December 31, 2025 • 38 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.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Our courts oh created equal.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
When mass come here to Kadon, I can rope.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
And very pleasant Wednesday morning to you. You can put
the power of Paton on your side this morning as
we get ready to chug forward to twenty twenty six,
a special edition of I asked the lawyer with the
Peyton Law Firm, and Tom Peyton is in studio with
us this morning, Tom tod morning, how you doing this?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
We're glad to be here. Hopefully nobody was waiting around here.
Larry Dawson talk about cars going to be batterly disappointed.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Larry will be on in two weeks and two weeks
we'll be a week from next Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Good and Larry's one of my friends. He certainly defer
to him on all matters related to automobiles. No glad
to be here. Of course we're usually on Thursdays. Little
feels a little odd to be here on a Wednesday.
But I was listening last week on Christmas Eve, and
of course Christmas hit on Thursday, and now New Year's
Day hits on Thursday. So we're not going to be
doing the show then. But there wasn't There wasn't an
(01:36):
ask the expert last week. So I just thought, well,
if it's open to day, I'll come and bug the
guys at the radio and maybe we'll have some listeners
out there, might have the day off or an opportunity
to listen, maybe get a little different audience on a Wednesday.
Probably not, but you never know.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Well, Holiday Wednesday, there's a couple of factors that go
in there, you know. And you know, you guys are
always have the Thursday of Thanksgiving off for the most
part because of the holly. They it wouldn't be right
to have yet another Thursday off. So yeah, we had
to correct the home.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
We'll probably have some starving listeners out there. Exactly, there's
going to be three weeks before they get to hear
us talk again. But no, I enjoy doing it. So
I mean it's advertising, we pay for it, but I
think we do you know, serves the public sometimes if
folks listen in or absolutely gives them an opportunity to
you know, we answer basic questions via email and phone calls,
(02:26):
but it does get busy with litigation at the office,
so sometimes we can't get it things responded to that
aren't current clients as timely as we would like. But
this gives you an opportunity. If you got a burning
legal question, just maybe need some gentle information, you can
give us a call or send us the text. What
do we have the number that they can call in
if they for today?
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Yeah, yeah, give us call threes or four three four
five fifty fifty eight three four five fifty to fifteen
if it's a call this morning. If you want text
over a question, you can do that as well. But man,
if you're not doing anything else to day, call us,
that's okay, you can do that. Threes are A four
three four five fifty to fifty. The text line number
is threes are four nine three five five zewers are
three zre a four non three five five zero zero
eight if you want to text us this morning.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah, so glad to be here. The really locally a
whole lot thing I saw in the in the local
headlines lately. Unfortunately it's had a really bad domestic violence
incident where a man shot his wife and she died.
And I think they had the preliminary hearing maybe this week.
(03:25):
Uh so that's I believe going up to the circuit
court now charged with murder. Terrible. I did see. I
think Jeff Jenkins here did a little article with somebody
from the maybe the Domestic Violence Coalition or an advocate
with the y w c A and and and the
(03:46):
title of the article was it didn't have to happen,
And it was sort of a layoff one to the
partly the judicial system about how they handle themestic violence
type issues. And and of course there's always more that
can be done. But and it was some talk about
(04:12):
well if we could have in some counties domestic violence
victims can appear remotely and that's the idea is that
that will help more victims report and follow through with
their cases of domestic violence. That may be the case.
(04:32):
I've done a lot of domestics over the years don't
do as many now. The we do do a little
work for legal aid. So legal aid is the if
you have a civil case, which a domestic violence protective
order case is, then on either side gets appointed counsel.
(04:54):
There's no threat of jail time. You don't have a
constitutional right to counsel when there's no threat of jail time.
But if you can't afford a lawyer in a domestic
case and you're a victim, you can conduct West Virginia
Legal Aid. And that's that's a service that's no charge
to the client if you qualify, and then they have
(05:16):
lawyers internally that will represent them. And that legal aid's
funded by donations, it's funded by some of the fees
that lawyers pay through the state bar, and then it's
filtered through to legal Aid. I know Charleston has a location.
I think they're spread throughout the state. But I, you know,
(05:38):
just to help because I know how to do it.
I volunteer if they are overbooked and there's a case
pending in Putnam County or Lincoln. Sometimes they'll call on
me and see if I'm willing to handle a case
for legal aid, and you just do it pro bono
and and so I do get involved in some domestic
(05:59):
cases like that. But what I really thought, over my
twenty some years of doing this, there are certain psychological
underlays of victims of long term domestic violence that I
don't think it's I don't know if I would say
it's not the court system's job. But it's also a
(06:20):
very difficult dynamic to ever overcome in a court system
versus some other type of social service. But I think
what I can speak to is the court system because
I've been involved in it. And if you're out there
and you are a victim of domestic violence in some form,
(06:41):
and it doesn't have to be physical, it can be
a threat of physical or other behavior that would put
a reasonable person in fear for their safety. There are
mechanisms in the court system now for help where you
can get out of a home or away from the perpetrator,
(07:02):
even for a short period of time. Call nine one one,
and there is an expart a process through magistrates where
you can go the other person's not even told about it.
The perpetrator and the magistrate will hear what you have
to say, and if they say, well that's not enough
for domestic violence, I just deny it, and nobody should
(07:24):
know you were ever at the courthouse to handle it.
And generally there's a manis there's supposed to be a
master don't call in every county twenty four hours for
emergencies like that. They rotate so that somebody is always
on call. But when you go through that process, if
what you write down and then swear to from the
magistrate is sufficient for a civil domestic violence protective what
(07:48):
are not a criminal case? Criminals different that has to
be prosecuted by law enforcement ultimately with the assistance of
the victim. But on a civil case, it you know,
the conduct doesn't have to be as severe as would
be necessary to constitute a crime. So there's you know, well,
it's not going to be he didn't do enough or
she didn't do enough to be real domestic violence because
(08:10):
they didn't hit me or something like that. That's not
it's very broad description. If there's a family or household
member that's behaving in a way that would put a
reasonable person in fear for their safety, and family and
household members also described in that statue very very broadly.
Dating formerly dating. I mean, it's such a anybody you
(08:36):
would conceive that could be considered reasonably as a family
member is pretty much defined as one in that statue.
So don't be too concerned that it's a you're not
married to them, so it's not domestic, or you weren't married.
You know, all that will be worked up by the magistrate.
But you go there. Ex party X party is just
legal term for one side of the others. The opponent,
(08:56):
so to speak, is not there, and you fill out
a petition, the master finds that it's sufficient, right, then
they'll send the sheriff out to serve the person. And
it's a restraining order. Keeps them from having contact, keep
them from having possession of firearms. It can award custody
of children. It can remove them from the home and
(09:20):
prohibit them from coming back. So a victim could wait
with law enforcement somewhere or a victim's advocate while law
enforcement goes and serves this restraining order, and they'll give
the person minutes usually, but the perpetray will be forced
to pack up their personal things and leave and go
(09:42):
somewhere else and don't come back. And so that now
then obviously they've got a right to be heard, because
they haven't had their side of the story told, so
then there's a hearing and follow up. Usually it's supposed
to be what it's supposed to be within ten business
days of that magestic court ruling, and that's up in
the or over in the family court, and then you
(10:04):
go and testify. But and that's where you might want
to hire a lawyer if you have one, or you
can afford one, or not call legal aid. But those
you know, for lawyers that it's easy for me to
say because I've been doing it a long time, But
those hearings usually are you know, when they're conducted by
(10:24):
the family court, it's it's not as formal as like
you see a jury trial or that kind of thing. Normally,
you just kind of you tell what happened to you
and you can be cross examined if the other person
has a lawyer, if they want to ask you some
questions and vice versa. But my experience has been if
if there's evidence of some domestic violence as described in
(10:47):
the statue, then the judges will grant them and then
that restraining order stays in place for normally one hundred
and eighty days, and then it can be automatically extended
a little bit longer, but that's it's pretty easy, at
least functionally to go get help if you're a victim
(11:10):
of domestic violence in West Virginia, and then there's always
more that can be done. But I think, you know,
I thought say it didn't have to happen in this
particular case, and sort of put some blame or fault
on the court system. I thought was a bit unfair
there in this situation. And I only know what I
read in the headlines and the news articles. But apparently
(11:33):
they'd been to court in twenty twenty one because there'd
been a gun displayed by the husband. I don't know
what happened with that case. Then he was charged with
domestic violence criminal I think last spring, and they'd served
him with the warrant not too long ago. And I
believe it's mandated by statute when bond is set for
(11:55):
a person charged with domestic violence. Of course, the personal
recognisance was where you sign your name saying if I
don't show up, I owe X amount of dollars, but
you swear you'll come back, or you post some money
that you'll abide by the terms of your bond. But
in domestic violence cases I believe it's mandated for the
magistrate to check a box. And one of the conditions
(12:17):
of your bond is to have no direct or indirect
contact with the victim, so that he was on that bond,
this this person, but somehow they're back in the house
together and hanging out with each other. And it just
made you know whether the wife should have been notified
(12:42):
of that provision or could have obviously inquired about it.
