This Just In

Wood

March 31
Wood County Commission vs. Odie Lee Weaver and Citi Financial
PA- R. Vance Golden III; J- Waters
* The plaintiff is suing the defendants to recover costs it incurred in demolishing a home in Belleville the defendant’s owned. They seek judgment in the amount of $7,900 plus court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-129

William C. Barr vs. Parkersburg Bedding, LLC and Schottenstein Stores Corp.
PA- Walt Auvil; J- Beane
* The plaintiff, a Walker resident, is suing the defendants for violation of the state Wage Payment and Collection Act in failing to respond to his repeated requests to cease withdrawing $72 a week from his paycheck. He seeks reimbursement of the $400 already taken plus court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-130

April 1
Ronald De May vs. Connie Davis and Dewayne Heckman
PA- pro se; J- Reed
* The plaintiff, a San Francisco, Calif. Resident, is suing the defendants, residents of Rockport, for defrauding him of $13,745 with the promise of sending him $20,000 and laptop. He is seeking recovery of the money he’s paid and court costs.
Case number: 10-C-131

Franklin E. Wine Jr. vs. ParMar License Holding Company, ParMar Oil Company, ParMar Companies Inc., Chandra Taylor and Susan Bell
PA- Walt Auvil; J- Waters
* The plaintiff, a St. Albans resident, is suing the defendants for wrongful termination after he was fired from this job on Oct. 12 while taking leave under the Family Medical Leave Act for an off-the-job injury. He is seeking unspecified damages, court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-134

April 2
Richard A. Hayhurst vs. American Senior Communities, LLC d/b/a Eagle Pointe and Scott S. Marrsion
PA- Pro se; J- Beane
* The plaintiff is suing the defendants for costs he incurred in defending them in a 2004 lawsuit. He seeks judgment in the amount of $2,235 plus interest.
Case number: 10-C-135

Reynolds and Reynolds Company vs. Mullen Motors
PA- Ryan S. Marsteller; J- Reed
* The plaintiff is suing the defendant for failing to pay for goods sold and delivered from Oct. 2008 through Sept. 2009. They seek judgment in the value of the goods, $181,920.08, plus interest, court costs and fees.
Case number: 10-C-136

April 8
Robert M. Stemple vs. Charles Persinger d/b/a Little Man’s Tree Service
PA- James I. Stealey and Bruce M. White
* The plaintiff is suing the defendant for injuries he sustained on March 18, 2008, when he was struck by falling debris while working for the defendant in Jane Lew, and on Sept. 7 when the defendant’s “bodyguard” struck him when he went to the defendant’s home in Parkersburg to retrieve a personal item. He seeks $110,000 in damages, including $10,000 in medical bills, plus interest, court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-143

April 12
Samuel and Carrie Braniff vs. Wee Federal Credit Union
PA – Keith White; J – Beane
* The plaintiffs are suing the defendants for breach of contract in failing to credit payments on a Ford Explorer they bought in March 2001 with money loaned by the defendant, and later sold to Sandra Winnell in 2004. The Braniffs also make a claim against Wee FCU for releasing their financial information to Winnell. They seek judgment in the amount of $150,000 plus court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-147

April 15
Hurd Millwork Company Inc. d/b/a HWD Acquisitions vs. Aldad Distributors Inc.
PA – Ryan S. Marsteller; J – Reed
* The plaintiff is suing the defendant for failing to pay for goods and services delivered between Oct. and Dec. 2007. They seek judgment for the amount of goods and services — $28,465 — plus interest, costs and fees.
Case number: 10-C-152

April 30
Betty Williamson and Ida Mae Sims, personal representatives of the estate of Georgia Cornell, vs. Amedisys WV, LLC d/b/a Amedisys Home Health of WV and Renee Dilly
PA – Andrew L. Paternostro; J – Waters
* The plaintiffs are suing the defendants for Cornell’s for neglecting Cornell during her stay at the defendant’s facility from Feb. 7 until June 12, 2008, that resulted in her subsequent death on July 21, 2008.
Case number: 10-C-171

May 13
Christopher Cullum vs. Grand Central LP d/b/a Grand Central Mall, Lemon and Barrett’s Inc., Donald Paul Anderson, Mary Ann Moreland, Cody Barrett and Sara Holland
PA – Jim Leach; J – Waters
* The plaintiff, a Williamstown resident, is suing the defendants for their involvement in a fake armed robbery in May 2008 at the Grand Central Mall in Vienna for the purpose of initiating him as a security guard. The robbery involved Holland, a Belpre, Ohio resident, letting Anderson, Moreland and Barrett, all Parkersburg residents – who each wore ski masks and carried pellet guns – into a back entrance at Lemon and Barrett’s location at the mall, capturing Cullum and later revealing to him the robbery was a hoax. A recording of the fake robbery taken by one of the defendants was placed on YouTube. He seeks unspecified damages, court costs and fees.
Case number: 10-C-189

May 14
Wesbanco Bank Inc. vs. Western Networks Inc.
PA- Robert W. Full; J – Waters
* The plaintiff is suing the defendant for tendering a check for $36,000 to the plaintiff’s customer, Jim Wagle, on Dec. 20, 2008 that was returned for insufficient funds on Nov. 24, 2008, after Wesbanco realized a coding error it made on Dec. 22, 2008, for $3,600. They seek judgment in the amount of $32,400 plus interest, costs and fees.
Case number: 10-C-190

Jan Dils and Heather Vanhoose vs. John Doak
PA – George Y. Chandler; J – Beane
* The plaintiffs, Parkersburg attorneys, are suing the defendant for breach of contract in failing honor the contingency fee agreement they reached in Aug. 22, 2008, that Doak agree to pay them 20 percent, plus costs and expenses, of any disability benefits they help him get through the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs. They seek judgment in the amount of $27,078.65 plus interest.
Case number: 10-C-191

