resolved without having to
go to the jury. And there's a compromise because nobody
knows how the jury will come back, and so the
hope is on those cases when we handle them, is
that we're going to be able to prove enough general damages,
(34:15):
so that when we take our percentage out, presuming it's
a tendency fee case, that when we give the check
to our client after deductions, they're going to have sufficient funds,
hopefully more than sufficient funds to replace or repair their
property and move on. And that's that's it. In a nutshell.
I can't really comment on what you should do, because
(34:37):
I'm not the lawyer in your case, but that's that.
You know, if you're being told you can't win your
lawyer's fees back, that in all likelihood is an accurate statement.
If you're being told that there's no option to get
anything more than like out of pocket expenses, that's probably,
(34:58):
as a general matter, not not accurate, but true. You know,
I don't know, I don't know the facts of your
I'm not saying another lawyer is not telling you the
truth because I don't know enough about your right about
your case. But as a you know, as a general matter,
that's how it works. And so you know, it can
be tough. You know that the more the more frequent,
you know, we get our automobiles that are damaged and
and that kind of thing. I mean, it's another person's fault.
(35:20):
They were in the rear end you or something. You know,
it's difficult sometimes the hire lawyers for those cases because
if a lawyer is getting let's say one third, which
is kind of conventional, it's difficult to recover enough. You know,
where the lawyer gets a third and you have enough
to repair your vehicle or replace it. But if it's
been a sub significant link to time since the wreck,
I mean every day you don't have the vehicle that
(35:42):
you would driving before opens, you know, the door for
potential general damages, which sometimes can allow us to recover
enough to make sure we get our our client money
to actually get their vehicle repaired. So there's a lot
of dynamics to it. So I don't want to comment
on what other lawyers are telling you, but that's how
we view them in a nutshell. And so we've handled
(36:03):
probably dozens of landslip cases just like that, where somebody's
just kind of fast and loose and you know, dozes
out the toe of the hillside and all of a sudden,
here come cracks up the hill and there's somebody living
there that's the problem. Yeah, So hopefully that lot gives
you some guidance, but you really got to rely on
the lawyers that are handling it.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Colin, we're going to have to cut you loose here
pretty soon here as well. We're coming up to the
end of the show.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
Thank you so very much, appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Hey, we appreciate your time and listening this morning. Thank
you so much. Great information there for Tom answering a
very specific question in a general way that if you're
out there listening to this, that really gave you some massive,
massive information to take action maybe the next time this
happens to you, because that's a very unfortunate situation.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Yeah, it's bad that you'd be surprised.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
You know.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
There's recovering money can be difficult too if you don't
have a business Leather's side that has assets. But oftentimes
if somebody just kind of hires a contractor to do it,
or they rent a dozer and do it themselves, there
is We've been pretty successful in having that person's hume
owners insurance actually pay if they were negligent. So there's
(37:10):
sometimes there is a source of funds to recover. But
that's always a concern too if you just have a
fly by night person coming there and does out of
hillside and then you know, if they don't have assets.
That can be another important factor about whether to settle
your case or not, because people don't think about that.
You go and win in court, or you don't put
your ATM card in and get your your award. Sometimes
(37:31):
you have to go in and try and collect it,
which can be a whole different set of litigation, which
actually we see play out quite a bit with our
Senator Justice because you know, as we've seen over the years,
a lot of the litigation involving him and his debts
has been folks chasing money where it's clear he owes
money or his companies do, but actually collecting it is
(37:53):
the uh is the hard part. So there's a lot
of dynamics of those cases, and I never, you know,
do my best not this you can't. I cannot second guests.
Council that's in the case have been hired, but but
I can't say that we do those type cases. So
any out there is listening and wants helped from us,
that is the kind of work that we do.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
That's great information. Of course in the Payton Law firm,
let me make sure we get the information out there. We're
coming up towards the end of the show, and we
want to make sure you can get ahold of the
Pathon Law firm if that's what you want to do.
Of course, located in Nicro, West Virginia. You can find
more information online. It's Payton Lawfirm dot com, Peyton Lawfirm
dot com. That's p E y Tu and Peyton Lawfirm
dot com and you can you can also call them
on the phone, just like the pioneers did at threes
(38:34):
are a four seven five five fifty five fifty six.
Threes are a four seven five five fifty five fifty six.
You can leave an email over there. Find out all
the information about the Payton Law Firm, located in Nitro,
West Virginia, on the radio every Thursday morning at eight
twenty right here on five ADWCHS the Voice of Charleston.
Except I should say next Thursday is Thanksgiving and traditionally
you guys take Thanksgiving off.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
Yeah, we will skip Thanksgiving, I'm sure again this year.
