Latest / WCHS Network Podcasts / 09/12/2024 Ask the Lawyer with Tom Peyton

Transcript

09/12/2024 Ask the Lawyer with Tom Peyton · WCHS Network Podcasts

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Unlock your dream property with meex Realty Group, where rich
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the realtor makes real estate dreams a reality, whether it's
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: residential or commercial. We've got Charleston to Huntington covered. Your
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: key to exceptional real estate experience is start here Meeks
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Realty Group. Contact us at Meeks dot us.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: The views and opinions expressed on this program do not
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: necessarily reflect the views and opinions of five eight wchs
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: it's employees or WVRC Media.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Put the power of Paydon on the side.
• 0:30
  Speaker 4: We have a court room experience. On such a need,
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: we never give up. We're prepared to fight for your rights.
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: When you need action, count on us.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: Put the power of Magion on your side, the power.
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: Of Babe.
• 1:02
  Speaker 5: And if Red places a good morning. See you're listening
• 1:04
  Speaker 5: to ask the lawyer, you could put the power of
• 1:07
  Speaker 5: paytent on your side.
• 1:08
  Speaker 6: This morning.
• 1:08
  Speaker 5: Tom Payton is in studio with us this morning, and
• 1:10
  Speaker 5: you could call three zero four three four five fifty
• 1:11
  Speaker 5: eight fifty eight three zero four three four five fifty
• 1:13
  Speaker 5: eight fifty eight. We'll get the info out on the
• 1:15
  Speaker 5: Peyton Mall firm as the show goes on. This morning,
• 1:17
  Speaker 5: What Tom, Good morning, How you doing this morning.
• 1:18
  Speaker 7: I'm doing great. How are you?
• 1:19
  Speaker 5: I'm doing very well. Thanks for tuning in on this
• 1:22
  Speaker 5: on this Thursday morning, everybody, you can get in with
• 1:25
  Speaker 5: Tom Payton as I said, three zero four, three four
• 1:26
  Speaker 5: five fifty eight fifty eight. You can text over questions
• 1:28
  Speaker 5: to three zero four non three five five zeros your eight.
• 1:30
  Speaker 5: We're gonna have plenty of time for you to control
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: the conversation this morning. So if you want to call
• 1:34
  Speaker 5: in and ask Tom a question about the law or
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: anything else that we happy to come across this morning,
• 1:38
  Speaker 5: you're welcome to give us a call or a text
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: this morning and Tom can try to help you out
• 1:42
  Speaker 5: or comment on that.
• 1:44
  Speaker 6: What's going on, man, things going pretty much.
• 1:46
  Speaker 8: Paul Ha's been really busy, so I was actually had
• 1:48
  Speaker 8: my first opportunity to return calls in a few days yesterday,
• 1:51
  Speaker 8: so I got quite a few returns. But I just
• 1:54
  Speaker 8: really like doing the radio show because if you do
• 1:55
  Speaker 8: have a legal question, it's a good opportunity for me,
• 1:57
  Speaker 8: without any distractions, to give some information out. So if
• 2:01
  Speaker 8: you if you're thinking about calling or texting or have
• 2:03
  Speaker 8: a question, don't hesitate. You can text now too, so
• 2:05
  Speaker 8: you don't have to worry about. If you don't like
• 2:07
  Speaker 8: being on the radio and that kind of.
• 2:09
  Speaker 6: Thing, you can use whatever name. This should be obvious.
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: But if you don't like, if it's a legal question,
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: because we do the show with John Bredeto and people
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: don't like talking about their finances on the air and
• 2:16
  Speaker 5: stuff like that, you can be John Doe. It's fine,
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: don't We don't necessarily.
• 2:19
  Speaker 8: Care, and we don't really have a We don't have
• 2:20
  Speaker 8: a call screen or no, we don't even hear the screen,
• 2:22
  Speaker 8: so when when you hear it on the other than
• 2:24
  Speaker 8: I guess there's a seven second delay in case somebody
• 2:27
  Speaker 8: slips up exactly. But beyond that, nobody screens calls here
• 2:31
  Speaker 8: when I hear when when I hear the question, I'm
• 2:34
  Speaker 8: hearing it just like you're hearing it.
• 2:35
  Speaker 7: Out in the audience.
• 2:36
  Speaker 6: That's right.
• 2:36
  Speaker 8: So you can call anonymously. You just like to have
• 2:39
  Speaker 8: a name so we know who we're talking about, but
• 2:40
  Speaker 8: it doesn't have to be your your real name, right,
• 2:43
  Speaker 8: And of course, if there's an issue that we need
• 2:45
  Speaker 8: more detailed information on that's private, uh, then you know
• 2:49
  Speaker 8: I'm always glad to follow up via an email.
• 2:51
  Speaker 7: Or through the office. You don't have to do that
• 2:53
  Speaker 7: on the radio, that's right, Eterney client privilege.
• 2:55
  Speaker 8: Obviously, it wouldn't apply one on the radio because if
• 2:58
  Speaker 8: third parties are listening then and you consent to that,
• 3:01
  Speaker 8: then you avoid the attorney client privilege in almost all circumstances.
• 3:04
  Speaker 8: But attorney client privilege still holds true even for initial
• 3:08
  Speaker 8: consultations or just initial calls or emails. So nobody, you know,
• 3:13
  Speaker 8: nobody at our office will ever tell anyone that you
• 3:17
  Speaker 8: even contacted our office.
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: So even if you don't engage your services, so that's
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: still protecting that's right.
• 3:21
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean not with going through the rules of
• 3:24
  Speaker 8: professional conduct, but that's our I'm sure that's right, and
• 3:27
  Speaker 8: that's the way we operate anyways, So you really shouldn't
• 3:30
  Speaker 8: hesitate to if we have a you know, we do
• 3:32
  Speaker 8: a conflict check normally, who who's the other party involved?
• 3:35
  Speaker 8: If it involves more than one person, we have to
• 3:36
  Speaker 8: ask those questions to make sure we don't have a conflict,
• 3:39
  Speaker 8: and if we do, you know, we can't assist any
• 3:43
  Speaker 8: further at that point and really can't give out much
• 3:45
  Speaker 8: more information about why we have a conflict because we
• 3:47
  Speaker 8: can't disclose what our the other person we talk to
• 3:51
  Speaker 8: or the reason why we have a conflict to you.
• 3:53
  Speaker 8: But but it's still a good opportunity to get some
• 3:56
  Speaker 8: information here. Today we donated the this Week's UH Time
• 4:02
  Speaker 8: to the Heart Associate that I listed. It was really good.
• 4:05
  Speaker 8: So one of my I didn't know Kevin was going
• 4:08
  Speaker 8: to be here. I thought somebody else was coming. But
• 4:09
  Speaker 8: Kevin Palley is one of my friends from school. I've
• 4:12
  Speaker 8: known him since junior high and he's a real high
• 4:13
  Speaker 8: energy guy and did a great job on the show.
• 4:15
  Speaker 8: And they had Grant I forget he's the chair of
• 4:18
  Speaker 8: the board.
• 4:18
  Speaker 6: I believe during the show many times I.
• 4:20
  Speaker 8: Don't know where he's got an international from Australia. Yea Australia, Okay,
• 4:23
  Speaker 8: that's what I thought. And so that that went well.