I know in Putnam County we through the prosecutor's office
and in the sheriff's office, they have a pretty active
victims kind of liaison type folks that are employed just
for that reason, and they do a good job, don't
This was Kenall County and I don't I don't know.
It's a bigger county. It can be a little bit different.
(13:04):
But at the same time, you know, if he was
near her, one call to the sheriff saying no, this
he's got he's on bond and he's near me, they
would likely come arrest him and revoke his bond and
he would spend some time in jail, or his bond
conditions would be modified somehow to alter his behavior. Now,
(13:25):
this may have been one of those cases where there's
just a long term bad relationship that involves domestic violence
and it just becomes like an echo chamber and it's
hard to get victims out of that situation.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Sometimes that's that's where the law works so well with
other advocacy groups, like what we were talking about, because
what you need to do is break the cycle of
abuse there. I'm not an expert in this, but but
I've done enough interviews to know that this is a
pretty classic example of somebody who basically can't quit the abuse.
You know, more than likely, I mean, keep on gravitating
(14:02):
back to that abusive relationship.
Speaker 5 (14:04):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
I struggle.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
You know, you get.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Even on the cases where I volunteer to do for
legal aid, sometimes you'll get to the hearing and my
client who's in those cases, there is always the victim
I want to drop it by the time we get
to the hearing, and all you can do. I mean,
they're adults and they're competent, and I counsel them on.
You know, you need to keep this in place. This
(14:28):
is there's a pattern here, and it's better for everybody,
and uh, you know, and but altimately they got to
make their own decision at that point, and it does
you know, it's frustrating, uh and you hate to see it,
and you know, there there's a whole array of things.
I mean, anybody in real life that's had long term
(14:51):
relationships knows that they're not always a smooth road, and
so there are one off incidents that can happen to people,
and then sometimes the system gets used for that and
maybe it just needs to be dropped because it wasn't
really really putting somebody in true fear for their safety.
But the system with the ability to go ex party
(15:12):
like that, you know, in a safe manner without telling
the other party, is really geared towards the true kind
of chronic domestic violence situations, or or someone so aggressive
they might track a person and you know, trying you know,
if they're notified of the initial hearing, they'll come and
(15:33):
try and intimidate the other party or something like that,
which is where you get into the remote attendance I think.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
But I.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Don't know how much that would help is going to
help ultimately, It certainly wouldn't hurt, but but that's you know,
I kind of want to get that out there as
a PSA. Hopefully nobody's you know, in that situation, and
we hate it, but it's the reality and it happens sometimes.
But there are, at least through the court system, there
are there are avenues for relief that as far as
(16:03):
the court system goes, are pretty easily accessible from a
functional standpoint. And so that is out there, and that
is available, and you do have the potential ability to
get counsel even if you can't afford counsel through the
Western legal aid system.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
So those things you have questions where there's all kinds
of resources online and everything that you can check out
for that. And if you're in one of those situations,
you need to and and just as a as sort
of a PSA attached to that, when you put the
mechanisms of law in your favor, you also have to
participate in that. So, for example, if somebody is violating
an order and being around your space, then you need
(16:43):
to execute that and call the authority and make sure
that you are using that to your advantage. Sure, you know,
not all this time we'll let you stay because you
seem to be in a good mood or whatever. That
that's going to kneecap the entire thing.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Right, And you know, it's all cyclical. Yeah, most people
that are abusers aren't abusers all the time. In fact,
what I see a lot of is really bad behavior,
sometimes physical abuse, and then all I'm so sorry, and
then it it's just a cycle that that happens over
and ever again. But the court, I mean, the court
system can only do so much, and there does need
(17:15):
to be some cooperation from the victim. And you know,
if there's a criminal charges up to the prosecutor I
know in Putnam Counting, unless there's a serious evidentiary issue
just because of a victim who initially complained and it
resulted in a criminal charge, comes back and says I
want this dropped. They have a general policy not to
drop those. It's got to be evidence based for some reason,
(17:37):
like well maybe we you know, the evidence is wrong,
there's not enough evidence. But they once it's filed, the
prosecutor tries to keep the victims motivated because they just
don't drop because drop the case because the victim says
they want it dropped. And having an uncooperative victim also
makes prosecution more difficult, of course, but they can issue
(17:59):
supena is and things like that. But certainly you're right.
I mean, there's a lot of cogs to that will,
and one of them is at least some participation and
cooperation in the court process or it's not going to work.
And of course there's a lot of underlying social and
psychological reasons that victims don't end up cooperating. But it's
(18:23):
at the same time, there's only so much a prosecuting
attorney can do if they won't come to court and
they won't say what happened. And all you can do
is try and provide protection and then and what the
best you.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Can hopeful the results for you have that. It's always
a tough situation and you hate to think about those
sort of things, but the avenues are there that are available.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
You just have to try to be aware.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
Of it, and there are folks that can help you
get out of a bad situation. If that's the case,
let's go and do this. We're already at our halfway points,
so we can take our break now and kind of
reset when we come back. So if you want to
give us a call, you're one welcome to any questions.
You can put the power of Payton on your side
today and give us call three zero four three four
five fifty eight fifty eight. No, it's right before the holiday.
So I have any questions you have, maybe something that
you're looking to tackle once the new year rolls around,
(19:05):
or other questions, just give us a call. Three zero
four three four five fifty fifty eight is our number.
You can text three zero four non three five five
zero zero eight. We'll take a break and be back
right after this. You're listening to Ask the Lawyer with
Tom Payton from the Faith In Law Firm on five ADWCCHS,
The Voice of Charleston.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
The latest in news, talking sports. When five ADWCHS has
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Speaker 2 (19:50):
Previously on Metro News talk Line.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
President of the West Virginia Hospital Association, Jim Kaufman joins us,
it's really a great opportunity.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
I got to give kudo to Dick Goafner and his
later working with everybody to get the application. As you've noted,
we got more than Walmart's dopple what we to guarantee
under this full health transformation program, which really has a
great opportunity to help us to prove access across the
Mountain State.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Metro New's Talk Line with Dave and TJ weekday mornings
from ten oh six till noon on this Metro News station.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Here listening to ask the lawyer. Tom Payton is in
the studio with us this morning, three zero four three
four five fifty fifty eight. By the way, based on
our previous conversation that we were having with domestic abuse, UH,
the National Domestic Abuse Hotline is one eight hundred seven
seventy two thirty three one eight seven seventy two thirty three.