So everybody have a happy Thanksgiving. And the Mountaineers this
week we travel a long way to see them within
a couple of games down here.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Hey, good luck. We look forward to the report the
next time we talk to you. Tom, take care. Happy
Thanksgiving to you and Harvey. We'll talk to you when
you come back. Thank you, Thanks a bunch. That's Tom
Payton for the Peyton Law Firm. Have a great day everyone.
I'm Del Cooper and this is five eight w CHS.
We are the voice of Charleston.
Speaker 5 (39:22):
Fighting WCS at six point five on Charleston one oh
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Speaker 2 (39:30):
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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.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Our courts all.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Created equal.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
We're mass come here in a Kate Ray can Rob
say tops on.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
It's Thursday morning at eight twenty. Once again, you do
not have to fight the law. You can put the
law on your side. Tom Payton from the Payton Law
Firm joins us this morning on Ask the Lawyer three
or four three four five fifty eight fifty eight is
our number. Tom Payton now joins us from a location
this morning times out of us studio and joins us
on the phone time, Good morning, how are you doing
this morning?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Good morning? Yeah, I can't give my traffic update this
morning because I'm appearing remotely by fire and hate to
not be in the studio, but both Dad and I traveled.
We're down in the Carolina's came down to watch raw
odds and the Mountaineers in the tournament. I guess the
event basketball event down here. So we're gonna go to
(01:24):
the Clemson game Friday and then see who they play
on Sunday. And they're doing really well. Looks like we
didn't need daring degrees to come back and coach us
this year. So we're we're down here, bright and sunny here.
Hopefully you guys are getting decent weather up there in
West Virginia.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
A little bit on the dark and rainy side this morning,
but better than it has been the earlier in the week,
so it's not too bad today. Good.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah. So a whole lot in the news last couple
of days from a legal standpoint. One thing that has
been in the news lately that I've taken notice of
as Department of Highways work in Putnham County, and I
know it's been joked about. And then the roundabout project
(02:12):
that they were proposing there on Tayese Valley Road, and
that was going to be you know, from the crook
what we call the Crooked Creek Interchange, which is the
newer one maybe built fifteen years ago, ten years ago,
all the way to where you think of this where
Kroger's is, and they were going to be four roundabouts
and expansion of the road, and of course VUH probably
(02:37):
in the last few weeks decided not to do the
project at all. And there's been a lot of negative
commentary really on social media, which if you read social media,
are always going to see negative commentary on anything, but
about how Putnam County is lost out. They're not progressive.
Any other part of the state would have welcomed the
(02:58):
project from the Department Highways, and some of the a
lot of citizens spoke out against it, folks that live
along the road or have businesses along the road that
didn't want the roundabout alternative. And I feel like maybe
a little explanation on behalf of those citizens is warranted
because I was one that was not for this particular
(03:20):
project and for a reason though. I mean, I think
I've told you before. I've been the chairperson on the
Board of Governors for the Dumont Tray County YMCA for
a number of years, and of course when you're when
you're on the board of a nonprofit charitable organization, you
have what's called a produciary duty to that organization. And so, uh,
(03:45):
my job in essence is to advocate for the why,
and we try and do that the best we can.
And in this instance, I don't live along the road.
Obviously I traveled frequently to go to the YMCA there,
but I was certainly involved in the public commentary about
this project. And we've got all the calls. We got
(04:06):
calls on the radio, and we got calls at the office.
Folks that live and have businesses along the road concerned
about how it will affect their business in particular where
they could continue to carry on business with this particular project.
But for the Y and C, if you haven't been
there in Tes Valley and Scott Depot, I encourage everyone
to go and check it out. We've got a lot
of upgrades and we're going to do a big expansion
(04:28):
hopefully next year, with more options for exercise and healthy
living for the folks there in Putnam County. But the
way you get into the YMCA's one road for Ingress
and Egress to tes Valley Road. It's a black top,
non lined road, and of course when you exit the
(04:49):
Y you can go left or right it's just a
normal Tees Valley road right now is just a two
lane road with a double center line, no passing on it,
no center turn lane in the area of the YMCA.
And so I think it was spring, Actually it was winter.
February of this year. The Department of Highways put out
(05:10):
an ice prow sure they were going to have some
public meetings about the project, and and that's when we
learned that the roundabout proposal alternatives would prohibit anyone from
turning left out of the YMCA or into the YMCA.
(05:31):
So if you're traveling from the Hurricane area to try
and come to our YMCA, you cannot turn left into
the YMCA right the access right, you have to go
all the way down to a roundabout I think three
quarters of a mile perhaps, and back to get in.