• 4:25
  Speaker 8: They got the Heart Walk coming up, so and of
• 4:27
  Speaker 8: course they talked about that, but I think it's early October,
• 4:31
  Speaker 8: but I'm sure you get on their website if Yeah,
• 4:34
  Speaker 8: heart disease is a problem everywhere, but in particular it's
• 4:37
  Speaker 8: I don't know if it's the number one killer in
• 4:39
  Speaker 8: West Virginia, but it's close.
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: It's the Yeah, the velocity that it has in West
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: Virginia is greater than most other states and our code
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: morbidity factors here really play into that a lot, with
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: the smoking and things like those lines.
• 4:50
  Speaker 8: So yeah, lawyers, because we got stress and alcohol is
• 4:55
  Speaker 8: a problem and and things like that with the type
• 4:57
  Speaker 8: of work that we do. And actually, Justice Walker at
• 5:00
  Speaker 8: the Spreme Court is really pushing hard a health initiative.
• 5:03
  Speaker 8: I haven't I'm not sure what she's doing now, but
• 5:06
  Speaker 8: she's really she's gotten really healthy over the last few years.
• 5:10
  Speaker 8: And I was able to see her speak at the
• 5:12
  Speaker 8: State Bar meeting and she's really promoting that. I hope
• 5:15
  Speaker 8: she gets get some action done there and we can
• 5:18
  Speaker 8: get some programs in place.
• 5:19
  Speaker 6: But oh, great idea. So it's for attorneys in general.
• 5:23
  Speaker 8: Yeah, OK, started promoting a healthy lifestyle. I mean really,
• 5:26
  Speaker 8: because you know, I try and stay generally healthy and
• 5:29
  Speaker 8: in decent shape. But you know, it translates not just
• 5:34
  Speaker 8: from physical health but to mental health. I mean, I
• 5:36
  Speaker 8: think it's all all connected. If I don't get some exercise,
• 5:39
  Speaker 8: and if which happens because you get busy doing other things,
• 5:42
  Speaker 8: but if I don't get some exercise a few times
• 5:43
  Speaker 8: a week, it starts to affect my mental health exactly.
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: I mean, that's something that I haven't done my whole life,
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: but for the last five or six years I have been,
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: and generally five or six mornings a week, I'll I'll
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: work out and if I if I miss one day,
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: I'm like, yeah, you know that's you know, things happen
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: every and if i'd like missed too, I start feeling
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: sluggish or like my mind's a little so like I
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: need that good burn. I think sometimes just to clear
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: my head a little bit.
• 6:06
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I start thinking about how I need to exercise. Right,
• 6:08
  Speaker 8: it goes on itself, right, you don't do it over
• 6:10
  Speaker 8: and over again. But anyway, so you know, maybe talk
• 6:14
  Speaker 8: a little bit about what we do. I know we
• 6:15
  Speaker 8: have a lot of little listeners, so it's probably a
• 6:17
  Speaker 8: bit of a repeat. But you know our office is
• 6:20
  Speaker 8: in Nitro. There it's it's Dad and I and then
• 6:22
  Speaker 8: we have a a nice robust staff with a lot
• 6:25
  Speaker 8: of experience that are quite helpful. If you have basic questions,
• 6:29
  Speaker 8: don't hesitate to give us a call. You can stop
• 6:31
  Speaker 8: buy our office. It's twenty to oh one First Avenue
• 6:33
  Speaker 8: and Nitro, so it's right off the main drag there.
• 6:36
  Speaker 8: But you know, i'd say the bread and butter, what
• 6:38
  Speaker 8: we do. What we're really good at is trial work
• 6:41
  Speaker 8: on behalf of consumers, meaning folks that have issues whether
• 6:46
  Speaker 8: maybe their families have issues going up against an insurance
• 6:49
  Speaker 8: company or a big business because they've been harmed in
• 6:51
  Speaker 8: some way, whether physically or financially. And then when I
• 6:54
  Speaker 8: say trial lawyers, that means that you know, a lot
• 6:57
  Speaker 8: of cases settle. You know, frankly, we settle most of
• 6:59
  Speaker 8: our claims without ever getting into a lawsuit. So calling
• 7:02
  Speaker 8: us and having us help, for example, with an automobile
• 7:05
  Speaker 8: accident claim, or you get hurt on somebody's property because
• 7:09
  Speaker 8: of a dangerous condition, those are not lawsuits. When you
• 7:12
  Speaker 8: hire us, we have you know, most of those get
• 7:14
  Speaker 8: resolved long before you get in an actual lawsuit. It's
• 7:17
  Speaker 8: a private claim process with the insurance carrier. But they
• 7:20
  Speaker 8: settle because a lot of different reasons. But one of
• 7:23
  Speaker 8: the reasons they settle is because they know we'll take
• 7:26
  Speaker 8: it to trial and we'll file a lawsuit if we
• 7:28
  Speaker 8: have to, and we generally get good results at trial.
• 7:31
  Speaker 8: And those are usually and what we'd like to do
• 7:34
  Speaker 8: or try cases to juries kind of like you know,
• 7:37
  Speaker 8: I like trying cases to juries. That doesn't I mean
• 7:40
  Speaker 8: everybody should be a little nervous when they go into trial,
• 7:43
  Speaker 8: but I've done so many of them and I'm comfortable
• 7:45
  Speaker 8: with them. And as long as you're prepared, then it
• 7:50
  Speaker 8: shouldn't be a miserable experience. I know it's difficult for
• 7:54
  Speaker 8: the clients sometimes because they haven't been Most of my
• 7:57
  Speaker 8: clients have not been through a jury trial before, but
• 8:00
  Speaker 8: we generally do well there, and jury trials are valuable.
• 8:03
  Speaker 8: That's the equalizer. And of course, you know, you say, well,
• 8:09
  Speaker 8: what if I can't afford a lawyer. The kind of
• 8:11
  Speaker 8: work we do, for the most part, at least in
• 8:13
  Speaker 8: this scope of work, is all contingency fees. So if
• 8:16
  Speaker 8: we take the case, then you don't pay us anything
• 8:19
  Speaker 8: for our time, whether we get a result favorable to
• 8:24
  Speaker 8: you or not. And we also advance the costs. So
• 8:27
  Speaker 8: there can be cases that complex cases where you might
• 8:30
  Speaker 8: have not every case, of course, but you could have
• 8:33
  Speaker 8: cases if there's a very very bad debilitating injury or
• 8:36
  Speaker 8: death where you have one hundred thousand dollars an expert
• 8:38
  Speaker 8: and other costs that we have to advance. And so
• 8:43
  Speaker 8: the way we work is if let's say we have
• 8:45
  Speaker 8: that situation and we go all the way through to
• 8:48
  Speaker 8: a jury trial and unfortunately the jury comes back in
• 8:51
  Speaker 8: a way that's unfavorable to our client. Then you don't
• 8:54
  Speaker 8: have to pay us back for that money that we advanced.