Jan Dils and Heather Vanhoose vs. Gregory Scott Lang II
PA – George Y. Chandler; J – Reed
* The plaintiffs, Parkersburg attorneys, are suing the defendant for breach of contract in failing honor the contingency fee agreement they reached in July 25, 2008, that Doak agree to pay them 20 percent, plus costs and expenses, of any disability benefits they help him get through the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs. They seek judgment in the amount of $20,450 plus interest.
Case number: 10-C-192

May 17
Marcilla C. Dickerson vs. Centro Properties Group
PA – Jay W. Gerber Jr.; J – Reed
* The plaintiff, a resident of Washington County, Ohio is suing the defendant for injuries she sustained on Dec. 3, 2008, after she fell on an uneven pavement in the parking lot of property owned by the defendant at 4000 Murdoch Ave. in Parkersburg. She seeks unspecified damages, interest, costs and fees.
Case number: 10-C-199

American Senior Communities d/b/a Eagle Pointe vs. Darin Shaw, individually, and Jill Metz, as conservator of Geraldine Shaw
PA- Steven R. Bratke; J – Reed
* The plaintiff, a Parkersburg nursing home, is suing the defendants for failing to pay for services provided during Shaw’s stay between Jan. 15, 2009 and May 3, 2010. They seek judgment in the amount of $70,425.66 plus attorney fees and interest.
Case number: 10-C-202

May 20
Austin J. Brown vs. Jarrell Insurance and Financial, LLC
PA- C. Blaine Myers; J – Reed
* The plaintiff is suing the defendant for tortious interference after he left his employment with the defendant on March 26 to begin work for Barengo Insurance in Marietta, Ohio only to be terminated on May 3 when Jarrell provided Barengo a purported non-competition agreement. He seeks unspecified damages along with a declaratory judgment finding the non-competition agreement null and void and an injunction prohibiting its enforcement.
Case number: 10-C-207

Dils

Vanhoose

PARKERSBURG – A Wood County attorney’s mantra in not taking no for an answer in helping clients obtain disability benefits also extends to those clients who don’t pay for the work she’s done.

Jan Dils, and one of her associates filed two breach of contract suits in Wood Circuit Court on May 14. In both suits, Dils and Vanhoose allege two former clients have not paid them for helping them get benefits denied by the Veteran’s Administration.

Dils and Heather Vanhoose filed suits against John Doak and Gregory Scott Lang II. No other information in court records is provided about Doak and Lang except that they signed contingency fee agreements with Dils and Vanhoose on Aug. 22 and July 25, 2008, respectively.

According to their agreements, Doak and Lang were to pay Dils and Vanhoose 20 percent, plus costs and expenses, of any past due benefits denied them by the VA. In both suits, Dils and Vanhoose allege they represented Doak and Lang “as agreed, and [he] was subsequently awarded both past and future benefits.”

No information is provided as to when the U.S. Court of Veteran’s Appeals awarded Doak and Lang their benefits or what measures Dils and Vanhoose took to get their fee and expenses before filing their lawsuits.

Along with interest in both cases, Dils and Vanhoose seek judgment against Doak for $27,078.65, including $500 in expenses, and against Lang for $20,450, including $450 in expenses. They are represented by Parkersburg attorney George Y. Chandler.

The cases are respectively assigned to judges J.D. Beane and Jeffrey B. Reed.

Dils, a Parkersburg attorney who also has offices in Charleston, Logan and Beckley, specializes in personal injury, and disability benefits cases. Her television and radio commercials tout her as being an attorney who “won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

According to the Web site for Dils’ firm, Vanhoose has been an associate since 2007.

Wood Circuit Court case numbers 10-C-191 (Doak) and 192 (Lang)

May 19
Peoples Bank vs. Elizabeth Peters
PA – Khadine L. Ritter; J – Reed
* The plaintiff, a Marietta, Ohio resident, is suing the defendant, a Vienna resident for defaulting on a $28,759.77 loan given to her on Nov. 2, 2007, to purchase a 2004 Buick Rendezvous through McClinton Chevrolet in Parkersburg. They are seeking judgment in the amount of the unpaid portion of the loan – $22,904.49 – plus interest of 8.74 percent since May 7 and possession of the vehicle.
Case number: 10-C-205

May 25
Barbara Jones vs. Wetzel County Homecare, LLC, LHC Group, Inc., Rebecca McCoy and Connie Fluharty
PA – Walt Auvil; J – Reed
* The plaintiff is suing the defendants for failing to pay her for unspecified “off the clock” work she performed from April 22, 2002 until March 25. She seeks unspecified damages, court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-210

Edna Clegg, administratrix of the estate of Iva Mae Williams, vs. West Virginia Rehabilitation, Inc. d/b/a Healthsouth Western Hills Regional Rehabilitation Hospital
PA – William O. Merriman; J – Waters
* The plaintiff is suing the defendant for negligent treatment rendered to Williams during her stay at the defendant’s facility from Dec. 17-29, 2007, which contributed to her wrongful death. She is seeking unspecified damages, attorney fees and interest.
Case number: 10-C-211

May 26
William H. Helmick vs. Super China Buffet
PA – Bruce White; J – Beane
* The plaintiff is suing the defendant for injuries he sustained on Oct. 5 after falling on a cracked tile floor at defendant’s location in Parkersburg. He seeks unspecified damages, interest, attorney fees and court costs.
Case number: 10-C-213

Lance and Briget Williamson vs. Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc
PA – M. Paul Marteney; J – Waters
* The plaintiff is suing the defendant for injuries he sustained on June 6, 2008, after falling on some unstable lumber stacked in an isle at the defendant’s location in Vienna. Briget makes a claim for loss of consortium. They seek unspecified damages, court costs and interest.
Case number: 10-C-214

PARKERSBURG — A former security guard at a Wood County shopping mall is hoping to get the last laugh on former mall employees who made him the subject of realistic prank.

