Latest / WCHS Network Podcasts / Ask the Lawyer – Tom Peyton: Greenbrier Hotel Legal Battle, Social Security Disability Claims, and Estate Planning

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Ask the Lawyer – Tom Peyton: Greenbrier Hotel Legal Battle, Social Security Disability Claims, and Estate Planning · WCHS Network Podcasts

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Speaker 1: The views and opinions expressed on this program do not
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Speaker 1: necessarily reflect the views and opinions of five adwchs it's
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Speaker 1: employees or WVRC Media courts.
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Speaker 2: Oh created equal Well Mass come here and a Kate,
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Speaker 2: I can't drops it.
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Speaker 1: Up top on.
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Speaker 3: It's a twenty two on five eight WHS the Voice
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Speaker 3: of Charleston. I'm Jeff Jenkins, and as time for asked
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Speaker 3: the lawyer at the Peyton Law Firm in Nitro, Tom
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Speaker 3: Peyton joins us on the line on this Thursday morning,
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Speaker 3: and Tom is not in the studio this morning. On
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Speaker 3: the phone, but good morning, Tom, how.
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Speaker 2: You doing great? I'm sorry I can't be in the studio.
1:02
Speaker 2: I always like to be there in person, but I
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Speaker 2: also don't like to miss the show. So if I'm
1:06
Speaker 2: out of town and got up here by phone, that's
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Speaker 2: what we're going to do. Actually in the bustling downtown
1:15
Speaker 2: Cleveland right now in my hotel room. My dad did
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Speaker 2: the show for three straight weeks. Then of course we
1:23
Speaker 2: didn't as a pair last week for the first time
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Speaker 2: in twenty seven years, which I think we both enjoyed.
1:29
Speaker 2: But we kind of did that because I'm in Cleveland,
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Speaker 2: because dad's here for a pretty significant cardiac surgery procedure
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Speaker 2: that took place yesterday. But no dig on our facilities
1:45
Speaker 2: back home. But it's first time I've been to Cleveland
1:48
Speaker 2: Clinic for patient affiliated services. I've been here for doctor's
1:54
Speaker 2: depositions and that kind of thing, but boy, Cleveland Clinic
1:57
Speaker 2: is really one. It's a very large, on his full
2:00
Speaker 2: campus type facility and it really runs like clockwork, very
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Speaker 2: good communication and keep you informed and that kind of thing,
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Speaker 2: which just don't seemuch. You get bounced around quite as
2:15
Speaker 2: much as you do when you're at home at some
2:18
Speaker 2: of those facilities. So not sure there's better doctors here necessarily,
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Speaker 2: but it makes you feel more comfortable as a family
2:26
Speaker 2: member of a patient when got good organization and communication
2:30
Speaker 2: things like that. But for all those listening that are
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Speaker 2: interested that the surgery went well, it's just you know,
2:37
Speaker 2: anytime he's in his mid seventies and you have open
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Speaker 2: heart type surgery with long periods of time under anesthegia's
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Speaker 2: always quite serious. But it went well. For every out
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Speaker 2: there listening, He's got a long road for recovery, so
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Speaker 2: he probably won't hear him on the radio for a while.
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Speaker 2: But I'm sure he'll be back at it. But anybody
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Speaker 2: out there, of course, we appreciate thoughts and prayers because
2:58
Speaker 2: we've still got some work to do to get get
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Speaker 2: through this thing. But anyway, that's why I'm here. But
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Speaker 2: I wanted to get the show in because gosh, I
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Speaker 2: bet over the twenty seven years, we probably only missed
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Speaker 2: count on two hands the thursdays we've missed, I suspect
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Speaker 2: other than Christmas, and we don't do a show on
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Speaker 2: Thanksgiving Day every year. But if this is in, uh,
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Speaker 2: you know, let me know he's in your thoughts and peers,
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Speaker 2: maybe send something through our our Facebook group Peyton Mall
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Speaker 2: Firm Facebook or through our website Peytonmallfirm dot com and
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Speaker 2: I'll I'll certainly pass it along. But everything went well,
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Speaker 2: so he's on on the road to recovery.
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Speaker 3: But that really is an amazing place there, isn't it, Tom.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. It's just it's just different than what
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Speaker 2: we get at home. And you know, Dad had a
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Speaker 2: major surgery on this same type of issue a few
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Speaker 2: years ago as emergence. So it took place in Charleston
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Speaker 2: and actually see him Steve Memorial, and it did very well.
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Speaker 2: But you just seem to see the doctor did that
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Speaker 2: left the state afterward, and he was getting some conflicting information.
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Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, and everybody's all the specialties are
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Speaker 2: in one place and they participate from beginning to end.
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Speaker 2: So it is it is. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend
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Speaker 2: Cleveland Clinic if you have any type of serious issue,
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Speaker 2: health issue, and they're they're quite quite good, and it's
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Speaker 2: quite impressive. I feel like you're in good hands up here.
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Speaker 3: Tom Payton's with this Peyton Law Firm in Nitro eight
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Speaker 3: twenty six here on five eighty w CCHS the Voice
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Speaker 3: of Charleston. Of course, we're into the summer months, but
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Speaker 3: that does not that does not mean things slow down
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Speaker 3: law wise. We got a lot of a lot going on.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we do. It's it's uh, we're staying busy at
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Speaker 2: Peyton Law Firm. It gets a little more difficult in
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Speaker 2: scheduling over the summer because of course folks traditionally take
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Speaker 2: vacations and things like that. But we're we're staying quite busy.