So if you find yourself in one of those situations,
(20:51):
of course the Paython Law Froom can help you out
from a legal standpoint, but a lot of times you
need advocacy and other help to get out of those situations.
So if you're looking for some guidance and you're in
a situation with domestic violence. That hotline number is one
one hundred and seven nine nine seventy two thirty three.
I should get that out there.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Sure, And you can always, you know, call our office
or send us an email and you know, I can
give you the same type information or maybe walk you
through the process if you can't don't want to hire us,
or you can't for some reason.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
But uh, seven five five fifty fifty six, that's the
bation offront threes are four seven five five fifty five
fifty six seven five five fifty five fifty six.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yeah, we always try and help and it you know,
our office is closing at noon today and then we'm
gonna be open Friday. Now it is a state holiday
starting at noon today, and then the governor also gave
state employees off Friday as well. And then Chief Justice
(21:43):
woot you know the Supreme Court employees are I mean,
there's state employees, but they're not under the purview of
the governor. So the Justice woot and followed suit. So
courts will be closed midway through today and then Friday. However,
there is discretion with local judges and matters just I
(22:04):
mean because things may be scheduled for Friday. So if
you have a hearing set or something, you might want
to make some calls this morning and make sure firm
whether your hearing is going to take place or not.
They are allowed to conduct hearings on you know, sensitive
matters or time time matters. Even though the courthouse may
be closed, they'll let you in, so you might want
to make a call there.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Now, one of my great secrets every year, not really secrets,
but one of my sort of hidden truths, is that
one of my favorite dates every year is approximately January fifth,
and simply because it's when things kind of get back
to normal, right, It's like their vacations are over, holidays
are over, like you like. Frankly, I'm looking forward to
a five day work week. I have five days of
work I need to do regardless of how many days
(22:44):
I actually work. So having two days offering a week
sounds great, but also means you have to do five
days of work in three days.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
And that being said, like we I let the staff
off last Friday. Of course I was there. I met
with a client, worked the entire day, but got some
things done. But if you know when when we say
the law office is closed, that's really the staff. If
you need assistance from us, you can call the office
and be surprised I might be there and I answer
when I'm there. So otherwise, we do have a system
(23:13):
where you can you can tap you know, voicemail for
Tom and it's a it's you know, Internet provided phones,
and it actually sends me a voice file via email
when I get an email left for me, so I
can get that message anytime through my cell phone, because
of course get my emails on my iPhone and then
(23:35):
I always check emails and if it's something I can
respond to out of regular hours or it's an emergency
and I see it, then we'll get back with you.
So just because our office is closed doesn't mean we're
not doing business. That's just the way we do it
at our office. And either Dad or I will will respond.
(23:55):
So if you have an issued during hours in which
we say our office is closed, don't hesitate to go ahead,
wile on in your mind to either email or give
us a call and then leave a voicemail and we'll
hear it and we'll get back to you just as
soon as we can. I was looking it's been a
(24:15):
good year at Peyton Law Firm. Most years are unless
we have some kind of traumatic event or somebody gets sick,
and we haven't had that this year, and we've had
all the same staff members that work at our office
have been there all year and they're still there today.
So that's that's good. And you know, you judge, how
(24:37):
do you judge, but it's been a good year or not.
As a law firm, I don't know. I don't think
it's it's always good to make more money. And in
the nature of what we do, which is not just
billing ours, that's not what we do very well at
Peyton Law Firm. Frankly, a lot of our cases are
contingency fee, meaning we only get paid if we are
(24:58):
resolve an injury or a death case or an insurance
type case in your favor. Then there's a you know,
we get paid a percentage, and no one can control
when somebody is the victim of a traumatic unexpected event,
and nobody can control how many those folks call us
and how many those cases settled during a year. So
(25:19):
it's very cyclical income wise, and so you know, obviously
money's money and people in various cases I have said, well,
money doesn't matter, but ultimately in the end, in our society,
it matters to some extent anyway, one way or another.
But I kind of think about it, you know, how
have we how have we contributed to our local community?
(25:40):
How have we helped people? And you know, we don't
spend a lot of money. We're gonna do some a
little more. I got some billboard sprinkled here there. We're
gonna do a little more next year. No massive statewide
billboard campaigns, no massive television campaigns. Our deal here with
the radio is annual. And and Shawn, your salesman, you know,
(26:02):
twisted my arm and got me three years, so you'll
deal with us for at least one more year, every
every Thursday. But we do put a lot of our
resources that we might put into mass marketing or advertising
to try and I mean everybody out there listening, you know,
you don't see a whole lot of ads about will
(26:22):
help you with your boundary dispute or will help you
with your everyday issues like deeds and basic of state planning.
And it doesn't take a genius to figure out, well,
wondering while the ads are about death cases or truck
accidents or because that's where there's a potential to make
a significant amount of money, and that's fine. We do
(26:45):
a lot of those cases civil litigation type cases, and
we enjoy them because we like trying cases to juries
and we've had a lot of success in front of
juries and that helps you get cases settled in the
long run. But we also try and steer maybe some
of the dollars that we could use for that type
mass advertising to local community. You know, we sponsor a
lot of things in the local community, the YMCA. We
(27:06):
also participate actively on local nonprofit boards and things like that,
and there's no quid pro quo there, but we hope
that people at least in our neck of the woods
see that, respect that and trust us and have faith
that will do a good job if we represent them,
(27:27):
and then we get some reciprocation from folks and if
they have hopefully not. But if you have a friend
or family member that gets hurt in an accident, or
somebody's killed, or it's a diagnosis of mesothelioma, which is
just an awful, pretty much universally terminal type of lung
(27:49):
cancer caused by nothing but asbestos exposure, that you consider
us and give us a call, because we do a
good job and we care and we're very hands on
with your case. You don't get shuffled. We don't have
associates at our office right now. I might one day.
Nothing wrong with it, but you know, we're pretty selective
on the cases that we handle, and and we know
(28:12):
the facts really well, we know the law really well,
and we do really well. Jolly in front of jury's.
Nobody wins every case. Any lart claims they've never lost
a case in front of a jury either hasn't tried
any real cases, or their line, because you can't win
every case in front of jury's.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
I remember reading an article about it was something I
can't remember. It was something that politically connected, I think,
but there was an attorney at the center of the
thing and the attorneys. One of his big things was like,
I never lost a case, believe me on this. So
somebody finally did some due diligence on who this guy was.
I can't It wasn't even a prominent name. It was
just an article, kind of nerdy one that I kind
of got into. But anyway, it ended up that, yeah,
(28:51):
the guy never lost a case. He tried one and
it was relatively low stakes, and he won, and he
basically retired from the court room after that. Never lost
a case easy.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
It's not like most things in life, which you learn
with experience. There's not a whole lot of things that
are in real life maybe sports, but in real life, uh, business,
et cetera, where there's a clear quote winner and loser.
So when you say, you know, what if you had
(29:20):
what if you know, some insurance company offered your client
five hundred thousand dollars to settle and they, with your advice,
refused that and took it to a jury. Well, nobody
knows what that settlement offer was. It's not admissible, it's
generally private. And then you you win at trial, the
jury awards your client three hundred thousand dollars. Is that
(29:42):
a win?
Speaker 5 (29:42):
Right?
Speaker 4 (29:42):
Right?
Speaker 2 (29:43):
You could couch it as a win, right.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Well they did, Yeah, But it's just there's a lot
of dynamics to cases, and and you know, there's just
to say win or lose, and a lot of them
is not really a fair way to assess them anyway.