Christopher Cullum filed suit on May 13 in Wood Circuit Court against Donald Paul Anderson, Mary Ann Moreland, Cody Barrett and Sara Holland. In his complaint, Cullum, a Williamstown resident, alleges the four played a joke on him by making him believe an armed robbery was taking place while he was on duty as a security guard at the Grand Central Mall in Vienna.

Both the mall, and Lemon and Barrett’s, a motorcycle and ATV dealership where the fake armed robbery took place, are named as co-defendants in the suit.

According to the suit, Cullum was working as security guard at the mall on May 14, 2008. It is unclear when he began working there.

At a time not specified, Cullum alleges Anderson, 24, Moreland, 23, both of Parkersburg, Barrett, 23, of Davisville, and Holland, a Belpre, Ohio resident, would “initiate” his employment by staging an armed robbery in one of the mall’s service hallways. Though records state Holland worked for the mall, and Barrett for Lemon and Barrett’s, it is unclear if Anderson and Moreland were similarly employed with either.

After the mall closed that evening, Cullum alleges Holland let Barrett, Anderson and Moreland into the service hallway through a secured door. All three where wearing ski masks with Anderson armed with a semi-automatic Air Soft pistol.

Upon confronting him, Cullum alleges Anderson “under threat of force” took away his radio. Anderson also asked for Cullum to surrender his handcuffs, but he refused.

Thereafter, Anderson handed the pistol to Barrett and “engaged in a physical altercation with [Cullum].” The fact he was being assaulted at gunpoint by three masked intruders led Cullum to believe “he was engaged in an actual armed robbery, and was in great apprehension for his life.”

During the altercation, Anderson’s ski mask became removed thus prompting Anderson to remove his and inform Cullum the robbery was a “joke.” The entire altercation, Cullum alleges, was recorded by Moreland who supposedly later uploaded it to YouTube.

In his suit, Cullum alleges he was not the first victim of pranks pulled by Holland, Barrett, Anderson and Moreland. He provides no specifics except that both the mall and Lemon and Barrett’s “had knowledge of similar conduct” but “did not adequately address or correct [it].”

It is unclear how long Cullum remained employed with the mall. However, his suit states he is currently on active duty with the Air Force.

Lemon and Barrett, which has its main office and showroom in Mineral Wells, vacated its space at the mall earlier this year.

In his suit, Cullum alleges the incident resulted in him “suffer[ing] great physical, mental and emotional injuries and distress to such a significant degree that is likely that he will be adversely affected by same for the remainder of his life.” Both during and following the incident, Cullum says he’s incurred “physical injury, psychological damage, medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, permanent damage, diminution of earning capacity and endured a loss of capacity to enjoy life.”

Cullum seeks unspecified damages, court costs and attorney fees. He is represented by Parkersburg attorneys James R. Leach and Victoria J. Sopranik.

The case is assigned to Judge Robert A. Waters.

Wood Circuit Court case number 10-C-189

June 2
Richard E. Epling vs. Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital
PA – Bruce White; J – Beane
* The plaintiff is suing the defendant for injuries he sustained on Nov. 28, 2008, when he fell out of a broken chair. He is seeking unspecified damages, including $10,662.65 in medical expenses, interest, court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-226

Jessica Anthony vs. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Kevin Lyons and Does 1 and 2
PA – James R. Leach; J – Reed
* The plaintiff, a Parkersburg resident, is suing the defendants for injuries she sustained on May 21, 2009, when boxes stacked at end of on isle in the grocery section fell on her. She is seeking unspecified damages.
Case number: 10-C-227

June 4
Joetta and Lila Templin vs. Malone Renovations and Branch Banking and Trust
PA- George Cosenza; J – Waters
* The plaintiffs are suing the defendants for breach of contract in failing to inspect and construct their home in Boaz pursuant to a Sept. 24, 2008, agreement. They are seeking unspecified damages, court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-229

Monte Christia vs. Jerry L. Cooper
PA – Pro se; J – Beane
* The petitioner is asking the court to issue an restraining order against the respondent stating he have no contact with Christia or any members of his family following an altercation the two had on May 31 regarding a property dispute on Laird Street in Parkersburg which led to Cooper spitting tobacco into both of Christia’s eyes.
Case number: 10-C-232

A – G. Bradley Frum; J – Beane
* The plaintiff is suing the defendant for failing to pay for cleaning and sanitary services they performed at the defendant’s West Virginia locations. They seek judgment in the amount of $25,858.50 plus interest, court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-241

June 23
Timothy and Deborah Battin vs. Lowe’s Home Center
PA – William O. Merriman; J – Reed
* The plaintiff, Belleville residents, are suing the defendant for injuries Timothy sustained on July 1, 2008, when he was struck in the head, and upper body by a falling piece of lumber at the defendant’s Vienna location. Deborah makes a claim for loss of consortium.
They are seeking unspecified damages, court costs, attorney fees and interest.
Case number: 10-C-253

June 24
Marty McBrayer vs. IVS Hydro Inc.
PA – J. Michael Ranson; J – Waters
* The plaintiff is suing the defendant for wrongful termination when he was fired on July 25, 2008, when his workers’ compensation benefits he received from an injury he sustained on May 6, 2006 expired. He is seeking unspecified damages, court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-260

Michelle D. Pifer vs. Verizon Wireless LLC and Michael Chad Lockhart
PA – Walt Auvil; J – Reed
* The plaintiff, a Vienna resident, is suing the defendants for constructive discharge following her resignation from Verizon Wireless on March 28 due to the company’s failure to investigate multiple complaints of sexual harassment against Lockhart, one of her supervisors. She is seeking unspecified damages, including reinstatement, court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-262

June 28
Kathryn Worthington, M.D. vs. Worthington Center Inc., Schwabe and Associates, Mario Schwabe, M.D. and Eric Sams
PA – Walt Auvil; J – Beane
* The plaintiff is suing the defendants for multiple violations of the state Wage Payment and Collection Act including her immediate termination on May 28, 2009, after bringing to Sams’ attention the Center’s and Schwabe’s failure to pay her for the previous nine weeks. She seeks unspecified damages.
Case number: 10-C-271

June 30
Luis J. and Mayra Salas, parents and guardians of Myrka Salas, vs. Chrisha Creations Ltd. and Sam’s Club
PA – Matthew C. Carlisle; J – Beane
* The plaintiffs, residents of Marietta, Ohio, are suing the defendants, a Rhode Island and Delaware-based business, respectively, for injuries Myrka sustained on July 1, 2008, when she received a laceration on her right arm from a spring in a toy hamper manufactured by Chrisha and sold at the Sam’s Club location in Vienna. They seek unspecified damages, interest, court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-274

PARKERSBURG – Prior to going to prison, Richard Hayhurst met with little success in winning other suits where he thought money was due him.