And then, of course if you're leaving the why you
(05:51):
can't from left because that project called for a solid
median all the way down between the different you know,
traffic going one direction, then a median that you cannot
drive through, and then traffic going the opposite direction. So
as you can imagine, they'll you're like me and a
lot of people out there sometimes getting to the gym
(06:12):
is you need that motivation and right if if it's
made less convenient, oftentimes you have people just won't come
work out, especially when you know the last ten years,
the YMC has had some competition because there's a whole
variety of other kind of big box stores we'll call
(06:32):
them fitness centers in Kay's Valley in particular, and so
we were concerned about folks getting in and out of
our facility. We were concerned about the time that would
take emergency responders to get there. We do have a
pool and gym and you know, waights and things like that.
So from time to time with that type of operation,
(06:53):
you're going to need emergency services there, and timing can
be critical sometimes depending on what's happening health wise. So
that road needs some improvement for sure. But reading the
brochure that the Department of Highways put out, there were
(07:15):
two alternatives there, not just the roundabouts. The other alternative
was a center turn lane rather than roundabouts, so it
would be like the longer portion of Taes Valley Road
in between the Taes Valley accident and the city of Hurricane,
and that seemed to be a better fit for the
lay of the land, and certainly for the YNCA, so
we advocated for that alternative, and the brochure lays out
(07:42):
the two alternatives. They cost it out and looks like
they did some engineering for both alternatives. The one with
the roundabouts is labeled quote the preferred alternative in the brochure,
but nowhere does it say that it is the only alternative.
In fact, says they developed to build alternatives to address
(08:07):
the traffic issues and some safety issues. So the way
MCA and other local citizens, at least in my mind,
it was, you know, if there's a uploar regarding one
of the alternatives or negative about it, they would consider
the other alternative. And then three weeks ago I believe
(08:30):
something like that, d uh announces that, well, we're just
not going to do the project at all because too
many people didn't want the roundabout alternative, which I did
not think would happen. I thought they would go with
the other alternatives. They had studied and published it and
made it available. I kind of saw it as well,
(08:51):
we prefer the other alternative. This is D eight. So
if you won't do that, then we just won't do anything.
Kind of like I'm taking my ball and going home
when somebody gets upset as a child when they don't
get their way, and then there's been all kinds of
fallout after that. Since Putnam County went I lose out
on probably tens of millions of dollars in road work.
(09:11):
But they this week they had a transportation committee meeting
and in Putnam County, and I thought that was telling
because it was disclosed, I think for the first time
as far as I know, that the project was to
be funded by federal funds, think up to fifty three
(09:33):
million dollars actually, And now they say it had to
be used for roundabouts, which I think duh generally is
a good neighbor when they do these projects. But nobody
likes misrepresentation from government, and I think nobody was ever told.
(09:55):
I don't believe the citizens and certainly the YNCA folks
officials were never We're told that if we don't go
with the roundabout project, then we don't get a project
at all. But that apparently was the case all along,
so I don't know why they had an alternative. Now
there's a person from the Department of Highways who commented
in a gazette article this week who claims that I asked, well,
(10:22):
why did you put an alternative option in the measure
before the people if it wasn't really and we all
know what the word alternative means, and the word preferred
doesn't mean mandatory in relation to the roundabout option, and
it was a Mister White, I think, is the maintenance
(10:43):
director of District one that covers that area and claims
and with the Gazette this week that the alternate options,
which there was only one alternate option as far as
I know, included turn lanes instead of roundabouts, but were
brought up by the citizens, not the Department of Highways,
(11:04):
so they were not considered it needed to include roundabouts,
were nothing at all. So I just thought that was,
you know, d H is talking about being good neighbors,
but in the sense of the good folks at Putnam
County who signed petitions and voiced their concern about the
roundabouts one. The alternatives were not put forward by citizens
(11:30):
at public meetings. They were actually published by the DUH
as an alternative with costs, engineering, designs, statistics, et cetera.
So that seems to be a misrepresentation or maybe miscommunication
for mister White here. And we certainly were not told
that if the roundabout preferred alternative was not used, then
(11:55):
we just wouldn't have a project at all. So I
didn't want to clarify that because a lot of negativity about,
you know, as if the you know, the citizens of
Putnam County just stunned their nose at an improvement project.
But at least from my perspective, you can see the
other side of the equation and information that wasn't provided,
(12:16):
so that project's not going. There are a lot of
projects going in Putnam County and we actually if anyboy
out there listening is subject to a condemnation case by
the Department of Highways. Condemnation you know, the government has
what's called the power of eminent domain. So there's a
road project going through. Once it gets approved and is rolling,
(12:40):
you know, unfortunately, it's almost impossible to stop the project
or get them to reroute it around your property. And
most folks don't want to be forced to sell their property.