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Speaker 2: Been up here for a few days now than keeping
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Speaker 2: track of the news, I guess we had pretty bad
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Speaker 2: storms yesterday, but the storm that seems to keep coming
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Speaker 2: in the news is the the Greenbrier battle between the creditors,
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Speaker 2: which is I guess the major creditor other than the
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Speaker 2: government state government is the Omni Hotel affiliate. I guess
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Speaker 2: you would say that appears to own the debt, the
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Speaker 2: primary debt against the Greenbrier, although there's some argument but
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Speaker 2: the Justice affiliates that the debt was sold illegally, although
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Speaker 2: those my personal feeling is those arguments probably won't get
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Speaker 2: real far. I mean, generally a creditor has a right
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Speaker 2: to assign the debt or sell the debt. I think
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Speaker 2: that's the case in this situation. But as most folks know,
5:55
Speaker 2: that have been at least loosely following it. There's now
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Speaker 2: a federal lawsuit filed where the creditors attempting to have
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Speaker 2: a receiver appointed, which is essentially an overseer or manager
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Speaker 2: of property or a business that's collateral for a loan,
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Speaker 2: and the Greenbrier course is fighting that has labeled it
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Speaker 2: as an illegal attempt to take the Greenbrier from the
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Speaker 2: justices and then the justice I feel it's fill a
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Speaker 2: separate lawsuit in Greenbrier County, West Union Circuit Court, which
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Speaker 2: is still proceeding as well. I think one thing that's
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Speaker 2: happened is the Justice affiliated entities that said, well, we've
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Speaker 2: got funding now to pay office debt in its entirety,
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Speaker 2: until he asked if the federal lawsuit just be halted
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Speaker 2: or paused while they do that, and good Volt is
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Speaker 2: handling at the federal judge in based primate out of Beckley,
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Speaker 2: and last week I believe he did grant what I
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Speaker 2: believe it was about a sixty day kind of stay
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Speaker 2: or halting of those proceedings. The Justice affiliates disclosed while
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Speaker 2: labeling much of it confidential, they disclose enough terms of
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Speaker 2: the proposed in essence refinance. I mean, they don't all
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Speaker 2: legend they have cash available, but they have another lender
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Speaker 2: that's willing to learn sufficient funds to pay off the
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Speaker 2: what we'll call the omni debt. But you know, it's
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Speaker 2: that delay indicates a couple of things. One, there's some
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Speaker 2: credibility to the the Greenbrier affiliate request that they actually
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Speaker 2: have the ability to get the funds to pay off too.
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Speaker 2: Maybe just as important as it appears clear with that
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Speaker 2: delay that Judge balk is going to allow the Green
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Speaker 2: Brier and if they come up with sufficient funds for
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Speaker 2: the full payoff amount, they'll be to pay it off
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Speaker 2: and then this omni affiliating creditor will have to essentially
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Speaker 2: release their their leans and then the Green Brier will
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Speaker 2: have presumably this new new or now if they sixty
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Speaker 2: day deadlines pretty tight for a loan that's in the
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Speaker 2: hundreds of millions of dollars with a complicated business entity.
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Speaker 2: So we'll see. If it wasn't a loan commitment document
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Speaker 2: that was filed, it was sort of like this other
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Speaker 2: entity is there, they have funds to loan the money,
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Speaker 2: but they still have to go through their due diligence process.
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Speaker 2: So we'll see how that plays out, but that would
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Speaker 2: kind of moot the case. What is also interesting is
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Speaker 2: the state tax Department has tried to intervene in that
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Speaker 2: federal case. And that's we've kind of gone over this
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Speaker 2: in the past, But there are various tax liens filed
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Speaker 2: by the state tax department. There are property tax liens
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Speaker 2: they you know, all of us would deal with if
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Speaker 2: we don't pay our property tax. I've seen that reported
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Speaker 2: recently as up to like two point two million dollars
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Speaker 2: of property tax, it hasn't been paid. That's that's uh,
9:05
Speaker 2: the link went. But that's the link as a couple
9:09
Speaker 2: of months ago, and ordinarily there's not a you know
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Speaker 2: tho's been Those tax leans for pay to pay your
9:15
Speaker 2: property tax can be sold by the state auditor, which
9:19
Speaker 2: doesn't happen to at least November. We did get a
9:23
Speaker 2: decent number of calls Jeff from folks who are interested
9:26
Speaker 2: in getting in the investment side of buying property at
9:32
Speaker 2: tax sales. Unfortunately, when they when they call and I
9:37
Speaker 2: explained that the process, sometimes they become disinterested because you
9:41
Speaker 2: go to a tax sale, it's just it's at the
9:44
Speaker 2: courthouse and it's an hockey here's White Soffaur Springs else
9:50
Speaker 2: or sporting club or whatever the parcel is and they
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Speaker 2: actually oction it off. Anybody can bid on it. But importantly,
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Speaker 2: if you go to the local courthouse drum buy property,
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Speaker 2: you don't actually own it. When you make that purchase,
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Speaker 2: you're basically buying a certificate or the right to follow
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Speaker 2: through and get it. But then there's a fairly lengthy
10:13
Speaker 2: waiting period. He used to be about eighteen months. I
10:14
Speaker 2: think they've short shortened it a bit with me kind
10:19
Speaker 2: of redid that process four or five years ago. But
10:23
Speaker 2: once you buy that tax certificate, if you're the highest better,
10:27
Speaker 2: you actually have to do a title search an abbreviated
10:30
Speaker 2: one to figure out who all has interests in this
10:33
Speaker 2: part property. And then you've got to tell this auditor
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Speaker 2: to give all of those entities. Notice it's often published
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Speaker 2: in the paper, and so the taxpayer that did not
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Speaker 2: pay their property tax actually had a fairly lengthy time
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Speaker 2: after that do what's called redeem the property, mean pay
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Speaker 2: all the back tax, property tax and any fees that
10:53
Speaker 2: the purchaser had. So a lot a lot of times
10:57
Speaker 2: folks are disappointed, and in fact they've got to put
11:00
Speaker 2: more money up front, for example, to pay a lawyer
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Speaker 2: to do a title search oftentimes turns them off. So
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Speaker 2: the two point two million and property tax there is,
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Speaker 2: you know, an indicator obviously that they didn't pay timely.