In addition to one filed in April against Eagle Pointe nursing home, and Scott Morrison, Hayhurst filed three suits seeking compensation. The first was from a former client, the second against a storage company for lost property and the third against General Motors for failure to repair his car under warranty.

Exactly a year before filing his suit against Eagle Pointe and Morrison, Hayhurst filed suit against Robert Keith Sheppard. In his suit, Hayhurst alleged Sheppard defrauded him out of $5,575.93 in legal services in helping to defend him against a fraud lawsuit filed by two other attorneys, J.C. and Eric Powell.

Records show in January 2009 the Powells filed suit against Sheppard alleging he enticed them to invest money with Larry George and Dr. Michael W. Johnson, a Parkersburg chiropractor, to become partners in the Endurance Group, a limited liability company overseeing development of a proposed retail outlet at the intersection of W. Va. 68 and Corridor D/U.S. 50 in South Parkersburg called Neal Run Crossing. In addition to Sheppard, the Powells filed separate lawsuits against George and Johnson when the only retail development that materialized in Neal Run Crossing was a Western Sizzlin’ Steakhouse solely owned by Johnson.

A month after her answered the Powells’ complaint as “tabloid trash,” Hayhurst withdrew from the case. Hayhurst said he severed his relationship with Sheppard after he not only failed to pay a $10,000 retainer, but also mislead him into believing he was either refinancing property or securing a loan to pay the retainer.

Records show Judge Robert A. Waters dismissed the case on July 23 after Sheppard declared bankruptcy 10 days earlier, and two days before a hearing on a motion Hayhurst made for summary judgment.

A month after the dismissal in the Sheppard case, Hayhurst filed suit against People’s Cartage, and Central Van and Storage of Charleston for loss of furniture belonging to his late mother. In his suit, Hayhurst alleged that after making arrangements to move the furniture where it had been stored at People’s facility in Canton, Ohio to Parkersburg in June 2009 he learned that somehow it was transferred to Central Van’s facility in Poca only to come up missing.

Hayhurst placed the value of the furniture at $8,000.

When neither People’s nor Central Van filed an answer, Hayhurst made a motion for default judgment which Judge Jeffrey B. Reed granted on Oct. 2. In his order, Reed also set Nov. 24 for a hearing on damages.

The hearing was never held as Reed dismissed the case on Nov. 3 following a motion by Hayhurst to voluntarily withdraw the suit.

Finally, on Dec. 21 Hayhurst filed suit against Candie Fonseca and General Motors after receiving assurances they would reimburse him for repairs made to his 2003 Cadillac on Oct. 28. In his suit, Hayhurst alleges he paid Wharton Cadillac/Olds in Parkersburg $3,215.27 to service his car after the “Check Engine” light came on.

He alleges Fonseca and GM assured him on Nov. 10 they would pay his claim within two weeks. When no check came, Hayhurst filed suit seeking judgment in the amount of the repairs plus $15,000 in punitive damages.

Records show, GM, though its attorney David Berz, with the Washington, D.C., office of Wiel, Gotshal and Meges, on Jan. 5 reminded Hayhurst that the company was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. However, a separate settlement was reached with Fonseca on Feb. 26.

The terms of the settlement were not stated in court records. Records are unclear as to who Fonseca is, and her involvement with Hayhurst’s dispute.

Hayhurst was unavailable for comment due to his incarceration at the Hazelton Penitentiary in Bruceton Mills for a 21-month sentence for tax evasion.

Wood Circuit Court, case numbers 09-C-156 (Sheppard), 09-C-412 (People’s Cartage) and 10-C-640 (Fonseca)

PARKERSBURG – Despite records showing no direct involvement, a Wood County attorney wants an Parkersburg nursing home to pay him for legal work he performed in a 2004 wrongful termination case.

Richard A. Hayhurst on April 2 filed suit in Wood Circuit Court against Eagle Pointe, and Scott Morrison. In his suit, Hayhurst alleges Eagle Pointe, and Morrison owe him over $2,000 for legal services he rendered to Debra Lynn Wingrove relating to her involvement a suit filed against Eagle Pointe, and its former administrator, Pat Westfall, by Randy Wright alleging wrongful termination.

However, court records show Wingrove was never a party to the suit, and Hayhurst never filed any notice of appearance in the case.

Little detail

According to his suit, Wright was hired as Eagle Pointe’s director of social services on March 1, 2001. He was later promoted to administrator in training on Dec. 31, 2002, after Westfall announced she “intended to retire within the next couple of years.”

Following his promotion, Wright maintains he addressed concerns with Westfall including call lights not being answered, staffing shortages and “inappropriate behavior” of Joanne Emerson, the director of nursing. The only specified allegation Wright made about Emerson in court records is that she allegedly falsified information on patient charts.

After believing Westfall was not taking his concerns seriously, Wright says he addressed them with Eagle Pointe’s parent company, American Senior Communities, in Indiana. Records are unclear when he communicated with ASC, and what action, if any, they took.

Nevertheless, Wright alleges Wingrove on March 5, 2004, stuck him three times on the back of the head, and once on the face. After reporting the incident to Westfall, Wright says the only action she took was to move him out of the office he shared with Wingrove to another place in the facility.