And that's in essence what happens when a road project
comes through. But you don't have to accept what Department
of Highways offers, and we probably have a half a
dozen of those claims going right now. So if anybody
(13:02):
has an issue by the condemnation matter or the Department
of Highways is making offers to purchase portions of property,
you do have options there and we regularly represent folks
who are subject to condemnation proceedings. The around It Out
project isn't going to get that far at this point
because they're not going to do it, but there are
various other projects in Puttnam. Un Ultimately you get if
(13:25):
you can't agree on an amount that Department of Highways
owes you for taking your land. It's not just the
value of the land they take, it's also you know,
if they take half of your front yard for example,
yes there's a value to the land that they took,
but there's also damage to the rest of your property.
(13:46):
If you have large trucks or traffic twenty feet closer
to your front door, then the residue of your property
is going to be devalued. And so it's a little complicated,
but if anybody has an issue like that pending condemnation
cases in Putnam or Cannall County, then certainly that's that
is one of the things that we do and regularly litigate,
(14:06):
and ultimately you get a set by statue, you actually
get a it's a civil trial, but you get a
trial with twelve landowners from the county versus six, which
is the normal civil case. And we've we've tried those
cases with some success, but just kind of wanted to
get that out there public service announcement for why some
(14:26):
folks like me did oppose the They're roundabout project, but
always thinking there was going to be an alternative and
certainly did not. It is not against progress there in
Putnam County and.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Perhaps a little bit of a missed opportunity for the alternative.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I guess, yeah, they well, I guess from my standpoint,
if DH would have said, we're publishing this alternative, but
it's really not an alternative, right, yeah, right, we're not
going to do it if we don't do Many times
they will not do an alternative. They will just put
out here's the project we're going to do. And then
(15:02):
they do have public meetings to get input and sometimes
there can be you know, fairly minor modifications to accommodate
businesses or residences, but no one was told as far
as I can tell, that if we don't all approve
the roundabout project is proposed by duhs. Then there just
(15:22):
won't be one and we'll lose tens of millions in
federal dollars to be put into roadwork in Putnam County.
And I just wish that would have been known. It
might have changed some positions. I'm not sure my position
would have changed, but maybe some kind of hybrid rather
than either one of the alternatives. But anyway, got that
(15:43):
out there this morning. So yeah, I just wanted to
kind of take up for the citizens whore getting negative
commentary about them and give a little different perspective on that.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
One does make a lot of sense. I wanted to
just for a second ask you about you You mentioned
for a few minutes you were talking about condemnation and
eminent domain properties, and I know that I've been in
a few situations where I've witnessed some people that have
tried to, you know, push back against eminent domain. Although
I wasn't alive when this happened. My grandmother moved out
of out of Beaumont, West Virginia in the Clinton and
(16:15):
area back in the fifties or whatever it was, and
the first house she bought was basically about where Leo
Sullivan Way exit. I think is right now, but it
was before the highway, so she actually had her house.
She had her property seized through intimate domain, and part
of the money that she got from that went into
some other money that she had in it bought the
house that I eventually when I moved back to West Virginia,
(16:37):
I bought and remodeled and things along those lines. But
I've been a business owner where I've had other businesses
around me that I wasn't unlucky enough to be in
the target area of encroachment on properties or eminent domain
from a city standpoint and things like that. But I've
seen the battle before, so there it is important for
you to know. You know, there may not be a
whole lot necessarily you can do completely stop, but you
(16:57):
don't know unless you seek your options and seek out
legal count because it can be very complicated and feel like, hey,
there's this immovable force coming right at me and there's
just nothing I can do.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Yeah, I'll tell you. Sometimes, you know, they send out
land agents and things, and sometimes right or wrong, I
think folks get the feeling that, you know, whatever they offer,
they just have to accept, and that's absolutely not the case.
And if you can't reach an agreement. The process of
Department of Highways will filow what's called a condemnation case
(17:28):
in the circuit court of the county where the property
is located, and they usually will dep deposit the amount
they've offered the citizen, and in most cases we're able
to get that money deposit with the clerk with the
court in essence, and in most cases that allows VOHS
to go ahead and get the project started, and we're
(17:49):
pretty successful in getting that amount for our clients right
off the bat. And then the rest of the case
is about what additional compensation is, if any, the citizen
is entitled to for the government taking their property. Most
property rights are just kind of sacred, especially in West Virginia.
We have a lot of home ownership and nobody likes
(18:13):
to have the government come in and tell you that
you have to sell your property in that they're taking it.