It plays well in advertise and that kind of thing,
but it's it's much more complicated than that, but we
(30:05):
you know, we have a very good track record in
performing well in front of jury's, both you know, in
civil cases. And I will say that with Dad and
I both and we try of course bad practice law
for I don't know, twenty some years before I got
out and joined him, but since I've been licensed to practice,
(30:28):
then we've co chaired multiple jury trials, both of us trying.
And maybe he'll do a little cross exam of one,
or I'll do opening, he'll do closing. I will say that,
you know, I think in all of those civil cases
we've tried, even in cases that were you know, I
thought maybe should have settled or were very difficult, we
have I think generally prevailed and almost universally in those
(30:51):
type cases. But now i've tried cases before and so
as Dad, that we've had results that are not what
we wanted. But I think because we don't sit together
in all trials, I mean, we'll try them individually. But
I think, you know, there's probably seven to ten civil
cases we've tried together. We both participated in some form
as kind of father son Peyton team, and I do
(31:14):
think we have prevailed in every one of those civil cases,
meaning we've gotten a result that was better than offered
prior to trial.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
One thing I wanted to you mentioned a moment ago
about you and Harvey's how you relate to the community,
and there's something to be said for and you guys
obviously do it the right way. And this is just
the end of the years, and what as well be
observation about these sorts of things. I've seen a lot
of I've been you know, I've been manager of a
(31:49):
lot of different companies. I've ran promotional departments, I've ran
a business side of things with marketing and stuff. And
you hear a lot of people say, we need to
find ways to engage the community. You know that. A
lot of people say that. You know a lot of
people say, well, we can build trust by building a
foundation in the community that people are going to relate to.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
It's absolutely true.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
How many people actually take the time to do it
from a from a legitimate standpoint very few. A lot
of people will throw marketing dollars at it and be like, oh,
you know, we're part of the community. We're part of
the community. We're part of the community. But people that
actually live what they say very few and far between.
You guys do that, and I think that authenticity is
what comes through. A lot of people can pretend to
be part of the community, you guys actually are.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Yeah, we get to. If you've ever served on boards
with that or I, then we're trying to be pretty
active on there, not just a fly on the wall.
Some people like that, some people don't. But you know,
you just feel like, as as members of the community
that are professionals, lawyers, a lot of experience doing everyday things,
that we can contribute something and you do sacrifice your
(32:47):
time to do it. That's the big sacrifice, your personal
time to do it. And it's it doesn't it isn't
necessarily a quid pro quo for income results at our business,
but that's just what we feel like we need to do.
And that was actually you know, basic deed work, basic
of state planning, helping people. You know, you don't know
(33:09):
when you're going to be in a car wreck, you
don't know when you're going to get an awful diagnosis
like mesothelioma. But every day people need help with certain things,
real estate questions, estate planning questions, how to handle a
basic state administration process. If you have a friend or
family member pass away and you need to help with that.
And I was just looking, you know, I do kind
(33:32):
of an end of the year review at the office,
and so I looked at I've got our cases kind
of categorized in a state planning and real estate, and
in this last year we helped it looks like over
three hundred different three hundred people Oh wow, doing basic
of state planning and deed work. And it's a variety
(33:54):
of things from loan closings to transferring death deeds to wills,
the power of attorneys and that type thing. So that's
pretty significant for a two lawyer office with you know,
four or five significant support staff paralegals, et cetera. So
(34:16):
you feel like we fill a gap in the community
on those type things because it just I think you
see folks go to law school and a lot of
them come out, and you know, there are folks that
do like doing real estate, but I think the majority
of my geared towards they want to go to those
firms that are they see the billboards for it, where
they want to go work for the firms that are
big corporate firms where you're working for insurance companies or
(34:39):
big business and you work your way up the lighter
to maybe potentially have your name on the letterhead as
an equity member partner in a firm. And so you know,
there is a gap there, I think for good competent
counsel to handle these kind of everyday matters for people.
And we could say, well, we just don't do that,
(34:59):
or we don't know how to do that. We only
do injury work or serious injuries, and and we could
steer all of our extra money towards advertising for that.
But that's just not the and there's nothing wrong with that,
it's just not the the mode of operation that we've adopted.
So I'm pretty proud of what we've done in the
(35:20):
last year, and hopefully we've helped the community, and we'll
look forward to continuing to do the same thing in
the in the year to come. Hopefully we can get
The only thing disappointed this year is just this animosity
and political rhetoric everybody. I hope that it cools down,
(35:40):
no matter what side everybody's on, because.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
You know what I did for the month of December,
I completely because I'm not I'm not part of the
news programs here, you know, I do the entertainment show
at three o'clock, so that's a three hour show. I
have to do this show. But during my because I
had vacations, a lot of vacations in the end of
November and December, had two weeks in a relatively short
amount of time. I checked out completely from all news,
stopped watching the news. I haven't been on social media
(36:07):
other than for work related things in weeks now, and
I've developed like three or four little hobbies that I
do again around the house. I started reading again. I
did that a couple of years ago. Where I used
to be a like literally I read a book or
two a week. Back when I own a bookstore, I'd
read one hundred books a year easy. I got way
out of that in the last decade of my life,
and so I went back to reading a lot. So, man,
(36:29):
I'm out of the news, I'm out of social media,
I said, at home, and I read. I have a
couple other projects I do I do with my daughter.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
I feel like you're out of the know though you
don't know what.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
A little bit.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
Yeah, honestly I do. But man, right now, I mean,
and it may not last long. I'm not saying that
it's a change in my life. But for the end
of twenty twenty five, it's what I needed to do.
And so although I feel a little bit disconnected from things,
I'm surprised when someone's like, hey, did you hear about this,
I'll be like, actually, I didn't. You know.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
I've conditioned myself to I mean, I I pretty much
have to stay on it and read it. I hear
you understand, because of different things I do, including my
business course, I have different from maybe ten years ago.
At this point, I just am not reactionary it almost
any I always take a deep breath or wait a
(37:16):
while before you decide to comment or reply to something,
and it's difficult sometimes, but at this point it's so
much information, almost overload. I've I've been able to just
stop myself from reacting and getting into this rhetoric. And
what I do worry about is the misinformation out there
AI and things it's getting. I thought I was good
(37:38):
at it about figuring out what is real and what isn't.
It's almost impossible now.
Speaker 4 (37:42):
Yeah, there's there's Like even six months ago, I felt
like there's a lot of cues that you can, like,
if you were read in on it, you could kind
of figure this stuff out now.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Good for addressive agency to address that from the government.
It just needs to be massive and dedicated. So by
the time, well listen, I want to think all the
listeners are regular Thursday list there's maybe got some mini
wins on Wednesday, and uh, we're looking forward to twenty
twenty six of Peyton Law Firm and planning on being
here every single Wednesday et scept Thanksgiving.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
That's right, every Thursday, but Thanksgiving the Peyton Law Firm,
Payton Lawfirm dot com, Peyton Lawfirm dot com and Nitro
West Virginia seven five five fifty five fifty six three
zero four seven five five fifty five fifty six seven
five five fifty five fifty six. Happy New Year to
you and your dad.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Happy New Year, Dad, appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Tom.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
Have a gret day, everyone day. Allan's coming out next
on five eighty Live. He'll be back at noon for Miday.
I'll be back this afternoon at three oh six on
the hotline. Have a great day. Everyone. Listening to five
at EWCCHSBRE The Voice of Charleston.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Five ad w C HSA M ninety six point five
an Charleston one oh four point five Cross Lanes l
UVRC Media Station. We're proud to live here too,
Unlock your dream property with Meeks Realty Group, where Rich
the realtor makes real estate dreams a reality, whether it's
residential or commercial. We've got Charleston to Huntington covered. Your
key to exceptional real estate experience is start here Meeks
Realty Group. Contact us at Meeks dot us.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
The views and opinions expressed on this program do not
necessarily reflect the views and opinions of five eight wcchs
it's employees or WVRC Media.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Our courts oh created equal.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
When mass come here to Kadon, I can rope.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
And very pleasant Wednesday morning to you. You can put
the power of Paton on your side this morning as
we get ready to chug forward to twenty twenty six,
a special edition of I asked the lawyer with the
Peyton Law Firm, and Tom Peyton is in studio with
us this morning, Tom tod morning, how you doing this?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
We're glad to be here. Hopefully nobody was waiting around here.