A month after the altercation with Wingrove, Wright alleges he was terminated following a visit by Dan Benson, ASC’s vice president for operations. Two months after he was fired, Wright filed his lawsuit.

Records show the case was settled over a year later on Aug. 18, 2005. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Though never listed nor added as a co-defendant, Wingrove’s name did come up again in the case. Records show both ASC, and Wright included her on the respective witness lists filed on April 25 and May 2, 2005.

In his suit, Hayhurst does not specify the role he played in the Wright case. Instead, he cryptically states that he “performed appropriate legal services for the benefit of the Defendants pursuant to his engagement and obtained a result satisfactory to all.”

Regardless, Hayhurst maintains that from the unspecified date he began working on the case until Feb. 9, he performed $2,235 in legal services.

Fraud alleged, recanted

On April 29, Eagle Pointe, and Morrison, ASC’s corporate attorney, filed their answer to Hayhurst’s suit. Through their attorney C. Blaine Myers, they denied his allegation except that he was Wingrove’s attorney.

Among the defenses they assert is that Hayhurst’s suit was filed past the two-year statute of limitations. Also, they maintain Hayhurst is “not entitled to recover on his claims against Defendants because the alleged debt was a result of Plaintiff’s fraud.”

However, a month later Myers would have to recant the fraud allegation as following a motion Hayhurst filed on May 3 to strike it, he “conced[ed] they [ASC and Morrison] have no evidence that the Plaintiff committed any species of fraud in connection with the cause of action.”

The West Virginia Record attempted to get specifics on Hayhurst’s connection to the Wright case. However, Hayhurst was unavailable for comment as he’s currently incarcerated at the Hazelton Penitentiary in Bruceton Mills.

Twelve days after filing his suit, Hayhurst was convicted on a charge of tax evasion, and sentenced to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay the IRS $500 a month once he’s released in December 2011. As a result of his conviction, the state Supreme Court on June 2 suspended Hayhurst’s license indefinitely pending completion of an ethics investigation by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.

When contacted, Morrison acknowledged that Wingrove did retain Hayhurst during the course of the Wright suit. Hayhurst’s role, Morrison said, was to advise her when she was deposed as a witness.

Neither he nor Eagle Pointe has any intention of paying Hayhurst, Morrison said, as the case was settled five years ago, and there is no record agreeing to pay him for representing Wingrove.

“He contacted us for the first time 4 1/2 years later and we have no record of agreeing to pay him,” Morrison said.

According to C. Blaine Myers, the Parkersburg attorney representing Eagle Pointe and Morrison, said Hayhurst has relented, and filed a voluntary motion to dismiss the suit with Judge J.D. Beane.

Wood Circuit Court case number 10-C-135

July 23
Edmund Pawlaczyk vs. Blennerhassett Post 1212 Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, Inc.
PA – Walt Auvil; J – Waters
*The plaintiff is suing the defendant for failing to pay him for hours he worked off the clock from 2005 until his termination on April 26, and for not restoring his full rate of pay in December 2006 after being asked to take a temporary pay cut in the summer of 2006. He is seeking unspecified damages including lost wages, back pay and reinstatement and attorney fees.
Case number 10-C-311

Betty J. Brent v. Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, Scott Vaughn, Daniel Gordon and Daniel White
PA – Walt Auvil; J – Beane
*The plaintiff is suing the defendants for wrongful termination for reporting to White, the regional human resources manager, her cut in pay and demotion by Gordon, manager of Wal-Mart’s store in Pettyville, after she asked Vaughn, the store’s assistant manager, to be moved out of the cash office due to allergies. She is seeking unspecified damages, court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-312
July 26

Edward Haislop IV, individually and in his capacity as the personal representative of the estate of Eileen Haislop and Victor and Thomas Haislop, individually vs. West Virginia School of Medicine, West Virginia University Hospital and John Does 1-3
PA – Todd Wiseman; J – Waters
*The plaintiffs are suing the defendants for mistakenly sending them the cremated remains of a man who they allegedly interred believing it was the remains of their mother, who asked that her body be donated to science for cancer research following her death. They are seeking unspecified damages, attorney fees and court costs.
Case number: 10-C-317

Aug. 3
Thomas Larry and Manoka Janell Brown vs. Todd Brown d/b/a Big East Freights
PA – Jim Leach; J – Waters
* The plaintiffs, residents of Parkersburg, are suing the defendant, also a Parkersburg resident, for injuries Thomas received on Aug. 12, 2009, when Todd caused Thomas to fall out the cab of a tractor trailer following an argument over who should complete a haul from Ohio to Florida. Manoka makes a claim for loss of consortium. They seek unspecified damages.
Case number: 10-C-338

Aug. 5
Carol J. Arnott vs. Kenneth W. Arnott
PA – Robert D. Campbell; J – Reed
* The plaintiff is suing the defendant, her stepson and a resident of Davisville, for unlawful detainer of property she owns, and Kenneth has occupied since December 2006. She seeks an order removing him from the property.
Case number: 10-C-343

PARKERSRBURG –- A Wood County home-health nurse has filed suit against her former employer alleging she was terminated for reporting a racial slur.

Debra D. Barker filed suit against Mulberry Street Management Services Inc. on July 15 in Wood Circuit Court. In her complaint, Barker alleges she was fired from Mulberry in March after reporting to management that a co-worker made an inappropriate racial remark about her children.

According to her suit, Barker began work for Mulberry in November 2008. Based in Morgantown, Mulberry is a home-health agency that does business as West Virginia Select and the Coordinating Council for Independent Living through eight locations across the state including Parkersburg.

On March 3, Barker alleges a co-worker made reference to her children as “niggers.” The suit makes no other reference to her children except they are bi-racial.

That same day, Barker alleges she met with Christina Jones, a fellow registered nurse, and the Parkersburg site’s supervisor, and David Wilson, Mulberry’s assistant vice-president. She reported how the co-worker’s utterance of epithet not only made her “embarrassed and hurt by these references” but also how “she should not have to work in an environment where such language was tolerated.”