And you get a lot of family property too. That's
you know, maybe in rural areas, has been handed down,
you know, generation after generation, and it can be a
real affront to those folks to learn that, you know,
the government's going to come in and maybe put a
road bisect their land or something like that. But but
(18:35):
we can help them. Sometimes there's no harm in calling
us and asking and and if you'll hold out, there's
not a lot of downside if you think the Department
Highways is not offering enough money, because you know they
file a case against you. It's just about the amount
of compensation. And if you don't get a penny more it,
you know, you don't don't pay theh's lawyer's fees or
(18:57):
anything like that. So there really isn't farm and holding
out and seeing if there are other alternatives available. But
we handle those bigually. And sometimes there are cases we
can't get in because the Toartment Highways offers fair and
sometimes we have ways to even handle those on contingency fee,
So it doesn't hurt to give us a call meeting.
(19:19):
Depending on what we see with the case, we might
take it on a contingency so that we don't you
don't pay us, and we don't recover our fees or
our costs unless we succeed in getting additional money from
the Department of Highways. So it's no harm, no foul
to give us a call or make an email inquiry
(19:40):
if you have some concerns and the Department Highways will
give you an itemized statement, you know that sort of
justifies how much they're paying and why they're paying it.
They won't always give you the full appraisal, but you know,
you can see what your neighbors are getting and do
comparables and that kind of thing. So they're a little complicated,
but but yeah, there's there's going to be multiple households
(20:01):
subject to condemnation in Putnam County. Well now there's multiple
cases filed, and then we've got a couple with the
Cross Lanes Road expansion in Canacking as well. So if
you have concerns and the government's taking your property, feel
free to give us a call or send an email,
and you know those consultations initially we never charge a fee,
(20:22):
so we'll be glad to give you some input if
you have those concerns.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, you can find out more about the Peyton Law
from one line. It's Peyton Law from dot Com p
y two and Peyton Law from dot Com. The phone
number threes are a four seven, five, five fifty five
fifty six. Threes are a four seven, five five fifty
five to fifty six. I'll tell you what, Tom, we're
about half past the show. Why don't we go and
take our break. We'll let the folks. If you have
any questions, you can give us a call three zer
a four three four five fifty eight fifty eight three
four five fifty eight fifty eight. You can also texting
(20:46):
your questions if you're in a situation where you can't call,
or just prefer to that. Numbers three's are a four
non three five five zeros. Your eighth threes are a
four non three five five zeros or eight. Tom, if
you don't mind holding one for a second, we'll go
and take a break and we'll be back after this
sounds good, Thanks a lot. That's Tom Payton from the
Eath and Law Firm online Peyton Lawfirm dot com P
E Y t O N. Peyton Lawfirm dot com. Will
take a break and be back right after this. You're
listening to ask the Lawyer on five EWCHS the Voice
(21:08):
of Charleston.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
If you've been injured, you need a lawyer who knows
West Virginia. Because they live in West Virginia. Tom and
Harvey Payton 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
(21:30):
five fifty six today or visit Peyton Law Firm dot com.
The attorney's referenced in this ad are lifelong residents and
are licensed to practice law in the state of West Virginia.
Speaker 6 (21:39):
As you shop for others, Fourth Avenue Financial invites you
to give yourself the gift of professional financial planning. What
better way to start the new year than consolidating old
four onks, examining your current investments and preparing for retirement.
Call me John Burdette at three zero four seven four
six seven nine seven seven or contact at Fourth Avenue
(22:01):
Financial dot com.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Security offer through JNIBU, Call Financial Incorporated member for Finnacific
Advisory services offer through JENBU coll Advisors in corporated, JWCO Financial,
JWBA Advisors, and Fourth Avenue Financial or unaffiliated entities. Here
(22:23):
listening to ask the lawyer on WHS the Voice of Charleston.
That's five eight WCHS the Voice of Charles. I want
to remind you, if you've been listening to the station
of the last week or so, you've probably heard about
the Turkey Drop. This is the third annual Turkey Drop
that we're doing as a station. It's put on officially
through all of our stations here at West Virginia Radio
Corporation in Charleston. Rob Reel of ninety six to one
(22:43):
KWS is kind of the brainchild of this of this
initiative we have going on today. Our parking lot is
open now. It's really easy. You can drive through our
parking lot. It's a circle so you don't have to
get out of the car. If we're taking turkeys. We
already have over thirty turkeys. We've just been open for
a little over an hour and a half. Now we
already we have over thirty turkeys this morning. You're welcome
to bring by turkeys. They're also taking cash donations. I
(23:05):
believe there's you can use the QR code on your
phone as well to make donations. So just come on
about eleven eleven Virginia Street. We're here until six o'clock
today for the third annual Turkey Drop. It brought to
you by Afflatian Power and it's to benefit Union Mission.
Tom Payton is just joining me now. He is one location,
so he's on the phone. You can give us a
call this morning. If you have any questions about the wall.
You can put the law on your side this morning
with Tom from the Peyton Law Firm. Threes are A
(23:25):
four three four five fifty eight fifty eight three four
five fifty eight fifty eight. You can also text three
zer A four non three five five zero zero eight
three zero four non three five five zero zero eight you.