• 8:57
  Speaker 8: And of course you don't pay us anything for the
• 8:59
  Speaker 8: lawyer or the staff time or of that scenario. But
• 9:02
  Speaker 8: what that allows us to do, because we've got resources
• 9:05
  Speaker 8: to do that, we can combat the largest insurance companies
• 9:10
  Speaker 8: or corporate interests in the world period, especially with technology
• 9:14
  Speaker 8: these days. So so well, you don't have an army
• 9:16
  Speaker 8: of lawyers there, you're not the Walmart of law firms. Well,
• 9:20
  Speaker 8: first of all, you don't want the Walmart of law
• 9:22
  Speaker 8: firms in my opinion, because you know I do most
• 9:25
  Speaker 8: almost all of my well I do all of my
• 9:26
  Speaker 8: own research. I'm the one reading the cases and preparing
• 9:30
  Speaker 8: the case, not not somebody else, and so that has
• 9:34
  Speaker 8: significant value as well.
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: But if you want an analogy, it's like buying a
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: suit off the racket at GC Pennies compared to getting
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: a tony of the Taylor's. You know, you're you're getting
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: something customized for the region. That's you know that they
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: know you know the region. The Peyton Law Firm knows
• 9:48
  Speaker 5: the region you're here. You know the people. You know,
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: the court clerks, the judges. I mean, you're you're from
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: the area, which is unlike calling an eight hundre number
• 9:55
  Speaker 5: and getting somebody assigned to your case. It's legal to
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: practice in this area. It's a composer.
• 9:59
  Speaker 8: I've been doing this for over twenty years, and because
• 10:01
  Speaker 8: i'm I'm our first level IT guy at the office too,
• 10:05
  Speaker 8: so I'm pretty decent technology wized. But technology is what
• 10:11
  Speaker 8: also evens the playing field because I can do the
• 10:13
  Speaker 8: same legal research myself that affirm with ten associates can do,
• 10:18
  Speaker 8: and I think I can do it better and more
• 10:20
  Speaker 8: efficiently because I'm not an associate.
• 10:22
  Speaker 7: I've been doing it for twenty years.
• 10:24
  Speaker 8: And the way we at least that operated when when
• 10:27
  Speaker 8: I got out of law school, I was kind of
• 10:29
  Speaker 8: thrown in the fire. So I've been doing it myself
• 10:31
  Speaker 8: with his assistance of course early on. And so we're
• 10:35
  Speaker 8: you know, you don't lose anything by hiring our firm
• 10:39
  Speaker 8: compared to the biggest firm in the country or whatever.
• 10:43
  Speaker 8: And I think you gained something with that. But what
• 10:46
  Speaker 8: a jury trial allows us to do, For example, you
• 10:48
  Speaker 8: can go into the Circuit court of Putnam County in Winfield,
• 10:51
  Speaker 8: West Virginia, and get a jury of six people of
• 10:55
  Speaker 8: peers that have been vetted somewhat so they're hopefully not
• 10:58
  Speaker 8: unfairly biased in favor against either party. And you can
• 11:03
  Speaker 8: try your case against the lawyers for the big insurance company,
• 11:08
  Speaker 8: and uh, everybody talks to the same six people. Then
• 11:12
  Speaker 8: they go back in a room by themselves and you
• 11:14
  Speaker 8: don't get to hear what they're saying back there. And
• 11:16
  Speaker 8: then they decide your case. They fill in a form
• 11:18
  Speaker 8: called a Jerry verdict form, and then they bring it
• 11:21
  Speaker 8: back hand.
• 11:22
  Speaker 7: It to the judge.
• 11:23
  Speaker 8: Nobody knows what the result is at that point of
• 11:25
  Speaker 8: the judge he opens up the form. It's sometimes it's
• 11:28
  Speaker 8: an envelope where it's folded up, and then the judge
• 11:30
  Speaker 8: reads an open court what the verdict is. None of
• 11:32
  Speaker 8: than those six people that made the decision. Nobody in
• 11:35
  Speaker 8: the courtroom knows what the decision is until the judge
• 11:37
  Speaker 8: reads it. But you know, and that's valuable, and so
• 11:41
  Speaker 8: that when you when you hear things talking about tort
• 11:46
  Speaker 8: reform and that kind of junk that you hear from
• 11:51
  Speaker 8: politicians a lot of times, or you know, they mask
• 11:54
  Speaker 8: their their special interests by weird names like cal or
• 12:00
  Speaker 8: Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.
• 12:03
  Speaker 6: Or something.
• 12:04
  Speaker 8: Well, they're just fronts for big business exactly, and they
• 12:07
  Speaker 8: push an agenda because they don't like jury trials, because
• 12:12
  Speaker 8: the powerful people don't like when the other people can
• 12:15
  Speaker 8: stand up to them on an equal playing.
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: Feudre As somebody that gets solicited by these companies a
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: lot for airtime, you get the solicitation to go in
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: the air and the questions to ask at the same time. Okay,
• 12:26
  Speaker 5: so a lot of the times.
• 12:28
  Speaker 8: You're getting to that kind of segues. I was looking
• 12:31
  Speaker 8: at the district Court's website yesterday, the Southern District Court
• 12:36
  Speaker 8: of Western it's the federal court, and all opinions in essence,
• 12:40
  Speaker 8: unless they're confidential, are published. I mean, I can find
• 12:43
  Speaker 8: almost every opinion across the country on the internet via
• 12:45
  Speaker 8: my search engine. If I know the case is there,
• 12:49
  Speaker 8: I can find it within two minutes normally. But the
• 12:52
  Speaker 8: judges that make decisions in the in the at least
• 12:54
  Speaker 8: in the Southern District, they'll publish some opinions on the website.
• 12:58
  Speaker 8: Click on a tab and it's it's readily aailable to
• 13:00
  Speaker 8: the public, and so they don't they don't put a
• 13:03
  Speaker 8: whole lot on there. Maybe you might get one a
• 13:05
  Speaker 8: month or one every every couple of months. But I
• 13:07
  Speaker 8: did run into one yesterday. It was Judge Volk from
• 13:10
  Speaker 8: down in Uh. He's in Beckley now. He was actually
• 13:13
  Speaker 8: Judged Copenhaamer's clerk for a long period of time, I believe,
• 13:16
  Speaker 8: law clerk, and he became the bankruptcy judge here in
• 13:19
  Speaker 8: the second District and or Southern District, and now for
• 13:23
  Speaker 8: a few years now, I guess he's been actually the
• 13:25
  Speaker 8: district judge. The Kim and Judge Berger are the federal
• 13:29
  Speaker 8: district judges down in the Beckley division of the Southern
• 13:32
  Speaker 8: District of West Virginia. But I had to do with
• 13:34
  Speaker 8: with jury service. That's interesting. Let's see why he published it.
• 13:39
  Speaker 8: But it's a it's an order where a person was
• 13:44
  Speaker 8: hailed to jury service. So uh, you know, if you
• 13:47
  Speaker 8: ever been called for a jury. Now, this is federal court,
• 13:49
  Speaker 8: and of course you have circuit court and magistrate court.