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Speaker 2: If you pay timely, you avoid what you pay early,
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Speaker 2: you get a little discount if you if you get delinquent,
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Speaker 2: you know there's interest that continues to accruise. So it's
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Speaker 2: not a good sign. More alarming is the fact that
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Speaker 2: in the federal lawsuit, when the state tax Department has
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Speaker 2: sought to intervene. It appears the Green bar still owes
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Speaker 2: just under four billion dollars in sales and use tax,
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Speaker 2: and that's troubling because like if you a mego to
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Speaker 2: the Greenbrier get and buy buy something there, then you
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Speaker 2: know you'll notice on your receipt there's six percent sales
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Speaker 2: tax collected by the vendor, which would be the Green
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Speaker 2: Brier in this case. And those have presumably all been
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Speaker 2: paid by the consumers and not remitted to the state
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Speaker 2: tax department. So that's having the money paid by your
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Speaker 2: customers and then not timely passing it through to the
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Speaker 2: state tax department. Between and four million dollars, that's it's been.
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Speaker 2: It was there at one time, so it's been misappropriated
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Speaker 2: in some form. We don't know where that money was
12:28
Speaker 2: was spent. How obviously Greenbrier prioritized other debts or financial
12:35
Speaker 2: obligations ever passing that money on to the state government.
12:40
Speaker 2: But when a company isn't paying sales tax that has
12:45
Speaker 2: been paid to it, that's a real indicator of a
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Speaker 2: of a problem. So we'll see all that goes. I
12:54
Speaker 2: thought that would be a problem that would come to
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Speaker 2: a head because alcohol Beverage Control Administration, the state entity
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Speaker 2: that governs liquor licenses, beer licenses, licenses sell alcohol. Maybe
13:09
Speaker 2: even the lottery commissioner not's familiar with it. Run on
13:13
Speaker 2: a fiscal year, so you've got to file your renewal
13:15
Speaker 2: for your license, and July one has when it renews,
13:19
Speaker 2: and in renewals aren't much to throw out a form,
13:21
Speaker 2: and if nothing's changed in management, it's kind of a
13:24
Speaker 2: rubber stamp. But what one thing they do is cross
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Speaker 2: reference to that with the state Tax Department, and I
13:32
Speaker 2: think the Insurance Commissioner's office make sure you're in good
13:34
Speaker 2: standing with the worker's camp and the state tax department.
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Speaker 2: If you're not. My experience representing small businesses is they
13:40
Speaker 2: they just pressure you. You have to pay that or
13:42
Speaker 2: you're you know, you're not going to be able to
13:44
Speaker 2: serve alcohol as of July one. But apparently the Greenbrier
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Speaker 2: is indicating that they have some kind of payment plan
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Speaker 2: with the state and as long as they're in compliance,
13:55
Speaker 2: the state is going to allow them to keep their
13:58
Speaker 2: liquor license moving forward. So that I mean, if their
14:01
Speaker 2: liquor license was canceled, I mean, I don't know how
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Speaker 2: the Greenbrier would continue to the same business. What's that agreement?
14:10
Speaker 2: Does everybody else get that type of agreement? I'm not
14:13
Speaker 2: familiar with it. It might be something fairly common. I just
14:17
Speaker 2: don't do enough of that type of work to note
14:19
Speaker 2: if that's something that the state regularly does for taxpayers
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Speaker 2: that have failed to remit sales tax. I think it's
14:27
Speaker 2: probably more common on income tax debt. But they can
14:33
Speaker 2: either w E. Metri News or maybe the Gazette or
14:36
Speaker 2: both send a Freedom of information after request to the
14:39
Speaker 2: state tax department. But they states refusing to disclose any
14:46
Speaker 2: any agreement or payment plan under some exemption under the
14:52
Speaker 2: Foy Law regarding personal income affairs and documents. So we'll
14:56
Speaker 2: see anybody presses for that agreement. Of course, the Greenbrier
15:01
Speaker 2: entities could disclode it if they want to, but they
15:03
Speaker 2: don't and they're not going to, so we'll see how
15:06
Speaker 2: that plays out. But that's certainly quite serious. There's says
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Speaker 2: sales and use tax. Sometimes there are use taxes. I
15:14
Speaker 2: understand it is some entities the consumer pays the sales
15:20
Speaker 2: or use tax, the vendor collects it, but in use
15:24
Speaker 2: tax sometimes in now the state entity or an interity,
15:26
Speaker 2: it's not registered with the state, and they don't collect
15:29
Speaker 2: the sales tax. It's still up to the consumer buying
15:31
Speaker 2: the product to remit the use tax, same as sales tax.