Tom's still with me.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah, I'm still with you. So that just I'm not
there to see the turkey drop. And I think that's
through Union mission, correct, That is correct? Yep. Yeah. Is
today the only day to donate?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Today's the only day we're selecting. We're taking turkeys here
where we have staff at the station that's collecting those things. Yes,
so it's a twelve hour initiative that we're doing today.
We'll do it through six o'clock this evening, and folks
are welcome to come by all day long. You don't
have to get out of your car an.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Actual turkey or do donate money. Yep.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
You can do either one. You can do either one
or both or whatever you want to do. And we've
had folks that have that have brought tons of turkeys,
this morning. Now, I think that one lady came through
and bought ten turkeys and dropped them off already. So
there were really and this happens every time that we
that we make available the opportunity for West Virginians to
help West Virginians. People always show up every time.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Yeah, well I'll contact you new mission indirect. Obviously we're
not there to deliver turkeys today. Hayton Law firms in
on that, so we will. We'll make a donation for sure.
Particularly important. I mean most of us, including me, I've
had the luxury, have not ever really being really hungry.
You know, you can't afford food. Well it's sometimes in
(24:44):
college when we were scraping the bottom of the barrel there,
but you know, you always had a good parent. My
parents are the fallback. So it wasn't we were not
going to starve. But to be actually hungry is something
most of us don't feel. And I just think, you know,
it's what's happened with the GUP shut down. It's going
to be particularly important this year. I hope the SNAP
benefits are getting going again. I think there was probably
(25:07):
some delay and some of them may not come back.
You know what they go ahead.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
No, I just want to say that you bring up
a great point there when it comes to not understanding
what it's like to be legitimately hungry. I mean, I
too have gone through some times when I was single
and maybe there, you know, the cupboards were a little
bear and I was trying to do some things. But
again I mean that I have somebody I could contact
because I came from a strong family. Yeah, I could
have found some help there some way. But I remember,
(25:33):
when I was super young, one of my earliest memories
that going to any church at all had nothing to
do with the sermon. It was a little lady that
was talking to somebody who was upset about something. I
can't even remember the context of the situation. I just
remember that the lady said to the person that was
upset that there's really only two types of people, and
we have to understand that it's the people that are
hungry and that have to experience that hungry every day,
(25:53):
and the people that forgot what it was like to
be hungry, and bridging that gap is what it meant
to be humanity. And I was like wow, as like
a six or older or something, I thought that was
profound and it stuck with me ever since.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Yeah, in the country like ours, we just shouldn't have hunger. Really,
I don't think based upon the lifestyles many of us lead.
So so we're going to do our part. I I
will reach out direct to actually my brother in law,
my sister's husband works at Union Mission there, Brian, and
so the one who plays our country grade sir, Oh, yes, yes,
(26:25):
that'll coming in. So I'm gonna when I get off
the show here, I'm going to make some contact and
we'll see how many turkeys Peyton Law Firm can supply.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Sounds good. I think we have a color this morning, Tom,
great color. We had to put your right on the
earn our Drac you. So i' go ahead and identify
yourself and what's your question for Tom?
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Okay, my name is Alan, and I have a kind
of an odd deal. I have an active case and
what I've been advised and I won't name anybody or whatever,
but what my question is, I have a bad loss.
I lost a house and property whatever, and we're getting
ready hear in a few months ago trial with the
(27:01):
mediation and all for me, I was offered much less
than half of the money that I've lost would actually
be money that I would have gotten in return. And
I've been advised kind of I'm a lawyer more or less. Hey,
just go ahead and take it. You don't want to
take a chance on going to trial. And my question is,
(27:23):
if in fact we go to trial, is there an
opportunity for me to get what I lost and above that,
get the expenses that the lawyers and whatever it cost me.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Sure? And of course you know this is an informational show,
not particular legal advice on our show, and you know,
might I'm always hesit, just you know, I will not
be able to assess your case like the lawyer that
you have hired. But could you explain if you don't
mind when you say a loss, could you get what's
the nature? Was it a fire or was it a
(27:54):
what's the nature of the laws? No?
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Actually a company went below me and cause a slip
on my part. Okay, Yeah, Ultimately I lost my house
and I got away from it. Now. Yeah, And what
I'm worried about is if we go to trial and
I get to give you know, knocking you haul lawyers.
You got to make money, and it costs money to
(28:18):
build a case and whatever but when they're telling me, hey,
that's common, you don't get any more than what you
actually lost. You can't ask for money for expensive legal
fees and expences like that above and beyond what you lost.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Yeah, so I will give you some general information, not
knowing that any more details about your case now, But
we've handled quite a few of those.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Cases over the years.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
What you see in our terrain in West Virginia, sometimes
you just have slips. It's just the nature of the
geography gets saturated to what you know, climate change is
changing things a bit, and it's nobody else's fault and
hopefully you have your own insurance to cover that butt.