• 13:51
  Speaker 8: You don't have a whole lot of jury trials and
• 13:53
  Speaker 8: magistrate court in West Virginia, but you have a lot
• 13:55
  Speaker 8: in circuit court. That's the primary trial court. So if
• 13:58
  Speaker 8: you get a in circuit court. If you get a
• 14:00
  Speaker 8: notice that you're going to be on the jury. Usually
• 14:02
  Speaker 8: that's half a term of court, so that would be
• 14:04
  Speaker 8: like two months you were basically on call to be
• 14:07
  Speaker 8: on the jury. And what that means is normally at
• 14:10
  Speaker 8: the beginning, you go to one session where there's a
• 14:13
  Speaker 8: large group of potential jurors I don't know, it might
• 14:16
  Speaker 8: be one hundred or so even and they give jury orientation,
• 14:21
  Speaker 8: So they tell you about one of the judges, usually
• 14:23
  Speaker 8: the chief judge of that circuit. We'll talk about, you know,
• 14:26
  Speaker 8: here's how juries work, and here's why it's important.
• 14:29
  Speaker 7: That kind of thing.
• 14:29
  Speaker 8: Then after that, you may never be called back again.
• 14:32
  Speaker 8: So if you get that initial letter and you know
• 14:35
  Speaker 8: it's a going to be a major problem for you
• 14:37
  Speaker 8: to serve on a jury, it's not necessarily a concern
• 14:39
  Speaker 8: at the beginning because you may never be called. I
• 14:42
  Speaker 8: know what Putnam used to do and I think they
• 14:44
  Speaker 8: still do, is, you know, you just call in every Friday,
• 14:46
  Speaker 8: and then there's a message listing the jurors that actually
• 14:49
  Speaker 8: need to show up that following say Monday or Tuesday,
• 14:52
  Speaker 8: when a trial starts. Now, even when you show up,
• 14:54
  Speaker 8: then there's a whole other layer, because, for example, most
• 14:58
  Speaker 8: civil juries are six six person juries, but.
• 15:03
  Speaker 7: You have issues with jurors that show.
• 15:05
  Speaker 8: Up and then they don't know anything about the case
• 15:06
  Speaker 8: till they get there, and then they might have conflicts
• 15:10
  Speaker 8: or some reason that they wouldn't be a couldn't be
• 15:12
  Speaker 8: a fair and impartial jury for that particular case. Then
• 15:14
  Speaker 8: they're struck for cause, meaning they just there's reasons why
• 15:17
  Speaker 8: they can't be on the juries. Then you get to
• 15:19
  Speaker 8: leave if that's the case. And then there's each Each
• 15:22
  Speaker 8: side has what they call peremptory challenges where they can
• 15:24
  Speaker 8: go and once you get a fair number of jurors
• 15:28
  Speaker 8: more than six, of course, then you can just strike
• 15:31
  Speaker 8: out a couple you don't have to tell anybody why,
• 15:33
  Speaker 8: and then they get removed as well. So you've got
• 15:35
  Speaker 8: to make it through all that process. They might call
• 15:37
  Speaker 8: twenty jurors in for the trial, and of course you're
• 15:39
  Speaker 8: whittling it down to six ultimately, sometimes with an alternate,
• 15:43
  Speaker 8: and an alternate doesn't know they're an alternate ordinarily, and
• 15:46
  Speaker 8: then they hear the whole case, and then they get
• 15:47
  Speaker 8: dismissed right before deliberations start, which I'm sure is disappointing.
• 15:51
  Speaker 7: But this case in.
• 15:53
  Speaker 8: The Southern District that Judge Volk ruled on, apparently this
• 15:57
  Speaker 8: person did not appear when held to a potential jury trial,
• 16:04
  Speaker 8: So that would be like, you need to be here
• 16:06
  Speaker 8: on Monday for a jury trial, doesn't mean you have
• 16:08
  Speaker 8: to serve on the jury. And you always answer questionnaires,
• 16:11
  Speaker 8: or normally you do when you are selected.
• 16:13
  Speaker 7: Generally for a jury service.
• 16:15
  Speaker 8: They have some basic information, you know, employment, sometimes address,
• 16:19
  Speaker 8: maybe what your spouse does, that kind of thing. And
• 16:23
  Speaker 8: I guess this fella had scribbled someone in his questionnaire
• 16:26
  Speaker 8: like he's hard of hearing and some other issue he had.
• 16:29
  Speaker 8: But he didn't shop for the Monday jury service. And
• 16:33
  Speaker 8: of course they send a letter out, not just a call,
• 16:36
  Speaker 8: so the letter has gotten bold print, like you know,
• 16:39
  Speaker 8: you need to be here at this time in this date.
• 16:41
  Speaker 8: He didn't show up, So just Bolk issued what is
• 16:45
  Speaker 8: in essence of a summons at that point that a
• 16:47
  Speaker 8: US marshall hand delivered to this person said you need
• 16:50
  Speaker 8: to be here now on this new date, and because
• 16:54
  Speaker 8: you might be held in contempt, so you need to
• 16:56
  Speaker 8: come and show good calls for why you didn't sho
• 16:59
  Speaker 8: up in the first place. And he didn't appear for
• 17:03
  Speaker 8: that hearing on time, and they knew he was served
• 17:06
  Speaker 8: because the US Marshall handed it to the person. He
• 17:10
  Speaker 8: did show up, actually he showed up a half hour late,
• 17:12
  Speaker 8: which Judge Vulk basically considered as not showing up at all,
• 17:15
  Speaker 8: not calling the court, not explaining, hey I can't make
• 17:18
  Speaker 8: it there on time or anything like that. I just
• 17:22
  Speaker 8: sounded like from the order, he just kind of sauntered
• 17:24
  Speaker 8: in a half hour late like it was no big deal.
• 17:26
  Speaker 8: And of course that didn't go over very well. And
• 17:28
  Speaker 8: I think Judge Vulk tried to get an explanation for
• 17:30
  Speaker 8: why he didn't show up initially, and it was just equivocal.
• 17:35
  Speaker 8: Didn't have any medical records to support the hearing issue
• 17:38
  Speaker 8: that he claimed that he had. And Judge Vulk noted that, well,
• 17:43
  Speaker 8: we have a lot of other folks that showed up
• 17:45
  Speaker 8: for a jury duty that had more difficulties than you
• 17:48
  Speaker 8: and attending for a jury service. But it was interesting
• 17:51
  Speaker 8: it plays out, so ultimately Judge Vulk found him in
• 17:56
  Speaker 8: contempt and didn't find him one thousand dollars. And this
• 18:01
  Speaker 8: is an order from a situation that happened back in
• 18:03
  Speaker 8: the spring and the order was entered in June. Just
• 18:06
  Speaker 8: got posted to the website recently. But it was interesting
• 18:10
  Speaker 8: because he he finned him a thousand dollars, held him
• 18:13
  Speaker 8: in contempt, but he gave him some alternatives. So he
• 18:17
  Speaker 8: gave him about fifteen days to write a letter and
• 18:23
  Speaker 8: explain with medical records why he didn't appear or think
• 18:28
  Speaker 8: he needed to appear for jury service. I need to
• 18:31
  Speaker 8: put in the show why he was remorseful in the letter,
• 18:37
  Speaker 8: and he had some other cavet as well. But he
• 18:39
  Speaker 8: also then said, plus, you need to perform two different.
• 18:44
  Speaker 7: Acts of community service.
• 18:47
  Speaker 8: And certify back to me in this letter that you've
• 18:52
  Speaker 8: performed those acts, and then you'll be what they call
• 18:55
  Speaker 8: pursed of contempt.