Larry Dawson talk about cars going to be batterly disappointed.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Larry will be on in two weeks and two weeks
we'll be a week from next Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Good and Larry's one of my friends. He certainly defer
to him on all matters related to automobiles. No glad
to be here. Of course we're usually on Thursdays. Little
feels a little odd to be here on a Wednesday.
But I was listening last week on Christmas Eve, and
of course Christmas hit on Thursday, and now New Year's
Day hits on Thursday. So we're not going to be
doing the show then. But there wasn't There wasn't an
(01:36):
ask the expert last week. So I just thought, well,
if it's open to day, I'll come and bug the
guys at the radio and maybe we'll have some listeners
out there, might have the day off or an opportunity
to listen, maybe get a little different audience on a Wednesday.
Probably not, but you never know.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Well, Holiday Wednesday, there's a couple of factors that go
in there, you know. And you know, you guys are
always have the Thursday of Thanksgiving off for the most
part because of the holly. They it wouldn't be right
to have yet another Thursday off. So yeah, we had
to correct the home.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
We'll probably have some starving listeners out there. Exactly, there's
going to be three weeks before they get to hear
us talk again. But no, I enjoy doing it. So
I mean it's advertising, we pay for it, but I
think we do you know, serves the public sometimes if
folks listen in or absolutely gives them an opportunity to
you know, we answer basic questions via email and phone calls,
(02:26):
but it does get busy with litigation at the office,
so sometimes we can't get it things responded to that
aren't current clients as timely as we would like. But
this gives you an opportunity. If you got a burning
legal question, just maybe need some gentle information, you can
give us a call or send us the text. What
do we have the number that they can call in
if they for today?
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Yeah, yeah, give us call threes or four three four
five fifty fifty eight three four five fifty to fifteen
if it's a call this morning. If you want text
over a question, you can do that as well. But man,
if you're not doing anything else to day, call us,
that's okay, you can do that. Threes are A four
three four five fifty to fifty. The text line number
is threes are four nine three five five zewers are
three zre a four non three five five zero zero
eight if you want to text us this morning.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah, so glad to be here. The really locally a
whole lot thing I saw in the in the local
headlines lately. Unfortunately it's had a really bad domestic violence
incident where a man shot his wife and she died.
And I think they had the preliminary hearing maybe this week.
(03:25):
Uh so that's I believe going up to the circuit
court now charged with murder. Terrible. I did see. I
think Jeff Jenkins here did a little article with somebody
from the maybe the Domestic Violence Coalition or an advocate
with the y w c A and and and the
(03:46):
title of the article was it didn't have to happen,
And it was sort of a layoff one to the
partly the judicial system about how they handle themestic violence
type issues. And and of course there's always more that
can be done. But and it was some talk about
(04:12):
well if we could have in some counties domestic violence
victims can appear remotely and that's the idea is that
that will help more victims report and follow through with
their cases of domestic violence. That may be the case.
(04:32):
I've done a lot of domestics over the years don't
do as many now. The we do do a little
work for legal aid. So legal aid is the if
you have a civil case, which a domestic violence protective
order case is, then on either side gets appointed counsel.
(04:54):
There's no threat of jail time. You don't have a
constitutional right to counsel when there's no threat of jail time.
But if you can't afford a lawyer in a domestic
case and you're a victim, you can conduct West Virginia
Legal Aid. And that's that's a service that's no charge
to the client if you qualify, and then they have
(05:16):
lawyers internally that will represent them. And that legal aid's
funded by donations, it's funded by some of the fees
that lawyers pay through the state bar, and then it's
filtered through to legal Aid. I know Charleston has a location.
I think they're spread throughout the state. But I, you know,
(05:38):
just to help because I know how to do it.
I volunteer if they are overbooked and there's a case
pending in Putnam County or Lincoln. Sometimes they'll call on
me and see if I'm willing to handle a case
for legal aid, and you just do it pro bono
and and so I do get involved in some domestic
(05:59):
cases like that. But what I really thought, over my
twenty some years of doing this, there are certain psychological
underlays of victims of long term domestic violence that I
don't think it's I don't know if I would say
it's not the court system's job. But it's also a
(06:20):
very difficult dynamic to ever overcome in a court system
versus some other type of social service. But I think
what I can speak to is the court system because
I've been involved in it. And if you're out there
and you are a victim of domestic violence in some form,
(06:41):
and it doesn't have to be physical, it can be
a threat of physical or other behavior that would put
a reasonable person in fear for their safety. There are
mechanisms in the court system now for help where you
can get out of a home or away from the perpetrator,
(07:02):
even for a short period of time. Call nine one one,
and there is an expart a process through magistrates where
you can go the other person's not even told about it.
The perpetrator and the magistrate will hear what you have
to say, and if they say, well that's not enough
for domestic violence, I just deny it, and nobody should
(07:24):
know you were ever at the courthouse to handle it.
And generally there's a manis there's supposed to be a
master don't call in every county twenty four hours for
emergencies like that. They rotate so that somebody is always
on call. But when you go through that process, if
what you write down and then swear to from the
magistrate is sufficient for a civil domestic violence protective what
(07:48):
are not a criminal case? Criminals different that has to
be prosecuted by law enforcement ultimately with the assistance of
the victim. But on a civil case, it you know,
the conduct doesn't have to be as severe as would
be necessary to constitute a crime. So there's you know, well,
it's not going to be he didn't do enough or
she didn't do enough to be real domestic violence because
(08:10):
they didn't hit me or something like that. That's not
it's very broad description. If there's a family or household
member that's behaving in a way that would put a
reasonable person in fear for their safety, and family and
household members also described in that statue very very broadly.
Dating formerly dating. I mean, it's such a anybody you
(08:36):
would conceive that could be considered reasonably as a family
member is pretty much defined as one in that statue.
So don't be too concerned that it's a you're not
married to them, so it's not domestic, or you weren't married.
You know, all that will be worked up by the magistrate.
But you go there. Ex party X party is just
legal term for one side of the others. The opponent,
(08:56):
so to speak, is not there, and you fill out
a petition, the master finds that it's sufficient, right, then
they'll send the sheriff out to serve the person. And
it's a restraining order. Keeps them from having contact, keep
them from having possession of firearms. It can award custody
of children. It can remove them from the home and
(09:20):
prohibit them from coming back. So a victim could wait
with law enforcement somewhere or a victim's advocate while law
enforcement goes and serves this restraining order, and they'll give
the person minutes usually, but the perpetray will be forced
to pack up their personal things and leave and go
(09:42):
somewhere else and don't come back. And so that now
then obviously they've got a right to be heard, because
they haven't had their side of the story told, so
then there's a hearing and follow up. Usually it's supposed
to be what it's supposed to be within ten business
days of that magestic court ruling, and that's up in
the or over in the family court, and then you
(10:04):
go and testify. But and that's where you might want
to hire a lawyer if you have one, or you
can afford one, or not call legal aid. But those
you know, for lawyers that it's easy for me to
say because I've been doing it a long time, But
those hearings usually are you know, when they're conducted by
(10:24):
the family court, it's it's not as formal as like
you see a jury trial or that kind of thing. Normally,
you just kind of you tell what happened to you
and you can be cross examined if the other person
has a lawyer, if they want to ask you some
questions and vice versa. But my experience has been if
if there's evidence of some domestic violence as described in
(10:47):
the statue, then the judges will grant them and then
that restraining order stays in place for normally one hundred
and eighty days, and then it can be automatically extended
a little bit longer, but that's it's pretty easy, at
least functionally to go get help if you're a victim
(11:10):
of domestic violence in West Virginia, and then there's always
more that can be done. But I think, you know,
I thought say it didn't have to happen in this
particular case, and sort of put some blame or fault
on the court system. I thought was a bit unfair
there in this situation. And I only know what I
read in the headlines and the news articles. But apparently
(11:33):
they'd been to court in twenty twenty one because there'd
been a gun displayed by the husband. I don't know
what happened with that case. Then he was charged with
domestic violence criminal I think last spring, and they'd served
him with the warrant not too long ago. And I
believe it's mandated by statute when bond is set for
(11:55):
a person charged with domestic violence. Of course, the personal
recognisance was where you sign your name saying if I
don't show up, I owe X amount of dollars, but
you swear you'll come back, or you post some money
that you'll abide by the terms of your bond. But
in domestic violence cases I believe it's mandated for the
magistrate to check a box. And one of the conditions
(12:17):
of your bond is to have no direct or indirect
contact with the victim, so that he was on that bond,
this this person, but somehow they're back in the house
together and hanging out with each other. And it just
made you know whether the wife should have been notified
(12:42):
of that provision or could have obviously inquired about it.