I think what you're talking about, which we've handled many
of these cases. We see folks maybe cut the toe
(29:03):
out of a hillside for a house site, for a
site for a business, and then that removes and naturally
the toe the bottom of the hill is providing lateral
support to structures and land that are above it. And
actually there's some case law and we've succeeded in arguments
that in essence, if you remove the toe of property
(29:26):
and as long as it's rather obvious that's what caused
the slip and your damage. Usually that's strict almost strict liability,
meaning the person who did the earthwork is absolutely irresponsible
for it, either the property enter or our contractor, or
a combination of them. Now, in those type cases, that's
(29:47):
a property lost case and so ordinarily arises from simple
negligence on their part, maybe they didn't do proper engineering
or soil testing. In negligent cases, negligence where there's no
intent to harm, with few exceptions, and I think on
that type case, the advice you've been given that you
(30:10):
can't get your lawyer's fees on top of what other
damages is accurate. It's the American rule that each side
pays their own lawyer, and of course, you know you
probably have done this on a contingency fee. Sometimes just
contingency fees are very good because it gives ordinary citizens
that don't have the ability to pay tens of thousands
(30:32):
of dollars up front or maybe even six figures and
attorney fees to hire lawyers who can fund the case
and compete with you know, we can compete with the
biggest casually insurers in the world, and we have regular
citizens that can come to us and we fund them.
So you always have that. If you win, though, then
of course the client pays a percentage of what's recovered,
(30:54):
and ordinarily you don't get your lawyer's fees on top
of that. Now, on property loss claims, as a general matter,
you should get made whole, meaning anything out of block.
If it ruined your property and it can't be rebuilt
like a home or a structure, then you know the
full value of your property. If it's been diminished basically
(31:17):
to nothing, should be paid.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Right.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
You also have not lawyer's fees. But if you, in
my opinion, if that case were to be tried to
a jury, there would be an element of what they
call general damages. So you have your specific amounts, like
let's say you paid a contractor to remediate your property.
Maybe you had to put a retaining wall or pilings
in or something, so that's your hard numbers. But you
(31:42):
also get to tell the jury, hey, this has been
three years where I've had to have a alternative housing.
You know, maybe we stayed in the structure for a
while and we were worried it was going to slide
down the hill. And it's really your your aggravation, annoyance
and inconvenience type general damages for having to deal with
the entire situation. In my opinion, you get to go
(32:04):
before a jury and talk about all that, and then
those six people when they go back to deliberate, should
have a blank for general damage, which in West Virginia
you can't ask for a certain amount in general damage.
So the jury, here's your story or your testimony and
your evidence, and they go back and let's just say
your property is worth one hundred grand and it's ruined,
(32:27):
So there's one hundred grand that they should give you.
Then there's another blank if they feel it's appropriate for
the jury to award you some general amount that those
six people come up with for having to go through
this aggravation and be in litigation. And it's really rather broad,
and you can't say to a jury. The lawyer can't say,
(32:49):
and we want a million dollars for that. The law
in West Virginias you can't suggest a particular amount, but
the jurors can award you whatever where they feel is appropriate,
as long as it's based on the evidence. And so
when we were careful on property damage claims or we
you know, the ultimate goal was to satisfy the client
(33:10):
and of course, you want the client to be able
to recover net after lawyer's fees and costs, you know,
enough to get their property repaired or replace it with
some different property after the lawyer's fees and things are
taken out. That's the ultimate goal, and the way you
have to get there sometimes is that general damage, because
nobody knows what the jury is going to do with
(33:31):
that until the jury comes back. So you know, the
defense may be arguing, well, this isn't you know, he
moved over here to a family, he's residents, and it
really wasn't inconvenience that much, so we don't think a
jury will give them very much. And of course you
obviously have worried and head stressed and or in litigation
over this, so you think it should be a significant amount,
(33:52):
but nobody knows until the jury comes back who's right,
and it might be somewhere in between. But that risk
is what often tons gets cases resolved without having to
go to the jury. And there's a compromise because nobody
knows how the jury will come back, and so the
hope is on those cases when we handle them, is
that we're going to be able to prove enough general damages,
(34:15):
so that when we take our percentage out, presuming it's
a tendency fee case, that when we give the check
to our client after deductions, they're going to have sufficient funds,
hopefully more than sufficient funds to replace or repair their
property and move on. And that's that's it. In a nutshell.
I can't really comment on what you should do, because
(34:37):
I'm not the lawyer in your case, but that's that.
