Big Money Paid to Lawyers by the Taxpayers

It should come as no surprise to anyone that lawyers make big money paid by the taxpayers.

The information about that big money as contained in this article is all public information, though the Commentator suspects that some would not like this disclosed. Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent. So, at risk of offense to some, we provide this public information.

First, we start with those lawyers who regularly receive court appointments to represent people in criminal, child abuse and neglect, juvenile, and family court cases. To view this information online in great detail, anyone can sign up for a free "VISTAlite" account with the West Virginia State Auditor's office. To sign up for your free account, please follow this link:

https://www.wvsao.gov/VISTAlite/VISTAPreSignUp.aspx

Above: VISTAlite sign up page looks like this if you follow the above link.

A word about the sign up process: You must provide a proper name and address and then you will be asked a few further identity verifying questions. Once you have successfully created your account and have signed in, you have the option to access the "vendor payment search" page, where you type in the  name of a person you want to find out how much he/she has been paid by the State for some service, such as court appointed cases. You also have the option to search the "total compensation" page, which is a page to search out the salaries paid by the State to any state employee. We searched both the "vendor payment search" and "total compensation" pages to provide you the information below.

Above: This is the starting search page once you have signed in.

Some of the lawyers who received payments from the State for court appointed cases and who regularly appear in the Magistrate, Family, and Circuit Courts of Webster County are listed below with the money they received in each of the past three years :

1. Christopher Moffatt: $220,018.37 in 2012; $171,074.11 in 2011; $161,798.54 in 2010.
2. Steven Nanners & Dennis Willet: $249,767.25 in 2012; $253,955.14 in 2011; $273,332.69 in 2010.
3. Dan Grindo & Dan Armstrong: $164,010.57 in 2012; $140,401.15 in 2011; $146,222.66 in 2010.
4. Kevin Duffy: $6,434.50 in 2012; $50,325.47 in 2011; $55,768.56 in 2010.
5. Joyce Morton: $73,188.12 in 2012; $45,584.02 in 2011; $85,999.16 in 2010.
6. Howard Blyler: $33,959.60 in 2012; $41,988.53 in 2011; $66,934.18 in 2010.

For the most part, court appointed lawyers received $45.00 for out of court work and $65.00 for in court work. Assuming a court appointed lawyer billed 7 hours per day, 5 days per week, and 52 weeks per year, the lawyer would total 1,820 hours in a year. We used an average of $55.00 per hour and multiplied it by the 1,820 hours per year, which totals $100,100.00 per year. Some lawyers listed above made substantially more (and some substantially less) than that average, and the difference for those who made more than the average might be accounted for by payment for reimbursed expenses above the hourly rates. Please note that most of these lawyers worked in Webster and several other counties, and that most also have a private practice of law where they are not paid by the State. You can draw your own conclusions about the above numbers.

Above: Using the "vendor payment search" page, and typing in "moffatt" as one of the words contained in the search, resulted in the chart report of payments made by the State to lawyer Christopher Moffatt, a lawyer who regularly receives court appointments for cases in Webster County.

In addition to the above lawyers making big money from the State for court appointed cases, Webster County also has other lawyers who regularly appear in Webster that are paid by the State or County, and they include:

1. Circuit Judge Jack Alsop, $126,000.00
2. Circuit Judge Richard Facemire, $126,000.00
3. Family Court Judge Jeffrey Hall, $94,500.00
4. Prosecutor Dwayne Vandevender, $87,800.00
5. Assistant Prosecutor Dara Acord, $60,000.00

The salaries for all but the Assistant Prosecutor are set by West Virginia law; the salary for the Assistant Prosecutor is set in the discretion of the County Commission.