• 18:56
  Speaker 7: I mean, you won't be in contempting longer and wouldn't
• 18:58
  Speaker 7: have to pay the thousand dollars.
• 18:59
  Speaker 8: So I don't know how it played out, whether he
• 19:01
  Speaker 8: sent the letter in and did his community service or not,
• 19:05
  Speaker 8: but I thought that was a creative way to address
• 19:08
  Speaker 8: that situation.
• 19:10
  Speaker 7: I mean, you're in contempt. You can actually.
• 19:12
  Speaker 8: Be be incarcerated when you're when you're in contempt of court,
• 19:16
  Speaker 8: meaning you just violated a court order what they call
• 19:19
  Speaker 8: contumaciously or without good cause, intentionally just ignored the court order,
• 19:23
  Speaker 8: and so you don't often see how that plays out
• 19:26
  Speaker 8: because it's you know, it's not necessarily part of a
• 19:30
  Speaker 8: particular case. And so I thought it was interesting to
• 19:32
  Speaker 8: see how Judge Volk handled that. I thought it was
• 19:35
  Speaker 8: a good fair way for him to handle it.
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: And it really reminds making it public like that also
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: reminds folks how important jury duty is, exactly what it
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: means to your fellow citizens, what it means to the
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: rule of law on the land. I mean, that is
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: a civic duty. My mom, for example, she's always been
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: high mind. It would have come to like if she
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: was called for jury duty, she was ready to. I mean,
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: that's something that I wouldn't say she was looking forward to,
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: but she understoo it was a service she had to do.
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: She got she finally got called the jury duty a
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: couple of years ago, and it was the height of
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: frustration for it because it is in the middle of
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: COVID and the whole thing just drove her nuts because
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: they were constantly being moved from place to place, constantly
• 20:12
  Speaker 5: in face masks, they had to do with things over
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: video and stuff like that. It wasn't the experience that
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: she wanted to contribute to, but she contributed to it
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: nonetheless doing what she had to do. But that sibbing
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: mind because you hear so many people wanting to weaponize
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: the law in people that tell you then people that
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: are being suppressed to not use the law in their favor,
• 20:30
  Speaker 5: which is what we were talking about earlier, like with to
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: reform and things like that. Having just citizens sitting in
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: view of their of their fellow citizens to arrive at
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: conclusions is very important because you don't want to leave
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: these to people with motivated reasoning or something like that.
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: You need just regular people to.
• 20:45
  Speaker 7: Make enjoy being on jury duty for a lot of reasons.
• 20:50
  Speaker 8: And I'm self employed so I can use a work
• 20:52
  Speaker 8: my stategil out and a lot of larger employers and
• 20:55
  Speaker 8: even smaller ones have jury duty policies where they won't
• 20:59
  Speaker 8: take most of them will pay even if you go
• 21:02
  Speaker 8: to jury. You do get paid to be on the
• 21:04
  Speaker 8: jury too. It's not I don't know, it's a daily amount,
• 21:06
  Speaker 8: maybe forty dollars a day or something like that. But
• 21:08
  Speaker 8: I was selected for in the jury pool in Putnam
• 21:11
  Speaker 8: County at one point. It's been years ago, ten twelve
• 21:14
  Speaker 8: years ago and actually got up in the box. They
• 21:18
  Speaker 8: spun the wheel and I was one of the ones
• 21:19
  Speaker 8: selected to go in the jury box. But yeah, I
• 21:22
  Speaker 8: knew the judge, I knew the defense lawyer. I knew
• 21:23
  Speaker 8: the prosecutor, I knew the defendant.
• 21:25
  Speaker 7: I knew the witnesses. So I was summarily excused at that.
• 21:31
  Speaker 6: Kind of difficult at that point.
• 21:32
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean there's nothing. I mean, lawyers can serve
• 21:34
  Speaker 8: on it. But you take a break. Yeah, we want
• 21:36
  Speaker 8: a break and we'll start finish this conversation.
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: Yeah, let's also if you have any questions, it'd always
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: still have a little over fifteen minutes on the air.
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: And I know that Tom is always very interesting in
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: the information that he brings up. But hey, if you
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: have a league issue, or maybe a loved one, something
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: that dis going one in your family, or something you
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: want to get some advice when you give Tom this
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: morning a call this morning and he can help you
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: out point in the right direction or maybe make some arrangements.
• 21:58
  Speaker 5: Right after the show, give us a call through or
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: a fourth fe four five fifty eight fifty eight three
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: four five fifty eight fifty eight. You can text over
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: your questions or concerns. The three zero four non three
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: five five zero zero eighth three zero four non three
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: five five zero zero eighth. We'll take a break, be
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: backward after this. You're listening to Ask the Lawyer with
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: Tom Payton from the Pathon Law Firm on five.
• 22:14
  Speaker 6: Dwcchs the Voice for Charleston.
• 22:16
  Speaker 9: At GARB Dental Group, we love to see your smile.
• 22:19
  Speaker 9: Take proactive steps towards optimal oral health with our comprehensive
• 22:23
  Speaker 9: preventive care services. Our team of experienced doctors at six
• 22:26
  Speaker 9: convenient locations is passionate about keeping your smile healthy and frights.
• 22:31
  Speaker 9: From regular checkups and cleanings to advanced treatment, we are
• 22:34
  Speaker 9: here to prevent dental issues before they start. Visit Greebdentalgroup
• 22:38
  Speaker 9: dot com to learn more and experience personalized care tailored
• 22:42
  Speaker 9: to your needs. Garib Dental Group, where your smile receives
• 22:45
  Speaker 9: the care it deserves.
• 22:46
  Speaker 10: According to USA Today, one in seven children in West
• 22:50
  Speaker 10: Virginia face food insecurity issues. Hi, I'm Jason Quintrel, President
• 22:54
  Speaker 10: and CEO of Union Mission Ministries. There are some obstacles
• 22:58
  Speaker 10: our children face with the access to food, despite many
• 23:01
  Speaker 10: feeding programs available.
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: That is why.
• 23:03
  Speaker 10: Union Mission has partnered with some local middle schools to
• 23:06
  Speaker 10: place food directly into the hands of children who need it.
• 23:10
  Speaker 10: Help us remove those obstacles and help feed our kids.
• 23:14
  Speaker 10: Visit Union mission dot com to learn more.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: Put the power of Peyton on the side.
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: We have the courtroom experience that you need. We never
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: give up. We're prepared to fight for your rights. When
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: you need action, count on us.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: Put the power of Payton on your side, the power
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: of paying.
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: You are listening to the power of patenting. You can
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: put the power of Payton on your side. Three zero
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: four three four five fifteen fifty eight three four five
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: fifty eight fifty eight. You can text three zero four
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: nine three five five zero zero eight to three zero
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: four nine three five five zeros er eight. There's always
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: things going on in the world of law that the
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: Patent Law Firm can help you out. I want more
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: information online Peyton Lawfirm dot com. That's Payton Lawfirm dot com.
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: P E y t O N Payton Lawfirm dot com.
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: Look at it in Nitro, West Virginia. Their phone number,
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: of course is seven five five fifty five fifty six
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: three zero four seven five five fifty five fifty six.