You know, if you're being told you can't win your
lawyer's fees back, that in all likelihood is an accurate statement.
If you're being told that there's no option to get
anything more than like out of pocket expenses, that's probably,
(34:58):
as a general matter, not not accurate, but true. You know,
I don't know, I don't know the facts of your
I'm not saying another lawyer is not telling you the
truth because I don't know enough about your right about
your case. But as a you know, as a general matter,
that's how it works. And so you know, it can
be tough. You know that the more the more frequent,
you know, we get our automobiles that are damaged and
and that kind of thing. I mean, it's another person's fault.
(35:20):
They were in the rear end you or something. You know,
it's difficult sometimes the hire lawyers for those cases because
if a lawyer is getting let's say one third, which
is kind of conventional, it's difficult to recover enough. You know,
where the lawyer gets a third and you have enough
to repair your vehicle or replace it. But if it's
been a sub significant link to time since the wreck,
I mean every day you don't have the vehicle that
(35:42):
you would driving before opens, you know, the door for
potential general damages, which sometimes can allow us to recover
enough to make sure we get our our client money
to actually get their vehicle repaired. So there's a lot
of dynamics to it. So I don't want to comment
on what other lawyers are telling you, but that's how
we view them in a nutshell. And so we've handled
(36:03):
probably dozens of landslip cases just like that, where somebody's
just kind of fast and loose and you know, dozes
out the toe of the hillside and all of a sudden,
here come cracks up the hill and there's somebody living
there that's the problem. Yeah, So hopefully that lot gives
you some guidance, but you really got to rely on
the lawyers that are handling it.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Colin, we're going to have to cut you loose here
pretty soon here as well. We're coming up to the
end of the show.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
Thank you so very much, appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Hey, we appreciate your time and listening this morning. Thank
you so much. Great information there for Tom answering a
very specific question in a general way that if you're
out there listening to this, that really gave you some massive,
massive information to take action maybe the next time this
happens to you, because that's a very unfortunate situation.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Yeah, it's bad that you'd be surprised.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
You know.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
There's recovering money can be difficult too if you don't
have a business Leather's side that has assets. But oftentimes
if somebody just kind of hires a contractor to do it,
or they rent a dozer and do it themselves, there
is We've been pretty successful in having that person's hume
owners insurance actually pay if they were negligent. So there's
(37:10):
sometimes there is a source of funds to recover. But
that's always a concern too if you just have a
fly by night person coming there and does out of
hillside and then you know, if they don't have assets.
That can be another important factor about whether to settle
your case or not, because people don't think about that.
You go and win in court, or you don't put
your ATM card in and get your your award. Sometimes
(37:31):
you have to go in and try and collect it,
which can be a whole different set of litigation, which
actually we see play out quite a bit with our
Senator Justice because you know, as we've seen over the years,
a lot of the litigation involving him and his debts
has been folks chasing money where it's clear he owes
money or his companies do, but actually collecting it is
(37:53):
the uh is the hard part. So there's a lot
of dynamics of those cases, and I never, you know,
do my best not this you can't. I cannot second guests.
Council that's in the case have been hired, but but
I can't say that we do those type cases. So
any out there is listening and wants helped from us,
that is the kind of work that we do.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
That's great information. Of course in the Payton Law firm,
let me make sure we get the information out there. We're
coming up towards the end of the show, and we
want to make sure you can get ahold of the
Pathon Law firm if that's what you want to do.
Of course, located in Nicro, West Virginia. You can find
more information online. It's Payton Lawfirm dot com, Peyton Lawfirm
dot com. That's p E y Tu and Peyton Lawfirm
dot com and you can you can also call them
on the phone, just like the pioneers did at threes
(38:34):
are a four seven five five fifty five fifty six.
Threes are a four seven five five fifty five fifty six.
You can leave an email over there. Find out all
the information about the Payton Law Firm, located in Nitro,
West Virginia, on the radio every Thursday morning at eight
twenty right here on five ADWCHS the Voice of Charleston.
Except I should say next Thursday is Thanksgiving and traditionally
you guys take Thanksgiving off.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
Yeah, we will skip Thanksgiving, I'm sure again this year.
So everybody have a happy Thanksgiving. And the Mountaineers this
week we travel a long way to see them within
a couple of games down here.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Hey, good luck. We look forward to the report the
next time we talk to you. Tom, take care. Happy
Thanksgiving to you and Harvey. We'll talk to you when
you come back. Thank you, Thanks a bunch. That's Tom
Payton for the Peyton Law Firm. Have a great day everyone.
I'm Del Cooper and this is five eight w CHS.
We are the voice of Charleston.
Speaker 5 (39:22):
Fighting WCS at six point five on Charleston one oh
four point five Cross Lane, a WVRC media station.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
We're proud to live here too.
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