15:35
Speaker 2: And if a large amount of this is use tax,
15:37
Speaker 2: that's more excusable because it wasn't actually collected. But we
15:43
Speaker 2: haven't seen that explanation from the Greenbriers.
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Speaker 3: So yeah, and we know also right and also now
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Speaker 3: both OMNI and the and the justices are opposing the
15:54
Speaker 3: state Tax Department being involved in the county lawsuit on
15:58
Speaker 3: the Greenbrier County level.
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Speaker 2: That's right. Yeah, yeah, we got jocking back and forth there.
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Speaker 2: I guess it's not want you don't know what they're
16:08
Speaker 2: necessarily their motives are in opposing the state Tax Department
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Speaker 2: because their arguments are kind of technical and why state
16:16
Speaker 2: tax departments shouldn't be able to intervene. They don't disclose
16:19
Speaker 2: by neither one of them want them to intervene. I mean,
16:23
Speaker 2: the State Tax Department does have lians recorded, you know,
16:27
Speaker 2: on the real estate which serves as the collateral. But
16:30
Speaker 2: I think the tax Department's got pretty good arguments when
16:33
Speaker 2: for example, they want their their receivers appointed and there's
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Speaker 2: some liquidation of assets or a priority of who gets paid.
16:41
Speaker 2: Big tax department needs to be able to monitor that.
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Speaker 2: We don't know that there's been some dispute now about
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Speaker 2: the value of the Greenbrier. Has the value gone down?
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Speaker 2: What would it appraise for at this point, you think
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Speaker 2: it would be really significant based on the amount of property.
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Speaker 2: And but my inclination is Judge Vaulk will left the
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Speaker 2: State Tax Department participate in some form and then to
17:08
Speaker 2: their credits, internal Attorney General Assistant Attorney General lawyers are
17:12
Speaker 2: handling that they didn't hire an outside for them to
17:14
Speaker 2: their credit. But you know one of the things they
17:16
Speaker 2: point out as well, you know, the party's list the
17:18
Speaker 2: Greenbrier's debt when they list the state tax department debt,
17:22
Speaker 2: they didn't include almost a half million dollars in back tax.
17:26
Speaker 2: So that's a good example of why maybe the state
17:29
Speaker 2: tax Department needs to be involved to make sure they're
17:34
Speaker 2: Those type liens are pretty powerful. I kind of call
17:39
Speaker 2: them super leans. They most liens or debts will not
17:43
Speaker 2: trump or override voluntary mortgages like this, but state tax
17:49
Speaker 2: liens can do that. So they they probably want to
17:52
Speaker 2: get involved to make sure that the debt gets paid
17:56
Speaker 2: with the priority that it deserves for other creditors run
18:00
Speaker 2: off with whatever liquidity is available in this concluded So
18:05
Speaker 2: we'll see how that plays out. It's certainly given us
18:10
Speaker 2: something to talk about here the last year or so,
18:12
Speaker 2: and we'll continue to do so. We'll see if they
18:14
Speaker 2: get Yeah, and you've got a US senator that's involved,
18:17
Speaker 2: and you know who's a He obviously does not want
18:22
Speaker 2: to seed control of the Greenbrier, and so whoever holds
18:24
Speaker 2: that debt heres to have some leverage, not saying that
18:30
Speaker 2: would cause them to make different decisions as part as
18:34
Speaker 2: a US senator. But at the same time, I think
18:37
Speaker 2: everyone's entitled to know the debt status of a US
18:41
Speaker 2: senator just so that's the whole point of financial disclosure,
18:45
Speaker 2: so you can assess what's going on with that senator
18:47
Speaker 2: and where their interest may be.
18:48
Speaker 3: All Right, Okay, Tom, go take our break here, and
18:51
Speaker 3: we backed Tom's on the line this morning from Cleveland,
18:54
Speaker 3: and we'll be back to ask more and talk more
18:57
Speaker 3: about the law time Payton with a Peyton Law firm
19:00
Speaker 3: in Nitro here on five eighty, would you sechs the
19:03
Speaker 3: voice of Charleston will be back right after this.
19:05
Speaker 4: Why do so many West Virginians choose the Peyton Law
19:08
Speaker 4: Firm after an injury Because Tom and Harvey Payton are
19:11
Speaker 4: from here and they fight for their neighbors every day.
19:14
Speaker 4: When you're dealing with an injury claim, you need experience,
19:17
Speaker 4: straight answers and results you can trust. Don't let insurance
19:21
Speaker 4: companies or out of state firms push you around. Call
19:24
Speaker 4: seven five five fifty five fifty six or visit Peyton
19:28
Speaker 4: Lawfirm dot com.
19:29
Speaker 1: The attorney's referenced in this ad our lifelong residents and
19:32
Speaker 1: our license to practice law in the state of West Virginia.
19:44
Speaker 3: Eight two five eighty. Would you sechs the voice of Charleston,
19:48
Speaker 3: Jeff Jenkins with you this morning, asked the expert Tom
19:50
Speaker 3: Payton and the Peyton Law Firm. And Nitro is with us,
19:54
Speaker 3: joining us by the phone today, but call us. His father,
19:57
Speaker 3: Harvey Payton, had some surgery yesterday at Cleveland cl and
20:00
Speaker 3: the report from Tommy's doing well. It's going to be
20:03
Speaker 3: just like with any major surgery. You've got a long
20:05
Speaker 3: road back, but good to good to hear that it
20:08
Speaker 3: went well.
20:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, going well. So I'll be heading over there, walking
20:13
Speaker 2: across the street here and when I'm done with the
20:14
Speaker 2: show and get the status. So glad, I went, Well,
20:17
Speaker 2: we were you know where you worry when you're just
20:20
Speaker 2: waiting perfectly for the doctor to come back. Of course
20:23
Speaker 2: they're very mechanical. Uh you know, they are doing their
20:27
Speaker 2: job and doing it well.
20:29
Speaker 3: So well, who should will he be? Okay, do you
20:31
Speaker 3: think to watch the Mountaineers tomorrow?
20:33
Speaker 2: Uh? Well that was his main concern right before he
20:36
Speaker 2: went there and I met It was we're going to
20:38
Speaker 2: We're going to make sure that he's going to have
20:41
Speaker 2: the game on and he's ready to watch. So uh yeah,
20:45
Speaker 2: we're going to make those arrangements no matter what. We
20:48
Speaker 2: have to do a good thing with streaming these days,
20:49
Speaker 2: you can get video on just about anywhere. So yes,
20:55
Speaker 2: as long as everything goes planned as planned, today he'll
20:58
Speaker 2: be uh talking about his wearing his mountaineered dear and
21:01
Speaker 2: going into surgery. So he was ready to guys. Yeah,
21:05
Speaker 2: maybe you know then talking about current events. Maybe talk
21:08
Speaker 2: a little bit. Just remind our listeners what we do
21:11
Speaker 2: at the Peyton Law Firm. Of course, we do a
21:13
Speaker 2: lot of litigation, civil litigation, small business owners, regular people,
21:17
Speaker 2: don't represent big insurance companies. Or big corporations. But if
21:21
Speaker 2: you've got to dispute an insurance company, maybe an automobile
21:24
Speaker 2: accident or or other type of claim, don't hesitate to
21:30
Speaker 2: contact us. You can email us through our website at
21:32
Speaker 2: Peyton Lawfirm dot com. You can give us a call
21:34
Speaker 2: at three or four seven five five five five five six,
21:38
Speaker 2: or if you're in the Nitra area, just stop by.
21:41
Speaker 2: I've got time. I'll come out and chat for a minute.
21:43
Speaker 2: And of course they've got really good staff with a
21:46
Speaker 2: lot of longevity at our office, so they can answer
21:49
Speaker 2: most of your basic questions. But if you don't ask,
21:52
Speaker 2: you don't know. It never hurts. Hurts to ask. Of course,
21:56
Speaker 2: we also do awful lot of we try to help
21:58
Speaker 2: people for their everyday needs. We do a lot of
22:01
Speaker 2: the state planning and deed work and small business work
22:05
Speaker 2: things like that. But if you it's not a difficult process,
22:08
Speaker 2: we try and make it as easy as possible. For
22:10
Speaker 2: need a will done or some basic estate planning, or
22:12
Speaker 2: maybe got a loved one pass away and you help
22:15
Speaker 2: administering an estate at the same time you want to Yeah,
22:21
Speaker 2: it's never too late till it's too late to get
22:23
Speaker 2: your will done and so you want to call and
22:25
Speaker 2: get that appointment set with us. It's a two appointment
22:28
Speaker 2: process and say by the time we're done, it's usually
22:31
Speaker 2: a month and a half or so from the time
22:33
Speaker 2: you first call until we can get it complete, unless
22:36
Speaker 2: you've got an emergency issue, and you know, we try
22:38
Speaker 2: and accommodate those if we can, but don't don't hesitate
22:43
Speaker 2: to give us a call. One thing we don't talk
22:46
Speaker 2: about a lot, but we do a good bit of
22:49
Speaker 2: is history disability Jeff. And that's I know some people
22:54
Speaker 2: try and do it themselves. That's risky, and these are
23:01
Speaker 2: really important cases to folks. If you go you've got
23:05
Speaker 2: a health issue mem where physical, and think it's going
23:08
Speaker 2: to keep you out of work for twelve months or more,
23:12
Speaker 2: you should go ahead and do what's called file of
23:15
Speaker 2: protective filing an application for security disability. It doesn't cost anything.
23:23
Speaker 2: You call the SOID Security Administration. I think they're still
23:25
Speaker 2: doing most of these by telephone appointment and the application process.