Later on March 22, Barker alleges she was called on Jones’ office to have another meeting with her and Wilson. It as during this meeting that Wilson told Barker, “‘I have your termination papers and I need you to sign them.’”

When asked why she was being fired, Wilson replied “‘I don’t have a reason to fire you. I am just to let you go. Christina doesn’t even know why.’” After Barker tearfully asked what she did wrong, Wilson said ” ‘nothing. I just hope you don’t hate me one day.”

Shortly thereafter, Barker alleges Wilson instructed Jones to escort her out of the building and ask for her keys to the office.

According to her suit, Barker did not receive her final paycheck until March 30, three days past the 72 hours required by the state Wage Payment and Collection Act. Also, Barker received a check for 2.5 hours of accrued leave on March 30, and another for $91.80 on April 26.

Barker alleges her termination was a direct result of reporting the racial epithet to Jones and Wilson. In addition to violating the state Human Rights Act, Barker alleges Mulberry violated the WPCA by not paying all her wages within 72 hours of being terminated.

Barker seeks unspecified damages, including the value of lost wages and benefits, and reinstatement to her job, civil penalties for WPCA violations, court costs and attorney fees. She is represented by Walt Auvil with the Parkersburg law firm of Rusen and Auvil.

The case is assigned to Judge Jeffrey B. Reed.

Wood Circuit Court case number 10-C-292

PARKERSBURG –- A teaching moment for staff and students at West Virginia University’s medical school is now one for their colleagues and friends at the law school following the med school’s alleged failure to properly return the remains of a Wood County’s woman to her family for burial.

The WVU School of Medicine is named as a co-defendant in a lawsuit filed in Wood Circuit Court by three family members of Eileen Haislop. In their complaint filed on July 26, Edward IV, Victor and Thomas Haislop, Eileen’s sons, allege WVUSOM, after using her body for scientific research, returned the ashes of a stranger instead of Eileen’s for interment.

Along with WVUSOM, WVU Hospitals and John Does 1-3 are named as co-defendants. Both WVUSOM and WVUH are part of WVU’s Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center.

According to the suit, Eileen Haislop died on April 6, 2009, after battling cancer. According to her obituary, Haislop, 70, a native of Tarrytown, N.Y., was a guidance counselor and history teacher at Parkersburg High School.

Prior to her death, Haislop made the decision to have her body donated to WVUSOM and WVUH. According the suit, she made the decision “in hopes that students and/or professors may learn something about the cancer that took her life.”

The agreement called for Haislop’s body to be cremated and the ashes returned to her family. Her remains would then be interred in accordance with her Roman Catholic beliefs.

According to the suit, Catholic doctrine requires cremated remains “to be placed in the ground or in a mausoleum with an appropriate Roman Catholic funeral mass.”

On a date not specified in court records, WVUSOM and WVUH took custody of Haislop’s body. The sons maintain they made the transfer with the understanding WVUSOM and WVUH would honor their mother’s wishes.

On July 28, 2009, Edward, who lives in Parkersburg, received a package from Tiffany Rohrbaugh with WVU’s Neurobiology and Anatomy Department. The package contained a cardboard box that “purportedly contained Eileen Haislop’s cremated remains.”

In order to accommodate Victor and Thomas, who live in Arkansas and South Carolina, respectively, and other immediate family members, Edward arranged for Eileen’s funeral to take place on March 27. Following the funeral mass, her remains were placed in the columbarium at the Mount Carmel Cemetery in Parkersburg.

The next day, Edward alleges he discovered a white paper at the bottom of the cardboard box that contained the remains. Believing it was his mother’s death certificate; Haislop read it only to discover it was that of a man named Darrell Shirley.

The suit is unclear was to what actions Edward, Victor and Thomas did next. However, they aver “Eileen Haislop’s remains cannot be located or identified.”

Because of that, the Haislop’s maintain they cannot provide Eileen “with proper interment as contemplated in her agreement with the named defendants, and as required by her religious beliefs and faith, which her family has a right and moral duty to implement and honor following her death.” Interring the remains of someone else has led them to incur “annoyance, inconvenience, aggravation, severe emotional distress, mental anguish, sorrow, worry, anxiety, physical pain and suffering and psychological trauma.”

The Haislops seek unspecified damages, attorney fees and court costs. They are represented by Vienna attorney Todd Wiseman and Harry G. Deitzler with the Charleston law firm of Hill, Peterson, Carper, Bee and Deitzler.

The case is assigned to Judge Robert A. Waters.

Wood Circuit Court case number 10-C-317

Aug. 9
Marcie D. Weyer and Tomar Rentals, LLC vs. the Wood County Commission
PA – Timothy J. LaFon; J – Beane
* The plaintiffs are suing the defendants for unjustly taking their property in Lubeck following notification of the county’s flood plain manager on July 14 that new trailers on the property could not be installed until they met county standards and were inspected. They seek declaratory judgment interpreting the ordinance as unconstitutional, and an injunction prohibiting its enforcement.
Case number: 10-C-345

Aug. 12
BFS Petroleum Products Inc. vs. Timber Contractors LLC
PA – Howard A. Goodstein; J- Beane
* The plaintiff is suing the defendant for goods sold from March 2008 until the present that remain unpaid. They seek judgment in the amount of the unpaid goods, $194,614.01, plus interest, court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-353

Aug. 13
Arthur Winter vs. T. Dean Bobbitt, D.D.S and Drs. B. Noorbakhsh and T. Dean Bobbitt d/b/a Oral Surgery Associates
PA – Brent K. Kesner; J – Reed
* The plaintiff, a resident of Jackson County, is suing the defendants, Ohio dentists with an office in Parkersburg, for malpractice in causing him to suffer a series of strokes following extraction of his teeth on Aug. 7, 2008. He seeks unspecified damages, court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-357