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: We'll get that.
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: Information out again before we leave the airways this morning.
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: Our phone number this morning is three zero four three
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: four five fifty eight fifty eight.
• 24:18
  Speaker 8: Yeah, we've been talking about Jerry trials and we'll get
• 24:20
  Speaker 8: back on that in a minute. But we do a
• 24:21
  Speaker 8: lot of other things as well, and if you listen
• 24:23
  Speaker 8: to our show you know that. But we do you know,
• 24:25
  Speaker 8: state planning, do some criminal defense need work, things like that,
• 24:30
  Speaker 8: some family law a little bit, not very much, and
• 24:32
  Speaker 8: we do socialcurity disabilities. So you know, any type of
• 24:35
  Speaker 8: issue you got, I don't hostate to give.
• 24:36
  Speaker 7: Us a call.
• 24:37
  Speaker 8: If we can't handle it, then we'll find a lawyer
• 24:39
  Speaker 8: or refer you to a lawyer that we know that
• 24:41
  Speaker 8: that works in that field.
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: Got a call, great stuff. Yeah, we have Jerry on
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: the line that has a question or comment this morning
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: for Tom. Jerry, go ahead, you're on the here.
• 24:48
  Speaker 11: Hey, good morning, gentlemen. I have a question. I registered
• 24:51
  Speaker 11: to vote by nineteen sixty eight and I have voted
• 24:56
  Speaker 11: in every election since and I've never been called for
• 25:01
  Speaker 11: So my question is how are the initial jurors chosen?
• 25:07
  Speaker 11: I mean by computer? Do they just grab a bunch
• 25:11
  Speaker 11: of names? And see who shows up for one hand,
• 25:15
  Speaker 11: the second question is do they have advanced warning if
• 25:20
  Speaker 11: you will, of the names on that initial list, because
• 25:26
  Speaker 11: me being somewhat known in this area as a very conservative,
• 25:32
  Speaker 11: rabble rowser kind of guy, hang them, you know that
• 25:35
  Speaker 11: kind of at least that's what they think, right, And
• 25:39
  Speaker 11: so I mean, I'm just curious if my name ever
• 25:43
  Speaker 11: came up and they saw it, would they immediately throw
• 25:47
  Speaker 11: it out because they know my reputation for this kind
• 25:50
  Speaker 11: of thing or is it something else? Because I just
• 25:55
  Speaker 11: find it interesting after all these years I've never been called.
• 25:59
  Speaker 11: And I'll take care answer off there, thank you.
• 26:01
  Speaker 7: Thanks, Jary.
• 26:02
  Speaker 8: Yeah, And it's interesting because I've got friends and people
• 26:05
  Speaker 8: I know that have been called a jury duty multiple
• 26:07
  Speaker 8: times and I've only been called one time. And it's
• 26:10
  Speaker 8: that is completely random.
• 26:11
  Speaker 6: There is no.
• 26:13
  Speaker 8: There is no initial screening out of individuals period. Even well,
• 26:22
  Speaker 8: I had a jury trial in Cannall County last year
• 26:25
  Speaker 8: at twenty twenty three, and in our jury pool was
• 26:28
  Speaker 8: a former Supreme Court justice and one or two lawyers
• 26:32
  Speaker 8: and and so uh, they weren't they weren't screened out,
• 26:35
  Speaker 8: But no, and I can't remember. I believe in state court,
• 26:40
  Speaker 8: it's it's property owners and maybe driver licensed drivers or
• 26:46
  Speaker 8: something that affect. And then federal court's a little bit different,
• 26:48
  Speaker 8: but it's a there's a role of jurors that can
• 26:51
  Speaker 8: be selected in the county or in district court. You know,
• 26:54
  Speaker 8: it's the whole. It's a multi county district, so you
• 26:57
  Speaker 8: could be held from you. For example, Putnam residents would
• 27:05
  Speaker 8: be called to the Huntington Division of Southern District Court.
• 27:07
  Speaker 8: I think Logan Mingo may go up to Huntington as well,
• 27:12
  Speaker 8: So it's it's a wide variety. But no, there is
• 27:15
  Speaker 8: there is no I don't believe, and I'm quite confident
• 27:20
  Speaker 8: in this. There's no initial screening when it's some kind
• 27:23
  Speaker 8: of computer random random draw and so it's the same
• 27:27
  Speaker 8: chance every time. And if you just happen not to
• 27:29
  Speaker 8: get caught all these years, you're just most.
• 27:32
  Speaker 7: Likely you've just not been one of the ones.
• 27:33
  Speaker 6: So there's not a.
• 27:36
  Speaker 8: Time I mean, I guess, I mean, I think I've
• 27:41
  Speaker 8: seen now. Once you get selected for that first initial
• 27:47
  Speaker 8: uh deal, then the lawyers can get copies of your
• 27:51
  Speaker 8: jury questionnaire answers and your information and so if there's
• 27:56
  Speaker 8: an obvious conflict at that point or the judge sees it.
• 27:59
  Speaker 8: You could certainly he dismissed from a particular trial before
• 28:02
  Speaker 8: ever you ever show up, because if you're one of
• 28:04
  Speaker 8: the parties or closely related to one of the parties,
• 28:07
  Speaker 8: you know it's probably going to be the end of
• 28:09
  Speaker 8: that or a witness in the case, then then that's it.
• 28:12
  Speaker 7: So, UH, got another call.
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: We got another call before we go to the other call.
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: One question I wondered about, once you are selected for
• 28:18
  Speaker 5: jury duty, does that put you back at the end
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: of a line of any kind or could you just
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: get selected again the very next time that they do.
• 28:24
  Speaker 7: Call selected again?
• 28:25
  Speaker 8: I think if I don't think you can elect off
• 28:27
  Speaker 8: the jury pool just because you've starved one time. Now,
• 28:31
  Speaker 8: age is a you can get out of it over
• 28:34
  Speaker 8: a certain age and state court and I can't remember
• 28:36
  Speaker 8: the age limit. Uh And I got a story on
• 28:39
  Speaker 8: that one too.
• 28:39
  Speaker 5: But Steve, we have Steve on the on the line.
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: He has a question or comment for a Tom this morning. Steve,
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: good morning, How are you doing this morning?
• 28:45
  Speaker 12: Doing well? How are you sir doing well?
• 28:47
  Speaker 6: Thanks for calling in. What's your question or comment for Tom?
• 28:50
  Speaker 12: Okay? Tom? I recently went through a divorce and part
• 28:53
  Speaker 12: of the divorce decree ordered my ex wife to pay
• 28:58
  Speaker 12: part of the credit card debt because it was a
• 29:00
  Speaker 12: joint debt and she is yet to pay any on it.
• 29:03
  Speaker 12: What should I do?
• 29:05
  Speaker 8: So you can if it's in the court order that
• 29:07
  Speaker 8: she's to pay it, or you know, a property settlement
• 29:10
  Speaker 8: agreement is incorporated by reference in your divorce order and
• 29:13
  Speaker 8: she's not paying it, then you have to file what's
• 29:16
  Speaker 8: called a petitioner motion for contempt because she's violating court order.