23:30
Speaker 2: There isn't really any trick to it. You're just basically
23:32
Speaker 2: providing information the last that you worked and then know
23:37
Speaker 2: your health information, your history and usually take so security
23:42
Speaker 2: about sixty days to make a decision on that application,
23:45
Speaker 2: and oh gosh, unless you're you got certain really really
23:51
Speaker 2: really serious maybe even terminal elements, they almost all those
23:55
Speaker 2: initial applications are denied. I always tell folks good to
23:58
Speaker 2: file on your own because the chance that you get
24:01
Speaker 2: approved means you don't have to pay your lawyer. And
24:05
Speaker 2: we I think most other lawyers the handle these type
24:07
Speaker 2: cases do them a contendency fee. Say, if you call
24:10
Speaker 2: us to help you with your siscary disability appeal, there's
24:14
Speaker 2: no fee. If we take the case, we only get
24:16
Speaker 2: the lawyers only get paid if you prevail, and it's
24:18
Speaker 2: only out of your back pace. And that's why I
24:21
Speaker 2: say go ahead and file protectively. If you end up
24:24
Speaker 2: going back to work or getting better, you just you
24:27
Speaker 2: can just drop your claim and it doesn't it's meant
24:31
Speaker 2: nothing negative on your record or anything like that. But
24:34
Speaker 2: these claims take a long time. Ordinarily it could be
24:37
Speaker 2: easily two years from the town you filure initial application,
24:40
Speaker 2: and folks that are in that process right now will
24:44
Speaker 2: feel this pain. But you know, you don't have any
24:47
Speaker 2: A lot of people have any replacement income during that
24:50
Speaker 2: waiting period. But if you're winning, you get back paced,
24:53
Speaker 2: so they pay you back for all the months. If
24:54
Speaker 2: Jed says, well, I think you had a serious enough
24:58
Speaker 2: condition that you were disabled two years prior to our hearing,
25:01
Speaker 2: then you're going to get you know, two years in
25:05
Speaker 2: essence of back pay. And that's how the lawyer gets paid.
25:08
Speaker 2: They get a percentage of that twenty five percent of
25:11
Speaker 2: that back pay, although it's capped at a certain amount.
25:14
Speaker 2: If your case drags on a really long time, then
25:17
Speaker 2: the twenty five percent, you know, to the twenty five
25:20
Speaker 2: percent or ex a mouth uh, and then it stops.
25:24
Speaker 2: So it's your future payments. Your monthly payments aren't subject
25:29
Speaker 2: to the attorney fees. So uh. But you'd get kind
25:33
Speaker 2: of one bite at the apple normally. So you're going
25:36
Speaker 2: to get one hearing at the end of this process
25:38
Speaker 2: before an administrative law judge. Most of them are being
25:42
Speaker 2: done remote. Now we'll have hearings where you know, my
25:45
Speaker 2: clients of course are here local in West Virginia, and
25:47
Speaker 2: we might have a judge out in Missouri or something.
25:50
Speaker 2: But uh, if you're if you're going through that process
25:56
Speaker 2: and it's important to you, of course we want you
25:58
Speaker 2: to hire us. But hire a lawyer to help you
26:03
Speaker 2: with that because once you go through that hearing, you
26:06
Speaker 2: really can't go back for a reconsideration and present new
26:10
Speaker 2: evidence and things like that and what other folks call
26:12
Speaker 2: us maybe they use a different firm or try to
26:14
Speaker 2: do it themselves after the hearing, and it's really impossible
26:19
Speaker 2: for us to get involved after that point because we've
26:21
Speaker 2: lost the opportunity to present the evidence the way we
26:25
Speaker 2: would prefer to do it. But you know, we we
26:30
Speaker 2: don't have thousands of those cases. I don't know how
26:32
Speaker 2: many we have pending right now, but we keep them
26:36
Speaker 2: somewhat limited. That way we can give you know, we
26:38
Speaker 2: have strategy for every claim, not just paper pushers, and
26:42
Speaker 2: we prepare you for the hearing and make sure you're
26:45
Speaker 2: comfortable with the process, and that gives us a pretty
26:47
Speaker 2: good success rate. You can't win every sister disability hearing,
26:50
Speaker 2: that's not No lawyer has the ability of screening the
26:54
Speaker 2: cases and predict the outcome, and of course we wouldn't.
26:57
Speaker 2: We kind of like taking tough cases. Frankly, it gives
27:00
Speaker 2: you pride when you do well and help the client
27:02
Speaker 2: out when I feel like, you know, they really needed you.
27:05
Speaker 2: But but yeah, if you've gone through that process and
27:09
Speaker 2: been denied at the application stage. Don't hesitate to give
27:11
Speaker 2: us a call, but pretty simple. We'll do normally a
27:14
Speaker 2: phone consult where I can get some details about your
27:17
Speaker 2: situation and what you got going on. What's preventing you
27:20
Speaker 2: from working. It's complicated regulations. Ultimately, think about it. You know,
27:25
Speaker 2: do you have the ability to do full time work?
27:28
Speaker 2: You can actually do a little bit of work and
27:29
Speaker 2: still get on Social Security disability benefits. You just can't
27:33
Speaker 2: make over a particular amount, but you know, we analyze
27:39
Speaker 2: it and then we haven't looked at the records or
27:41
Speaker 2: anything yet, so we we have faith the clients being
27:45
Speaker 2: truthful with their situation. Then we take on the case
27:48
Speaker 2: and go from where from there and we do all
27:50
Speaker 2: the work at that point. You just have to communicate
27:52
Speaker 2: with our office and we try and make it easy,
27:54
Speaker 2: but it's I mean, you can imagine waiting two and
27:58
Speaker 2: a half years for this hearing with no income hopefully
28:03
Speaker 2: and a lot of our clients and they have friends
28:05
Speaker 2: or family that help them help them get by. But
28:08
Speaker 2: you lose that hearing, you may have lost your ability
28:12
Speaker 2: to get your soci Security disability benefits. And if you
28:14
Speaker 2: truly are disabled, you know, you can't go back and work,
28:17
Speaker 2: and it just stuck in a really difficult financial situations.