Veronica Blackwell vs. Parkersburg Powell, LP d/b/a Rolling Hills Townhomes and Cottages and Millennia Management, LLC and John Does 1-10.
PA- James R. Leach; J – Waters
* The plaintiff, a Parkersburg resident, is suing the defendants, property management companies based in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, for injuries she sustained at the Powell Apartments on Aug. 28, 2008, after slipping on a muddy sidewalk when attempting to visit Apt. 8. She seeks unspecified damages, court costs and attorney fees.
Case number: 10-C-358

Aug. 13
Doug Withrow vs. Cintas Corp. and Mike Mullen
PA – NA; J – Beane
* The plaintiff is suing the defendants, an Ohio business and its Wood County manager, for wrongful termination after he was fired on Sept. 18, 2009, after 20 year employment, and was replaced by a younger employee under the age of 40. He seeks unspecified damages, including back pay and reinstatement, court costs, attorney fees and a permanent injunction ordering Cintas to undergo on-going training program on age discrimination.
Case number: 10-C-359

Aug. 16
Philip R. Bonner and Tiffany D. Bonner, individually and as parents and next friends of Allen M. Bonner, a minor vs. Minaya Berhane, M.D.
PA – George E. Lantz; J – Waters
* The plaintiffs, residents of Washington, are suing the defendant, a Parkersburg pediatrician, for malpractice in failing to properly diagnose a developmental disability in Allen’s hip following his birth on May 2, 2007. They seek unspecified damages, interest and costs.
Case number: 10-C-361

Jeff Corra, right, confers with his daughter, Ashli, about a customer’s order. A self-employed businessman, Corra has a pending lawsuit against former Wood County Prosecutor Ginny Conley, Assistant Prosecutor Sean Francisco and two Wood County deputy sheriffs alleging they wongfully prosecuted him on charges of furnishing alcohol to minors and involuntary manslaugher after four friends of Ashli’s were either injured or killed in a wreck after leaving the Corra’s home in 2006. (Photo by Lawrence Smith)

PARKERSBURG -– Records show the Wood County Prosecutor’s Office knew as early as May 2009 it had to dismiss charges of involuntary manslaughter against Jeff Corra, but waited another three months before doing it.

Last September, Wood County Prosecutor Jason Wharton asked that two counts of involuntary manslaughter pending against Corra be dismissed. Records show Judge Robert A. Waters granted the motion the next day on Sept. 3, 2009.

Corra, 54, a self-employed businessman, was indicted on the charges during the January 2007 term of the Wood County grand jury. The prosecution alleged Corra was partially responsible for the deaths of Matthew Humphreys, and Joshua Tucker after they left Corra’s home on Rector Road in north Parkersburg, and were involved in a single-vehicle accident on Aug. 6, 2006.

The case was based on allegations Corra provided alcohol to not only Humphreys and Tucker, but also Courtney McDonough and Morgan Brown, who where in the car with Humphreys and Tucker, but only injured, when they visited Corra’s daughter, Ashli, the evening before. During the September 2006 term of the grand jury, Corra, along with McDonough, who was the driver of the vehicle when it crashed, was indicted on nine counts of furnishing alcoholic liquor to minors.

At the time, all four were adults, but under the legal drinking age of 21.

Records show the involuntary manslaughter case was never set for trial. By law, the prosecution must present its case against a defendant within three terms of the court, or one calendar year, before it is dismissed.

However, the charges were not dismissed until a total of nine terms of the court following Corra’s indictment. That includes the last full year that former Wood County Prosecutor Ginny Conley was in office.

Conley left office on Dec. 29, 2008, when her term expired. Initially, Conley filed to run for a fourth term, but withdrew her candidacy the last day of the filing period.

Wharton, an assistant under Conley, hastily applied to run, and was successful in defeating former Wood County Prosecutor Michelle Rusen, who Conley defeated for re-election in 1996.

Knowing that she had an obligation to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter charges as early as January 2008 but didn’t is part of the basis for Corra’s pending wrongful prosecution against Conley. Along with Conley, Corra makes the same claim against Assistant Wood County Prosecutor Sean Francisco, who was assigned both the involuntary manslaughter and furnishing alcohol cases.

Two months after Wharton took office, the state Supreme Court overturned Corra’s August 2007 conviction on the furnishing alcohol charges. The Court cited errors committed by both Francisco, and Corra’s former defense attorney George Cosenza.

In addition to his one for wrongful prosecution, Corra has a legal malpractice suit pending against Cosenza.

Three months after the Court’s ruling, the Prosecutor’s Office notified the Wood Circuit Clerk’s Office it intended to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter charges. A hand-written notation on the folder dated May 22, 2009, says that the charges would be dismissed by the end of the month.

However, records show it was not until Sept. 2, 2009, that Wharton filed his motion to dismiss them.

The West Virginia Record attempted to get a comment from Wharton as to why he waited so long to dismiss the charges against Corra. A woman who answered the telephone in his office said Wharton was out of the office until after Labor Day.

Wood Circuit Court case number 07-M-1

PARKERSBURG – A Wood County businessman says the win-at-all costs mentality from the investigation through the appellate stage in the criminal case against him is enough for his lawsuit against two Wood County prosecutors and two Wood County deputy sheriffs to go to trial.

In a recent filing made in his wrongful prosecution suit against former Wood County Prosecutor Ginny Conley, one of her assistants, Sean Francisco and Wood County Deputy Sheriffs Bret Pickens and Dave Tennant, Jeff Corra alleges all four either ignored or bypassed legal and procedural safeguards for the sole purpose of gaining a conviction against him relating to the deaths of two young adults and injuries to two others in 2006. Not only does he say there was evidence immediately available that he played no part in their deaths and injuries, but Corra also alleges prosecutors all but admitted during his appeal they had no case against him.

In response to his complaint, Conley, Francisco, Tennant and Pickens filed a motion to dismiss March 18. In the motion, their attorney, Wendy Greve — with the Charleston law firm of Pullin, Fowler, Flanagan, Brown and Poe — argued, at least for Conley and Francisco, the suit should be dismissed because prosecutors enjoy absolute immunity from civil suits while initiating criminal actions.

