This parcel of land behind the roadsigns at the intersection of U.S. 50 and W.Va. 68 is at the center of lawsuit between J.C. and Eric Powell and Robert Keith Sheppard. The Powells, who are both attorneys, allege that Sheppard convinced them to invest $75,000 into a proposed retail development called Neal Run Crossing that has never materialzed. Sheppard’s attorney, Richard Hayhurst, has withdrawn from the case, and has sued him for failing to pay $5,700 in legal fees and expenses. (Photo by Lawrence Smith)
This parcel of land behind off the intersection of U.S. 50 and W.Va. 68 is at the center of lawsuit between J.C. and Eric Powell and Robert Keith Sheppard. The Powells, who are both attorneys, allege that Sheppard convinced them to invest $75,000 into a proposed retail development called Neal Run Crossing that, with the exception of this Western Sizzlin Steakhouse, has yet to materialze. Sheppard’s attorney, Richard Hayhurst, has withdrawn from the case, and has sued him for failing to pay $5,700 in legal fees and expenses.
PARKERSBURG – A Wood County attorney who went so far to call allegations of fraud leveled against his client by two other attorneys in lawsuit as “tabloid trash” is now alleging that the client has defrauded him.
On April 2, Richard A. Hayhurst filed suit against Robert Keith Sheppard in Wood Circuit Court. In the complaint he filed pro se, Hayhurst alleges that Sheppard failed to pay for legal services and expenses he’s incurred in defending Sheppard against allegations of fraud brought by J.C. Powell and his brother, Eric.
J.C. Powell is partner in the Charleston law firm of Powell and Majestro while Eric is sole proprietor of the Powell Law Offices in Parkersburg.
According to court records, Sheppard approached Hayhurst on January 10 to defend him in a lawsuit the Powells filed against him three days earlier. In their suit, the Powells alleged that in 2007 Sheppard encouraged them to invest $75,000 into Neal Run Crossing, a retail development off the intersection of Corridor D/U.S. 50 and W. Va. 68 that has yet to materialize.
The money, records show, was to be invested with The Endurance Group, a limited liability company owned by Larry George and Dr. Michael W. Johnson, a South Parkersburg chiropractor. Despite claims that companies such as McDonald’s, Bass Pro Shops, Wal-Mart, Bob Evans, Rite Aid and Sheetz were either interested or committed to locating a store or franchise there, the only business currently on the site is a Western Sizzlin Steakhouse owned by Johnson.
In fact, in their suit the Powells maintain that Johnson admitted to them a year ago that all representations Sheppard made to them were false, and done with the pure intention of pocketing their money.
In his suit, Hayhurst says he agreed to take Sheppard’s case. Their initial agreement, records show, called for Sheppard to advance to Hayhurst “a first and superior lien on certain real estate” Sheppard owned.
When Sheppard failed to produce any evidence he owned any unencumbered property that could serve as collateral, Hayhurst said he “requested a retainer against fees and costs.” After being presented with this demand, Hayhurst said Sheppard told him “that he was in the process of refinancing several tracts of land and that such refinancing would result in sufficient funds being available.”
Legal trash talk
In the midst of waiting on payment, Hayhurst filed both an answer and counterclaim on Sheppard’s behalf to the Powell’s’ suit on February 11.
In his answer, Sheppard denied all of the allegations except he’s a resident of Parkersburg. He went so far to say that he has no knowledge of The Endurance Group, and that he “has never had in his possession or control the sum of Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars ($75,000), or any other sum of money, property or other things of value belonging to the plaintiffs.”
The accusation that he committed grand larceny by pocketing the Powell’s’ money is “unfounded and unwarranted” that “is outrageous and transcends all bounds of societal decency.” Also, Sheppard compared the allegations no better than those leveled against celebrities in gossip columns.
“The complaint in this case is merely tabloid trash with a legal caption appended, masquerading as a court pleading,” Sheppard said.
Furthermore, Sheppard noted that in spite of the allegations of fraud, grand larceny and embezzlement the Powells level against him in their suit, they have notified neither the Wood County Prosecuting Attorney’s or U.S. Attorney’s Office of criminal misconduct. Since they are “duty bound” to report any such misconduct as officers of the court, Sheppard says the Powell’s’ lawsuit was filed in bad faith with the intention of inflicting upon him emotional distress.
In his counterclaim, Sheppard alleges the suit is “a subterfuge to camouflage the unwise decisions of the plaintiffs, and each of them, made in making a putative investment in an entity supposedly known as ‘The Endurance Group, L.L.C’, whatever that entity may be.” Because the Powells filed their lawsuit in a “willful, wanton, malicious, intentional and in criminal disregard” for his rights, Sheppard asked that he be awarded $1 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.
A case of turnabout
After filing the answer and counterclaim, Hayhurst alleges that, “to his detriment,” he discovered that in addition to refinancing his property, all representations Sheppard made on paying him “were false and known to the defendant to have been false when made.”
When Hayhurst confronted him about no such refinancing of his property, Sheppard said his daughter, J.L. Sansom, in Redondo Beach, Calif. would be paying the retainer. However, that proved to be untrue.
After confronting him again about the retainer, Sheppard told Hayhurst he was closing a loan with BB&T on March 12. The name of the loan officer Sheppard provided Hayhurst, records show, was Copley.
After finding out BB&T had no such person by that name, Hayhurst asked Sheppard about the discrepancy in his story. The reason, Hayhurst was told, is that the loan was being handled through one of BB&T’s branches in Huntington.
Though Hayhurst did discover a Ruth Copley working for BB&T in Huntington, she told him that Sheppard neither had a loan closing scheduled for March 12 or, for that matter, any loan application pending. Once again, when Hayhurst confronted him, Sheppard changed his story saying, this time, the loan was intended for a friend in Stockport, Ohio, and “that the retainer obligation would be rendered immediately.”
On March 16, after Sheppard failed to pay him despite all his assurances, Hayhurst filed a motion to withdraw from the case, and a lien in the amount of the expenses he’d incurred to that point, $5,753.93. A week later, Judge J.D. Beane granted the request.
Ironically, in his lawsuit, Hayhurst not only levels allegations similar to the Powell’s, but also incorporates language he used in defending Sheppard against him.
Specifically, Hayhurst alleges “The misconduct of the defendant was willful, reckless, wanton and in a cavalier indifference to the rights of the plaintiff and undertaken with malice and with a heart fatally bent on mischief.” Also, he alleges Sheppard “induced the plaintiff to part with money, goods or property which may be the subject of larceny…thereby making the defendant herein guilty of the felony offense of obtaining money, property or services by false pretenses.”
In hopes of not only deterring Sheppard, but others from engaging in similar schemes to defraud attorneys, Hayhurst is asking that he be awarded compensatory damages five times the amount Sheppard owes him, and punitive damages “not so monstrous as to violate current jurisprudence.”
As of presstime, Sheppard had yet to retain a new attorney. Tentatively, a scheduling conference in the Powell’s’ lawsuit against him is set for Wednesday, April 29 at 2:30 p.m.
Hayhurst’s case has been assigned to Judge Robert A. Waters.
Wood Circuit Court, Case Nos. 09-C-5 (Powell) and 09-C-156 (Hayhurst)