I know in Putnam County we through the prosecutor's office
and in the sheriff's office, they have a pretty active
victims kind of liaison type folks that are employed just
for that reason, and they do a good job, don't
This was Kenall County and I don't I don't know.
It's a bigger county. It can be a little bit different.
(13:04):
But at the same time, you know, if he was
near her, one call to the sheriff saying no, this
he's got he's on bond and he's near me, they
would likely come arrest him and revoke his bond and
he would spend some time in jail, or his bond
conditions would be modified somehow to alter his behavior. Now,
(13:25):
this may have been one of those cases where there's
just a long term bad relationship that involves domestic violence
and it just becomes like an echo chamber and it's
hard to get victims out of that situation.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Sometimes that's that's where the law works so well with
other advocacy groups, like what we were talking about, because
what you need to do is break the cycle of
abuse there. I'm not an expert in this, but but
I've done enough interviews to know that this is a
pretty classic example of somebody who basically can't quit the abuse.
You know, more than likely, I mean, keep on gravitating
(14:02):
back to that abusive relationship.
Speaker 5 (14:04):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
I struggle.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
You know, you get.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Even on the cases where I volunteer to do for
legal aid, sometimes you'll get to the hearing and my
client who's in those cases, there is always the victim
I want to drop it by the time we get
to the hearing, and all you can do. I mean,
they're adults and they're competent, and I counsel them on.
You know, you need to keep this in place. This
(14:28):
is there's a pattern here, and it's better for everybody,
and uh, you know, and but altimately they got to
make their own decision at that point, and it does
you know, it's frustrating, uh and you hate to see it,
and you know, there there's a whole array of things.
I mean, anybody in real life that's had long term
(14:51):
relationships knows that they're not always a smooth road, and
so there are one off incidents that can happen to people,
and then sometimes the system gets used for that and
maybe it just needs to be dropped because it wasn't
really really putting somebody in true fear for their safety.
But the system with the ability to go ex party
(15:12):
like that, you know, in a safe manner without telling
the other party, is really geared towards the true kind
of chronic domestic violence situations, or or someone so aggressive
they might track a person and you know, trying you know,
if they're notified of the initial hearing, they'll come and
(15:33):
try and intimidate the other party or something like that,
which is where you get into the remote attendance I think.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
But I.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Don't know how much that would help is going to
help ultimately, It certainly wouldn't hurt, but but that's you know,
I kind of want to get that out there as
a PSA. Hopefully nobody's you know, in that situation, and
we hate it, but it's the reality and it happens sometimes.
But there are, at least through the court system, there
are there are avenues for relief that as far as
(16:03):
the court system goes, are pretty easily accessible from a
functional standpoint. And so that is out there, and that
is available, and you do have the potential ability to
get counsel even if you can't afford counsel through the
Western legal aid system.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
So those things you have questions where there's all kinds
of resources online and everything that you can check out
for that. And if you're in one of those situations,
you need to and and just as a as sort
of a PSA attached to that, when you put the
mechanisms of law in your favor, you also have to
participate in that. So, for example, if somebody is violating
an order and being around your space, then you need
(16:43):
to execute that and call the authority and make sure
that you are using that to your advantage. Sure, you know,
not all this time we'll let you stay because you
seem to be in a good mood or whatever. That
that's going to kneecap the entire thing.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Right, And you know, it's all cyclical. Yeah, most people
that are abusers aren't abusers all the time. In fact,
what I see a lot of is really bad behavior,
sometimes physical abuse, and then all I'm so sorry, and
then it it's just a cycle that that happens over
and ever again. But the court, I mean, the court
system can only do so much, and there does need
(17:15):
to be some cooperation from the victim. And you know,
if there's a criminal charges up to the prosecutor I
know in Putnam Counting, unless there's a serious evidentiary issue
just because of a victim who initially complained and it
resulted in a criminal charge, comes back and says I
want this dropped. They have a general policy not to
drop those. It's got to be evidence based for some reason,
(17:37):
like well maybe we you know, the evidence is wrong,
there's not enough evidence. But they once it's filed, the
prosecutor tries to keep the victims motivated because they just
don't drop because drop the case because the victim says
they want it dropped. And having an uncooperative victim also
makes prosecution more difficult, of course, but they can issue
(17:59):
supena is and things like that. But certainly you're right.
I mean, there's a lot of cogs to that will,
and one of them is at least some participation and
cooperation in the court process or it's not going to work.
And of course there's a lot of underlying social and
psychological reasons that victims don't end up cooperating. But it's
(18:23):
at the same time, there's only so much a prosecuting
attorney can do if they won't come to court and
they won't say what happened. And all you can do
is try and provide protection and then and what the
best you.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Can hopeful the results for you have that. It's always
a tough situation and you hate to think about those
sort of things, but the avenues are there that are available.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
You just have to try to be aware.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
Of it, and there are folks that can help you
get out of a bad situation. If that's the case,
let's go and do this. We're already at our halfway points,
so we can take our break now and kind of
reset when we come back. So if you want to
give us a call, you're one welcome to any questions.
You can put the power of Payton on your side
today and give us call three zero four three four
five fifty eight fifty eight. No, it's right before the holiday.
So I have any questions you have, maybe something that
you're looking to tackle once the new year rolls around,
(19:05):
or other questions, just give us a call. Three zero
four three four five fifty fifty eight is our number.
You can text three zero four non three five five
zero zero eight. We'll take a break and be back
right after this. You're listening to Ask the Lawyer with
Tom Payton from the Faith In Law Firm on five ADWCCHS,
The Voice of Charleston.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
The latest in news, talking sports. When five ADWCHS has
brought to you about Jarrett Construction called three zero four
three four four ninety one forty for more than.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Actual time right on budget call on charity Choke Show.
Speaker 6 (19:34):
Join Mark Patrick Hypnosis and Lose the weight or Stop
smoking guaranteed only fifty nine ninety nine. That's right. Weight
Loss Hypnosis Wednesday, January fourteenth at the Holiday Inn in
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Speaker 2 (19:50):
Previously on Metro News talk Line.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
President of the West Virginia Hospital Association, Jim Kaufman joins us,
it's really a great opportunity.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
I got to give kudo to Dick Goafner and his
later working with everybody to get the application. As you've noted,
we got more than Walmart's dopple what we to guarantee
under this full health transformation program, which really has a
great opportunity to help us to prove access across the
Mountain State.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Metro New's Talk Line with Dave and TJ weekday mornings
from ten oh six till noon on this Metro News station.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Here listening to ask the lawyer. Tom Payton is in
the studio with us this morning, three zero four three
four five fifty fifty eight. By the way, based on
our previous conversation that we were having with domestic abuse, UH,
the National Domestic Abuse Hotline is one eight hundred seven
seventy two thirty three one eight seven seventy two thirty three.