• 29:20
  Speaker 8: And then, similar to what I talked about earlier, with
• 29:22
  Speaker 8: that juror the judgele normally, if it's not a frivolous
• 29:25
  Speaker 8: filing that gets screened out, which yours would not be
• 29:27
  Speaker 8: under this circumstance, then the judge's stead of hearing and
• 29:30
  Speaker 8: have her and you appear, and she needs to show
• 29:33
  Speaker 8: good calls why she hasn't been paying it. And if
• 29:35
  Speaker 8: it's just if she can't pay it, or she's intentionally
• 29:38
  Speaker 8: not paying it, then she could be held in contempt.
• 29:41
  Speaker 8: And then a family court judge can do multiple things.
• 29:43
  Speaker 8: I mean, if you owe her some kind of money,
• 29:46
  Speaker 8: you can do an office he or she can do
• 29:48
  Speaker 8: an offset, or or if somebody just has money to
• 29:53
  Speaker 8: pay and the ability to pay and refuses, they can
• 29:55
  Speaker 8: be fined or jailed until they till they make the payment.
• 29:58
  Speaker 8: But you know, that's that's you fil a petition for
• 30:02
  Speaker 8: contempt and then a lot of times that will you know,
• 30:07
  Speaker 8: spur action on behalf of the other party just by
• 30:10
  Speaker 8: you filing it. But yeah, that's the that's that's the
• 30:13
  Speaker 8: action you take and see a lot of that. Maybe
• 30:15
  Speaker 8: somebody's responsible for paying mortgage or paying a particular debt,
• 30:18
  Speaker 8: but the other party's name still own. It affects their
• 30:20
  Speaker 8: credit if they don't pay it untimely. It also can
• 30:23
  Speaker 8: it's you know, if they don't pay it often they're
• 30:25
  Speaker 8: required to, it affects the liability on their credit reports.
• 30:27
  Speaker 8: So maybe they can't go and get financing for a
• 30:30
  Speaker 8: new home or or a new car or whatever they
• 30:32
  Speaker 8: need to buy. So, but the contempt petition, there are
• 30:35
  Speaker 8: obviously you can hire an attorney to do that in family court.
• 30:38
  Speaker 8: There are forms for that you can get off the
• 30:39
  Speaker 8: Western Supreme Court's website. You could also go to the
• 30:41
  Speaker 8: circuit Clerk's office if it's canall it's on the second
• 30:44
  Speaker 8: floor there. They're judicially nx and you It's nothing more
• 30:47
  Speaker 8: complicated than saying, you know, the order says this, she's
• 30:52
  Speaker 8: not doing that and hasn't made the payments on X, X,
• 30:56
  Speaker 8: Y and Z day, and so then then you just
• 31:00
  Speaker 8: file it and it gets served on her in the
• 31:01
  Speaker 8: judgal set of hearing, and the judge.
• 31:04
  Speaker 12: Now she is on sixty income because she receives so
• 31:07
  Speaker 12: security disability, and if she's financially not able to pay,
• 31:13
  Speaker 12: what would happen to her as far as.
• 31:15
  Speaker 8: Well, it depends, I mean, the judge has a lot
• 31:17
  Speaker 8: of discretion in that regard. So yeah, I don't know
• 31:21
  Speaker 8: if that was addressed at the time of divorce, because
• 31:24
  Speaker 8: if for her incomes the same as it was, then
• 31:27
  Speaker 8: that that should have been considered at the time. But
• 31:29
  Speaker 8: if it, let's say she became disabled after the divorce
• 31:31
  Speaker 8: and doesn't really have the ability to pay one, she
• 31:34
  Speaker 8: should have gone back and asked for a modification versus
• 31:37
  Speaker 8: just not paying it. But the judge may not hold
• 31:41
  Speaker 8: her in contempt if she truly doesn't have the ability
• 31:43
  Speaker 8: to pay. That would involve her showing her budget with
• 31:47
  Speaker 8: backup documents and that kind of thing, and so you know,
• 31:50
  Speaker 8: you just have to have to see I mean, I
• 31:52
  Speaker 8: don't know.
• 31:52
  Speaker 12: So would I be on the hook for the entire
• 31:55
  Speaker 12: debt at that point If she's financially not able.
• 31:57
  Speaker 8: Well, you might not be as to her. I mean,
• 31:59
  Speaker 8: there might be other ways to you know, somehow, maybe
• 32:02
  Speaker 8: you could have a lean so that you would get
• 32:04
  Speaker 8: paid back at some point if she owned some property
• 32:07
  Speaker 8: or something. If she doesn't have cash to pay, you know,
• 32:10
  Speaker 8: the judge may order her to liquidate some asset to
• 32:12
  Speaker 8: pay you, maybe a four oh one K or some
• 32:15
  Speaker 8: other way to do it, or put her on some
• 32:16
  Speaker 8: kind of payment plan to get you paid back slower
• 32:19
  Speaker 8: over time. Now you've got to deal with a third party,
• 32:23
  Speaker 8: the creditor, and you said your name was on that
• 32:25
  Speaker 8: debt as well not you could have marrial debt where
• 32:27
  Speaker 8: your name isn't on it at all, but it was
• 32:29
  Speaker 8: incurred during the marriage, so you're still half responsible for
• 32:32
  Speaker 8: it under the family law in West Virginia. But you,
• 32:37
  Speaker 8: if you want to protect yourself, are going to have
• 32:39
  Speaker 8: to go and keep paying that third party creditor because
• 32:41
  Speaker 8: they'll come after both of you if you don't pay.
• 32:44
  Speaker 8: But then I don't you know, I don't know all
• 32:47
  Speaker 8: the situation, But normally the judge would not just completely.
• 32:50
  Speaker 7: Relieve her of paying that paying you back.
• 32:53
  Speaker 8: He or she would probably enter some kind of there's
• 32:56
  Speaker 8: some payment plan where she could pay you. Maybe it
• 32:58
  Speaker 8: takes a lot longer to pay you by because you're
• 33:00
  Speaker 8: going to maybe pay it ahead of time to make
• 33:02
  Speaker 8: sure or pay it timely so it doesn't hurt your
• 33:04
  Speaker 8: credit and takes care of that third party.
• 33:07
  Speaker 7: But yeah, you would.
• 33:08
  Speaker 8: Still be liable as to the let's say it's a
• 33:11
  Speaker 8: credit card to the credit card company. I think ordinarily
• 33:15
  Speaker 8: she would still be liable to you if it was
• 33:18
  Speaker 8: a division of merrital debt. But the judge, if she
• 33:23
  Speaker 8: truly doesn't have the ability to pay, would have to
• 33:24
  Speaker 8: craft some kind of remedy that allows her to get
• 33:28
  Speaker 8: you paid financially.
• 33:30
  Speaker 12: Now, see, I have a statements previous, and she had
• 33:34
  Speaker 12: a card and I had a card, and on the
• 33:36
  Speaker 12: statement it shows what charges were against my card and
• 33:40
  Speaker 12: what charges were against her card. Should I present that
• 33:43
  Speaker 12: to the judge?