28:23
Speaker 2: So I just really encourage everyone not to hesitate. And
28:28
Speaker 2: you know, maybe this is out of self interest, but
28:30
Speaker 2: so scurity is one of those unusual forums where you
28:33
Speaker 2: can actually have non lawyers. There are non lawyer entities
28:37
Speaker 2: out there, advocates that are allowed to represent people in
28:40
Speaker 2: a security hearing. Some of those may be fine. I
28:49
Speaker 2: encourage folks that hire actual lawyer because if you do
28:54
Speaker 2: lose at the hearing stage, your only recourse in for
28:56
Speaker 2: that is to appeal, and that's in the federal court
28:58
Speaker 2: system where lawyers are not allowed to represent folks. So
29:02
Speaker 2: if you see these advocacy groups out there, then they
29:05
Speaker 2: might be okay, you might get your benefits, but they
29:08
Speaker 2: or nearly get paid the same as the lawyers. So
29:11
Speaker 2: you know, I really encourage everyone it's thinking about how
29:13
Speaker 2: to proceed with their disability claim that whether it's us
29:18
Speaker 2: or another lawyer experienced with ciscre disability, I encourage you
29:21
Speaker 2: to get get a lawyer because these you just don't
29:24
Speaker 2: think about it. It's not a big jury trial, but
29:27
Speaker 2: these are some of the most important hearings in process
29:30
Speaker 2: in people's lives, and you can have your hearing lose
29:33
Speaker 2: unless you get worse or a new ailment in the future,
29:36
Speaker 2: You're just you're done at that point. You're not going
29:38
Speaker 2: to get your soecurity disability benefits, and there's no other
29:46
Speaker 2: safety net ordinarily in your stuff.
29:49
Speaker 3: Well, Tom, why does the wh and why does the
29:52
Speaker 3: government initially turn down all of those? Is there a
29:55
Speaker 3: common theme?
29:57
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I don't. Internally, I don't know if
30:01
Speaker 2: they necessarily have quotas or anything like that. But you see,
30:05
Speaker 2: because I've seen thousands of denial letters, and I would
30:11
Speaker 2: say on ninety percent of them, the four or five
30:14
Speaker 2: sentences when they deny the claim or read exactly the same,
30:19
Speaker 2: which is, well, you said you have X, Y and Z,
30:24
Speaker 2: but you can still walk talk see here. You know,
30:29
Speaker 2: they kind of recite the basics of everyday living that
30:32
Speaker 2: you seem to be able to do, and then it's
30:36
Speaker 2: just they don't give it the same analysis that you
30:40
Speaker 2: know and judge will. And the other thing is a
30:43
Speaker 2: lot of these cases are making sure that all the
30:46
Speaker 2: permanent records are gathered, and so secret Administration has a
30:51
Speaker 2: duty to gather your records, but they don't do a
30:52
Speaker 2: very good job of it. So oftentimes when those initial applications,
30:58
Speaker 2: unless you've brought them a full set of your medical record,
31:00
Speaker 2: which most people don't have, you go to the hospital
31:02
Speaker 2: or doctor, you might get a discharge summer or something.
31:04
Speaker 2: Those aren't your core medical records with testing results and
31:08
Speaker 2: things like that. I mean, most people don't see, for example,
31:10
Speaker 2: the MRI reports and things like that, and so if
31:14
Speaker 2: those records are not with associate administration or they overlook
31:17
Speaker 2: them at the initial application stage. Sometimes it's because they
31:21
Speaker 2: just don't have enough information, but it's just you don't
31:27
Speaker 2: get you get kind of a cursory analysis in that
31:31
Speaker 2: first denial, and if it isn't obvious, they just lean
31:36
Speaker 2: towards denying them. And if you file early, sometimes it's
31:42
Speaker 2: early on in your medical issue and so it hasn't
31:45
Speaker 2: been twelve months yet. But no, it's frustrating for folks
31:49
Speaker 2: because of course, people see why obvious it can't work,
31:52
Speaker 2: Why aren't they granting this? But it's, you know, it's
31:58
Speaker 2: just the way the system works. And you follow reconsideration
32:01
Speaker 2: docum after that and you have to go through reconsideration.
32:04
Speaker 2: But there also denied probably ninety percent of time, and
32:07
Speaker 2: then you get to request your hearing, but as you
32:09
Speaker 2: can imagine, each of those steps is not instantaneous, so
32:13
Speaker 2: it takes time. And about when you request your hearing,
32:15
Speaker 2: then there's a backlog, and I don't think it's getting
32:18
Speaker 2: any better. So you'll you request the hearing, you've already
32:22
Speaker 2: been in the process probably minimum six months, maybe up
32:26
Speaker 2: to a year, and you request your hearing, and you've
32:29
Speaker 2: got more weight time all along. If you hire us,
32:34
Speaker 2: you just need to keep us updated on where you
32:35
Speaker 2: go to doctor and that kind of thing. And we
32:38
Speaker 2: seek information from treating positions and things like that, maybe
32:42
Speaker 2: narrative reports or questionnaires that have the proper the information
32:48
Speaker 2: we know SO Security likes to see if they're determining
32:51
Speaker 2: whether somebody is truly disabled or not. And so we
32:53
Speaker 2: help you get post done and submitted to the SO
32:56
Speaker 2: Security administration.
32:57
Speaker 3: So, okay, we've got about two and a half minutes
33:02
Speaker 3: or so. Tom again, remind obviously you guys have been
33:05
Speaker 3: on almost thirty years now. We're clicking closely to that.