So if you find yourself in one of those situations,
(20:51):
of course the Paython Law Froom can help you out
from a legal standpoint, but a lot of times you
need advocacy and other help to get out of those situations.
So if you're looking for some guidance and you're in
a situation with domestic violence. That hotline number is one
one hundred and seven nine nine seventy two thirty three.
I should get that out there.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Sure, And you can always, you know, call our office
or send us an email and you know, I can
give you the same type information or maybe walk you
through the process if you can't don't want to hire us,
or you can't for some reason.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
But uh, seven five five fifty fifty six, that's the
bation offront threes are four seven five five fifty five
fifty six seven five five fifty five fifty six.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yeah, we always try and help and it you know,
our office is closing at noon today and then we'm
gonna be open Friday. Now it is a state holiday
starting at noon today, and then the governor also gave
state employees off Friday as well. And then Chief Justice
(21:43):
woot you know the Supreme Court employees are I mean,
there's state employees, but they're not under the purview of
the governor. So the Justice woot and followed suit. So
courts will be closed midway through today and then Friday. However,
there is discretion with local judges and matters just I
(22:04):
mean because things may be scheduled for Friday. So if
you have a hearing set or something, you might want
to make some calls this morning and make sure firm
whether your hearing is going to take place or not.
They are allowed to conduct hearings on you know, sensitive
matters or time time matters. Even though the courthouse may
be closed, they'll let you in, so you might want
to make a call there.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Now, one of my great secrets every year, not really secrets,
but one of my sort of hidden truths, is that
one of my favorite dates every year is approximately January fifth,
and simply because it's when things kind of get back
to normal, right, It's like their vacations are over, holidays
are over, like you like. Frankly, I'm looking forward to
a five day work week. I have five days of
work I need to do regardless of how many days
(22:44):
I actually work. So having two days offering a week
sounds great, but also means you have to do five
days of work in three days.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
And that being said, like we I let the staff
off last Friday. Of course I was there. I met
with a client, worked the entire day, but got some
things done. But if you know when when we say
the law office is closed, that's really the staff. If
you need assistance from us, you can call the office
and be surprised I might be there and I answer
when I'm there. So otherwise, we do have a system
(23:13):
where you can you can tap you know, voicemail for
Tom and it's a it's you know, Internet provided phones,
and it actually sends me a voice file via email
when I get an email left for me, so I
can get that message anytime through my cell phone, because
of course get my emails on my iPhone and then
(23:35):
I always check emails and if it's something I can
respond to out of regular hours or it's an emergency
and I see it, then we'll get back with you.
So just because our office is closed doesn't mean we're
not doing business. That's just the way we do it
at our office. And either Dad or I will will respond.
(23:55):
So if you have an issued during hours in which
we say our office is closed, don't hesitate to go ahead,
wile on in your mind to either email or give
us a call and then leave a voicemail and we'll
hear it and we'll get back to you just as
soon as we can. I was looking it's been a
(24:15):
good year at Peyton Law Firm. Most years are unless
we have some kind of traumatic event or somebody gets sick,
and we haven't had that this year, and we've had
all the same staff members that work at our office
have been there all year and they're still there today.
So that's that's good. And you know, you judge, how
(24:37):
do you judge, but it's been a good year or not.
As a law firm, I don't know. I don't think
it's it's always good to make more money. And in
the nature of what we do, which is not just
billing ours, that's not what we do very well at
Peyton Law Firm. Frankly, a lot of our cases are
contingency fee, meaning we only get paid if we are
(24:58):
resolve an injury or a death case or an insurance
type case in your favor. Then there's a you know,
we get paid a percentage, and no one can control
when somebody is the victim of a traumatic unexpected event,
and nobody can control how many those folks call us
and how many those cases settled during a year. So
(25:19):
it's very cyclical income wise, and so you know, obviously
money's money and people in various cases I have said, well,
money doesn't matter, but ultimately in the end, in our society,
it matters to some extent anyway, one way or another.
But I kind of think about it, you know, how
have we how have we contributed to our local community?
(25:40):
How have we helped people? And you know, we don't
spend a lot of money. We're gonna do some a
little more. I got some billboard sprinkled here there. We're
gonna do a little more next year. No massive statewide
billboard campaigns, no massive television campaigns. Our deal here with
the radio is annual. And and Shawn, your salesman, you know,
(26:02):
twisted my arm and got me three years, so you'll
deal with us for at least one more year, every
every Thursday. But we do put a lot of our
resources that we might put into mass marketing or advertising
to try and I mean everybody out there listening, you know,
you don't see a whole lot of ads about will
(26:22):
help you with your boundary dispute or will help you
with your everyday issues like deeds and basic of state planning.
And it doesn't take a genius to figure out, well,
wondering while the ads are about death cases or truck
accidents or because that's where there's a potential to make
a significant amount of money, and that's fine. We do
(26:45):
a lot of those cases civil litigation type cases, and
we enjoy them because we like trying cases to juries
and we've had a lot of success in front of
juries and that helps you get cases settled in the
long run. But we also try and steer maybe some
of the dollars that we could use for that type
mass advertising to local community. You know, we sponsor a
lot of things in the local community, the YMCA. We
(27:06):
also participate actively on local nonprofit boards and things like that,
and there's no quid pro quo there, but we hope
that people at least in our neck of the woods
see that, respect that and trust us and have faith
that will do a good job if we represent them,
(27:27):
and then we get some reciprocation from folks and if
they have hopefully not. But if you have a friend
or family member that gets hurt in an accident, or
somebody's killed, or it's a diagnosis of mesothelioma, which is
just an awful, pretty much universally terminal type of lung
(27:49):
cancer caused by nothing but asbestos exposure, that you consider
us and give us a call, because we do a
good job and we care and we're very hands on
with your case. You don't get shuffled. We don't have
associates at our office right now. I might one day.
Nothing wrong with it, but you know, we're pretty selective
on the cases that we handle, and and we know
(28:12):
the facts really well, we know the law really well,
and we do really well. Jolly in front of jury's.
Nobody wins every case. Any lart claims they've never lost
a case in front of a jury either hasn't tried
any real cases, or their line, because you can't win
every case in front of jury's.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
I remember reading an article about it was something I
can't remember. It was something that politically connected, I think,
but there was an attorney at the center of the
thing and the attorneys. One of his big things was like,
I never lost a case, believe me on this. So
somebody finally did some due diligence on who this guy was.
I can't It wasn't even a prominent name. It was
just an article, kind of nerdy one that I kind
of got into. But anyway, it ended up that, yeah,
(28:51):
the guy never lost a case. He tried one and
it was relatively low stakes, and he won, and he
basically retired from the court room after that. Never lost
a case easy.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
It's not like most things in life, which you learn
with experience. There's not a whole lot of things that
are in real life maybe sports, but in real life, uh, business,
et cetera, where there's a clear quote winner and loser.
So when you say, you know, what if you had
(29:20):
what if you know, some insurance company offered your client
five hundred thousand dollars to settle and they, with your advice,
refused that and took it to a jury. Well, nobody
knows what that settlement offer was. It's not admissible, it's
generally private. And then you you win at trial, the
jury awards your client three hundred thousand dollars. Is that
(29:42):
a win?
Speaker 5 (29:42):
Right?
Speaker 4 (29:42):
Right?