• 33:44
  Speaker 8: And that probably should have been needed to be addressed
• 33:47
  Speaker 8: during the actual divorce proceeding because kind of like I
• 33:51
  Speaker 8: was saying earlier, generally, if that debt, no matter who
• 33:54
  Speaker 8: incurred the debt, if it was incurred why you were
• 33:57
  Speaker 8: married and living together for kind of normal stuff, meaning
• 34:00
  Speaker 8: somebody didn't run off without let them one knowing and
• 34:02
  Speaker 8: take a vacation with a concubine or something. Then it's
• 34:05
  Speaker 8: normally it's normally going to be marital debt. So that
• 34:08
  Speaker 8: kind of breakdown, you know, could potentially have been addressed
• 34:12
  Speaker 8: during the act of divorce proceeding, but I don't think
• 34:15
  Speaker 8: that's most likely going to be real relevant now. And
• 34:17
  Speaker 8: I'm assuming that these are not charges that were incurred
• 34:20
  Speaker 8: by both of you after you separated, because that's then
• 34:23
  Speaker 8: my answer is incorrect because it's your own separate debt
• 34:25
  Speaker 8: at that point.
• 34:26
  Speaker 7: It shouldn't really be run charge.
• 34:30
  Speaker 12: I have the statement because see I have added some
• 34:32
  Speaker 12: charges since we've divorced. Of course, it choose on the
• 34:36
  Speaker 12: statement mine what I I didn't know if I should
• 34:39
  Speaker 12: present the state.
• 34:40
  Speaker 6: I don't know.
• 34:40
  Speaker 8: I really can't tell you that without knowing more about
• 34:42
  Speaker 8: the situation, because then you've kind of co mingled the
• 34:46
  Speaker 8: debt at this point because you have interest to crewing
• 34:48
  Speaker 8: and things like that, and now that includes new charges
• 34:51
  Speaker 8: that have we're not part of the original marital debt.
• 34:53
  Speaker 8: It just makes it more complicated. It can be worked out.
• 34:56
  Speaker 8: But I mean, if that's our argument, yeah, you need
• 34:58
  Speaker 8: to be prepared to a address that with the court.
• 35:01
  Speaker 8: I mean obviously, I mean, you know, what the if
• 35:04
  Speaker 8: the amount was set in stone without interest accruing, like
• 35:06
  Speaker 8: she owed, if the credit card debt was a thousand
• 35:09
  Speaker 8: bucks when the order was entered, and you know, she
• 35:12
  Speaker 8: doesn't have to pay interest or anything, she just needs
• 35:14
  Speaker 8: to pay you five hundred dollars. I know it's probably
• 35:15
  Speaker 8: more than that, but I'm simplifying it right. Then you
• 35:19
  Speaker 8: incurring more debt on that credit card afterwards may not
• 35:21
  Speaker 8: be a big deal, but I mean, I mean I
• 35:24
  Speaker 8: would have some concerns if I were her and you're
• 35:27
  Speaker 8: still incurring debt that she could potentially be liable for
• 35:30
  Speaker 8: through the credit card company, not through the family court.
• 35:33
  Speaker 8: So I'd be careful with that, I guess, is what
• 35:35
  Speaker 8: I would say. Now, if you're paying everything timely, you know,
• 35:38
  Speaker 8: it's probably not that big a deal, but you might
• 35:40
  Speaker 8: want to see if you can rework that credit card
• 35:41
  Speaker 8: if it hasn't been done already, to make sure that
• 35:44
  Speaker 8: you know, her name is not on there as a debtor.
• 35:46
  Speaker 12: No, she's no longer even an authorized card holder. Or anything.
• 35:50
  Speaker 5: Sure, Steve, we appreciate that phone call. We're going to
• 35:52
  Speaker 5: have to wrap that up. But the Peyton Low Firm,
• 35:54
  Speaker 5: you can give them a call to Peyton Mall Firm
• 35:56
  Speaker 5: seven five five fifty five fifty six three zero four
• 35:59
  Speaker 5: seven five five fifty five fifty six. I wanted time
• 36:01
  Speaker 5: to get We did get a text question in. I
• 36:03
  Speaker 5: don't want to try give Tom only got about a
• 36:05
  Speaker 5: minute here, but try to get some resolution to this.
• 36:08
  Speaker 5: This is from the three or four five four nine.
• 36:10
  Speaker 5: Is it possible now to administer in a state on
• 36:12
  Speaker 5: line without having to be physically present.
• 36:14
  Speaker 8: I don't believe so. In West Virginia now they were
• 36:17
  Speaker 8: you have to go and get sworn in when you
• 36:19
  Speaker 8: get over in a state, and that also depends because
• 36:22
  Speaker 8: it depends on what type of a state. We do
• 36:23
  Speaker 8: have some small estate options now that we didn't have
• 36:27
  Speaker 8: years ago. And if it's an ancillary estate where it
• 36:30
  Speaker 8: started out of state, but there's some real estate here,
• 36:32
  Speaker 8: you can do that a lot of times by mailing
• 36:35
  Speaker 8: things in. I'm not aware of any county. You normally
• 36:39
  Speaker 8: go in in person, gets you raise your right hand
• 36:41
  Speaker 8: and swear you're infirmed. You're gonna perform your duties as
• 36:43
  Speaker 8: administrator executor. I think during pandemic they were allowing some
• 36:48
  Speaker 8: of those to be done virtually or were by mail.
• 36:51
  Speaker 8: Even you've signed something under ose, but you've got to
• 36:54
  Speaker 8: sign some physical forms. I'm not aware of any electronic
• 36:57
  Speaker 8: way to do that.
• 36:59
  Speaker 7: Now.
• 37:00
  Speaker 8: Can you initially get appointed? You may never have to
• 37:02
  Speaker 8: go to the courthouse again, everything can be there's done
• 37:06
  Speaker 8: via male.
• 37:06
  Speaker 5: And the so if you have any follow up on that,
• 37:09
  Speaker 5: you can give the Payton Law Firm a call. But
• 37:11
  Speaker 5: those things one of these days maybe who knows how
• 37:13
  Speaker 5: that goes. Peyton Law Firm located in Nitro, West Virginia
• 37:15
  Speaker 5: seven five five fifty five fifty six seven five five
• 37:18
  Speaker 5: fifty five fifty six. More information on non Paytent Lawfirm
• 37:20
  Speaker 5: dot com. Every Thursday right here on the radio when
• 37:22
  Speaker 5: Ask the Lawyer on five ADW CHS The Boys of
• 37:24
  Speaker 5: Charleston podcast, WHS Network dot com slash ask the Lawyer.
• 37:28
  Speaker 6: That's right.
• 37:29
  Speaker 7: We share it on Facebook every week.
• 37:30
  Speaker 6: That's right. You can find it over there as well.
• 37:32
  Speaker 6: I want to listen.
• 37:33
  Speaker 8: You want to go back and pall up how I
• 37:34
  Speaker 8: answered a question for example, that you can get on
• 37:37
  Speaker 8: our Facebook page and.
• 37:40
  Speaker 7: It's right for the part one.
• 37:41
  Speaker 6: Have a great morning everyone. You're listening to the five
• 37:43
  Speaker 6: A DWCHS.
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: The Boys of Charleston, w hs A, W two four
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: three d RFN Charleston, W two A three HQ Cross Lanes,
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: a WVRC media station.
• 37:57
  Speaker 6: We're proud to live here too,