33:10
Speaker 3: But remind folks how to get in contact with the
33:12
Speaker 3: Peyton Lofer.
33:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, making me feel old, sorry about that, I'm sorry.
33:18
Speaker 2: That's better than the alternative, but no, yeah, so we do.
33:23
Speaker 2: We're not really a jack of all trades. I mean
33:25
Speaker 2: we like to do and I kind of analogize it
33:28
Speaker 2: to like sporting events. I guess that's what guys do
33:32
Speaker 2: a lot. But you know, we like to try cases.
33:34
Speaker 2: And we were talking about last week, actually spent most
33:36
Speaker 2: of last week just kind of talking about some of
33:37
Speaker 2: our memorable cases that Dad and I tried together. We
33:40
Speaker 2: don't try all cases together. I mean certain if it
33:43
Speaker 2: falls in line, we will, but nobody wins every case.
33:47
Speaker 2: It's not possible. But I'll tell you that Dad and
33:50
Speaker 2: I when we've tried cases together, meaning we're both sitting
33:53
Speaker 2: at the table and both of us have participated in
33:56
Speaker 2: some form in the actual trial for the jury, we
33:58
Speaker 2: never lost the case. One tough cases cases that I thought,
34:01
Speaker 2: I don't know about this one. But but anyway, if
34:05
Speaker 2: you've got any regal issues, give us a call or
34:09
Speaker 2: send us an email through the website Peytonlawfirm dot com.
34:11
Speaker 2: Because if it's something that's not in our wheelhouse, because
34:14
Speaker 2: we've been around so long and are local there, we
34:18
Speaker 2: we have we almost universally can direct you to a
34:22
Speaker 2: law firm that does handle the type of case that
34:24
Speaker 2: you need help with. But you know we'll help you
34:27
Speaker 2: if we can, and certainly all we can ask if
34:31
Speaker 2: you've been injured. Hopefully you never have to go through
34:34
Speaker 2: that or have a death in the family that you
34:35
Speaker 2: think was caused by some type of neglige into wrongdoing.
34:41
Speaker 2: Give us a call. I promise you you will get
34:43
Speaker 2: particular attention to your case. You will not be a
34:45
Speaker 2: number at Peyton Law Firm, you will not call call centers,
34:49
Speaker 2: and you have the ability to talk to the actual lawyer.
34:52
Speaker 2: Will come meet us in person anytime. And in every
34:57
Speaker 2: case we take like that, an injury or death or
35:01
Speaker 2: insurance dispute. You know, we take it personally, and we
35:04
Speaker 2: take a lot of pride and doing well for our
35:06
Speaker 2: clients and the fact we perform well at trial. You know, Jeff,
35:11
Speaker 2: most of them don't go to trial, but that's what
35:13
Speaker 2: gets cases settled, right exactly.
35:15
Speaker 3: Well, give a give Harvey our best, tell him we
35:20
Speaker 3: miss him, and we'll be praying for him, and get
35:23
Speaker 3: out of there soon and rude the Mountaineers to victory tomorrow.
35:26
Speaker 2: I will pass that along and I'm sure he'll appreciate that,
35:29
Speaker 2: and I appreciate the sentiments.
35:30
Speaker 3: Okay, all right, Tom, thanks for the call. Thanks Jeff,
35:34
Speaker 3: all right, all right, have a good day you too. Tom.
35:36
Speaker 3: Peyton will be back with us next week as the
35:40
Speaker 3: Peyton Law Firm again. The number seven five fifty five
35:43
Speaker 3: fifty six three or four seven five five fifty five
35:45
Speaker 3: fifty six located there first Avenue in Nitro. Can't miss it,
35:50
Speaker 3: right along the main drive there in Nitro. Go to
35:53
Speaker 3: Peytonlawfirm dot com. Peytonlawfirm dot com and you can send
35:59
Speaker 3: a message there. Like Tom said, only goes to his
36:01
Speaker 3: email and his dad's Harvey's email, and they will get
36:04
Speaker 3: back to you as soon as possible. Thanks to Tom
36:09
Speaker 3: joining us this morning by phone from the Cleveland clinic
36:12
Speaker 3: area after Harvey went underwent a surgery yesterday. Good news
36:14
Speaker 3: from Tom there that the surgery went well. Long way
36:18
Speaker 3: to recovery, but it sounds like a good prognosis as
36:21
Speaker 3: we move forward, all right, Stay tuned. Coming up next
36:24
Speaker 3: ABC News, followed by a local news update from Daniel
36:27
Speaker 3: Woods and stick around Dave Allen with five eighty Live
36:31
Speaker 3: here on five EDWCHS after the news this morning, and
36:35
Speaker 3: then Metro News talk Line hit your Way at ten
36:37
Speaker 3: o six this morning, Metro News Midday at twelve oh six. Today,
36:41
Speaker 3: Metro News Hotline with Dave Weeklee, coming your way at
36:44
Speaker 3: three oh six this afternoon, Metro News State White Sports
36:47
Speaker 3: Line Tonight at six oh six. Of course, we'll be
36:49
Speaker 3: talking a lot about the mountaineers and their trip to Omaha.
36:52
Speaker 3: This is five EDWCCHS, The Voice of Charleston.
36:55
Speaker 1: Five eighty six point five Charleston at one O four
36:59
Speaker 1: point five Cross Lane, a WVRC Media station. We are
37:03
Speaker 1: proud to live here too,