Speaker 2 (29:43):
You could couch it as a win, right.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Well they did, Yeah, But it's just there's a lot
of dynamics to cases, and and you know, there's just
to say win or lose, and a lot of them
is not really a fair way to assess them anyway.
It plays well in advertise and that kind of thing,
but it's it's much more complicated than that, but we
(30:05):
you know, we have a very good track record in
performing well in front of jury's, both you know, in
civil cases. And I will say that with Dad and
I both and we try of course bad practice law
for I don't know, twenty some years before I got
out and joined him, but since I've been licensed to practice,
(30:28):
then we've co chaired multiple jury trials, both of us trying.
And maybe he'll do a little cross exam of one,
or I'll do opening, he'll do closing. I will say that,
you know, I think in all of those civil cases
we've tried, even in cases that were you know, I
thought maybe should have settled or were very difficult, we
have I think generally prevailed and almost universally in those
(30:51):
type cases. But now i've tried cases before and so
as Dad, that we've had results that are not what
we wanted. But I think because we don't sit together
in all trials, I mean, we'll try them individually. But
I think, you know, there's probably seven to ten civil
cases we've tried together. We both participated in some form
as kind of father son Peyton team, and I do
(31:14):
think we have prevailed in every one of those civil cases,
meaning we've gotten a result that was better than offered
prior to trial.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
One thing I wanted to you mentioned a moment ago
about you and Harvey's how you relate to the community,
and there's something to be said for and you guys
obviously do it the right way. And this is just
the end of the years, and what as well be
observation about these sorts of things. I've seen a lot
of I've been you know, I've been manager of a
(31:49):
lot of different companies. I've ran promotional departments, I've ran
a business side of things with marketing and stuff. And
you hear a lot of people say, we need to
find ways to engage the community. You know that. A
lot of people say that. You know a lot of
people say, well, we can build trust by building a
foundation in the community that people are going to relate to.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
It's absolutely true.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
How many people actually take the time to do it
from a from a legitimate standpoint very few. A lot
of people will throw marketing dollars at it and be like, oh,
you know, we're part of the community. We're part of
the community. We're part of the community. But people that
actually live what they say very few and far between.
You guys do that, and I think that authenticity is
what comes through. A lot of people can pretend to
be part of the community, you guys actually are.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Yeah, we get to. If you've ever served on boards
with that or I, then we're trying to be pretty
active on there, not just a fly on the wall.
Some people like that, some people don't. But you know,
you just feel like, as as members of the community
that are professionals, lawyers, a lot of experience doing everyday things,
that we can contribute something and you do sacrifice your
(32:47):
time to do it. That's the big sacrifice, your personal
time to do it. And it's it doesn't it isn't
necessarily a quid pro quo for income results at our business,
but that's just what we feel like we need to do.
And that was actually you know, basic deed work, basic
of state planning, helping people. You know, you don't know
(33:09):
when you're going to be in a car wreck, you
don't know when you're going to get an awful diagnosis
like mesothelioma. But every day people need help with certain things,
real estate questions, estate planning questions, how to handle a
basic state administration process. If you have a friend or
family member pass away and you need to help with that.
And I was just looking, you know, I do kind
(33:32):
of an end of the year review at the office,
and so I looked at I've got our cases kind
of categorized in a state planning and real estate, and
in this last year we helped it looks like over
three hundred different three hundred people Oh wow, doing basic
of state planning and deed work. And it's a variety
(33:54):
of things from loan closings to transferring death deeds to wills,
the power of attorneys and that type thing. So that's
pretty significant for a two lawyer office with you know,
four or five significant support staff paralegals, et cetera. So
(34:16):
you feel like we fill a gap in the community
on those type things because it just I think you
see folks go to law school and a lot of
them come out, and you know, there are folks that
do like doing real estate, but I think the majority
of my geared towards they want to go to those
firms that are they see the billboards for it, where
they want to go work for the firms that are
big corporate firms where you're working for insurance companies or
(34:39):
big business and you work your way up the lighter
to maybe potentially have your name on the letterhead as
an equity member partner in a firm. And so you know,
there is a gap there, I think for good competent
counsel to handle these kind of everyday matters for people.
And we could say, well, we just don't do that,
(34:59):
or we don't know how to do that. We only
do injury work or serious injuries, and and we could
steer all of our extra money towards advertising for that.
But that's just not the and there's nothing wrong with that,
it's just not the the mode of operation that we've adopted.
So I'm pretty proud of what we've done in the
(35:20):
last year, and hopefully we've helped the community, and we'll
look forward to continuing to do the same thing in
the in the year to come. Hopefully we can get
The only thing disappointed this year is just this animosity
and political rhetoric everybody. I hope that it cools down,
(35:40):
no matter what side everybody's on, because.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
You know what I did for the month of December,
I completely because I'm not I'm not part of the
news programs here, you know, I do the entertainment show
at three o'clock, so that's a three hour show. I
have to do this show. But during my because I
had vacations, a lot of vacations in the end of
November and December, had two weeks in a relatively short
amount of time. I checked out completely from all news,
stopped watching the news. I haven't been on social media
(36:07):
other than for work related things in weeks now, and
I've developed like three or four little hobbies that I
do again around the house. I started reading again. I
did that a couple of years ago. Where I used
to be a like literally I read a book or
two a week. Back when I own a bookstore, I'd
read one hundred books a year easy. I got way
out of that in the last decade of my life,
and so I went back to reading a lot. So, man,
(36:29):
I'm out of the news, I'm out of social media,
I said, at home, and I read. I have a
couple other projects I do I do with my daughter.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
I feel like you're out of the know though you
don't know what.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
A little bit.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
Yeah, honestly I do. But man, right now, I mean,
and it may not last long. I'm not saying that
it's a change in my life. But for the end
of twenty twenty five, it's what I needed to do.
And so although I feel a little bit disconnected from things,
I'm surprised when someone's like, hey, did you hear about this,
I'll be like, actually, I didn't. You know.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
I've conditioned myself to I mean, I I pretty much
have to stay on it and read it. I hear
you understand, because of different things I do, including my
business course, I have different from maybe ten years ago.
At this point, I just am not reactionary it almost
any I always take a deep breath or wait a
(37:16):
while before you decide to comment or reply to something,
and it's difficult sometimes, but at this point it's so
much information, almost overload. I've I've been able to just
stop myself from reacting and getting into this rhetoric. And
what I do worry about is the misinformation out there
AI and things it's getting. I thought I was good
(37:38):
at it about figuring out what is real and what isn't.
It's almost impossible now.
Speaker 4 (37:42):
Yeah, there's there's Like even six months ago, I felt
like there's a lot of cues that you can, like,
if you were read in on it, you could kind
of figure this stuff out now.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Good for addressive agency to address that from the government.
It just needs to be massive and dedicated. So by
the time, well listen, I want to think all the
listeners are regular Thursday list there's maybe got some mini
wins on Wednesday, and uh, we're looking forward to twenty
twenty six of Peyton Law Firm and planning on being
here every single Wednesday et scept Thanksgiving.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
That's right, every Thursday, but Thanksgiving the Peyton Law Firm,
Payton Lawfirm dot com, Peyton Lawfirm dot com and Nitro
West Virginia seven five five fifty five fifty six three
zero four seven five five fifty five fifty six seven
five five fifty five fifty six. Happy New Year to
you and your dad.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Happy New Year, Dad, appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Tom.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
Have a gret day, everyone day. Allan's coming out next
on five eighty Live. He'll be back at noon for Miday.
I'll be back this afternoon at three oh six on
the hotline. Have a great day. Everyone. Listening to five
at EWCCHSBRE The Voice of Charleston.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Five ad w C HSA M ninety six point five
an Charleston one oh four point five Cross Lanes l
UVRC Media Station. We're proud to live here too,
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