Also, Greve argues the case against Tennant and Pickens should be dismissed because the allegations Corra makes against them -– intimidating witnesses and making false, and unsubstantiated comments under oath, respectively -– came after the two-year statute of limitations. Furthermore, because Pickens’ statement came in the course of his testimony before the grand jury, he, too enjoys absolute immunity.

The evidence

In his response to the motion to dismiss filed Aug. 26, Corra, 54, who runs his own packaging and shipping business, admits all the defendants enjoy some level of immunity from civil suits. However, he claims that immunity was breached when they “wantonly, knowingly and intentionally” investigated and prosecuted him despite knowing he was innocent.

Following the single-vehicle accident on Aug. 6, 2006, which led to the deaths of Matthew Humphreys and Jeffrey Tucker and injuries to Courtney McDonough and Morgan Brown, Corra alleges he was only interviewed once by Tennant. That came while he and his daughter, Ashli, were visiting McDonough and Brown at St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Corra avers that Tennant only asked him to provide a statement, and never told him he was considered a suspect.

Also, Corra alleges Pickens, who was the crash scene investigator, had evidence that it was someone other than himself who furnished alcohol to the four as was alleged in the indictment filed against him during the September 2006 term of the Wood County grand jury. Among the contents Pickens discovered at the scene was a bottle of Jagermeister, a case of beer, a fake identification “and a receipt from the 7-Eleven in Parkersburg showing where either Humphreys or Tucker purchased a case of beer using the fake identification after leaving [Corra's] home and before the accident.”

Furthermore, Corra alleges Pickens never interviewed either Humphreys’ or Tucker’s surviving family members about the fake I.D. or the bottle of Jagermeister. In a deposition she provided in a wrongful death lawsuit she as the administratrix of his estate filed against the Corras and 7-Eleven, Sarah Humphreys, Matthew’s mother, said the boys purchased the Jagermeister in Charleston before meeting McDonough and Brown in Parkersburg.

After arriving in Parkersburg, Humphreys said the bottle was given to Brown’s parents who chilled it, and later gave it back to them before the four headed to Corra’s house in Rector Road in north Parkersburg. Pickens, Corra alleges, also failed to consider the Browns as suspects.

Manufacturing a crime

In his response, Corra restates some of the allegations made in his original complaint. Among them are Conley getting the grand jury to later indict him in January 2007 on two counts of involuntary manslaughter only to never bring the case to trial.

Though the case should have been dismissed in January 2008, while Conley was still in office, she left that duty to her successor, Jason Wharton, who waited nine months after he took office to file a motion to dismiss.

One new allegation Corra raises in his response is a comment made by Francisco when the state Supreme Court heard oral arguments in January 2009 on Corra’s appeal of his August 2007 conviction on the furnishing alcohol charges. When asked by Justice Menis Ketchum how was it Corra was prosecuted for furnishing alcoholic liquor to minors when the only evidence against him was that McDonough snuck a Coors Light beer from his refrigerator, Francisco allegedly replied ” ‘We had to charge him [Corra] with something.’”

Corra disputes Greve’s claim that his lawsuit was filed past the statute of limitations. He says the “totality of Defendants’ actions did not become apparent until Plaintiff retained new counsel and successfully appealed to the Supreme Court.”

“Since he filed the instate [sic] suit on February 25, 2010 – a year after the Court overturned his conviction – the Plaintiff has not tolled the statute of limitations,” Corra said.

Following his conviction, Corra fired his attorney, George Cosenza, and hired Charleston attorney Jim Cagle to help with his appeal. Along with the wrongful prosecution suit, Corra has a pending legal malpractice suit against Cosenza.

Also, Corra says Greve misread his complaint regarding the alleged statement Pickens made about him having parties at his house for years which eventually led to Humphreys’ and Tucker’s deaths. That statement was made at his sentencing, and not to the grand jury, Corra says.

In concluding his response, Corra states while the prosecutor’s role is to be the advocate for victims of crime by prosecuting the alleged offenders, they also have a duty to ensure the correct offenders are charged.

“The duties of the police and prosecutors go beyond that of protecting the public from criminals,” Corra said. “They have a duty to be finders of fact and not charge someone with a crime where none exists.”

A hearing on the motion to dismiss is scheduled for Sept. 16 before Judge Jeffrey B. Reed.

Wood Circuit Court case number 10-C-79

PARKERSBURG –- The owner and operator of a Wood County mobile home park are challenging the legality of provisions to the county’s flood plain ordinance.

The Wood County Commission is named in a three-count lawsuit in Wood Circuit Court by Marcie D .Weyer and Tomar Rentals. In their complaint filed Aug. 9, Weyer and Tomar allege the county is prohibiting them from placing new units on land previously approved for development.

According to the suit, Tomar operates the Meadowbrook Acres Mobile Home Park in Lubek on two tracts of land leased from Weyer. Since September 1999, they’ve operated Meadowbrook under the existing flood plain ordinance.

On July 14, they received a letter from Ed Hupp, the county’s flood plain manager, informing them that two new homes placed on previously developed lots violated the county’s ordinance. In the letter, Hupp stated that any new unit had to be “developed six to eight feet above the access road to the mobile home park” and have an engineer and licensed home installer approve each new unit.

Because the Commission failed to adopt a “non-conforming grandfather provision” to revisions of the ordinance since 1999, Weyer and Tomar allege the Commission’s prohibiting them from adding the new units “constitutes an inverse condemnation.” Subsequently, the inverse condemnation “constitutes an unconstitutional taking of property without just compensation in violation of Section 9, Article III of the West Virginia Constitution.”

Weyer and Tomar are asking the court to declare the ordinance unconstitutional, and issue an injunction prohibiting its enforcement. They are represented by Timothy J. LaFon with the Charleston law firm of Ciccarello, Del Guidice and LaFon.

The case is assigned to Judge J.D. Beane.

Wood Circuit Court, case number 10-C-345