LEWISBURG (WVDN) – A civil case was decided against Greenbrier County Commission candidate DeEtta Hunter and Steve Hunter Associates LLC in the Greenbrier County Circuit Court on Monday, Mar. 7.
The civil case was brought by attorney Robert P. Martin against Steve Hunter Associates LLC, J. Steve Hunter, and DeEtta King Hunter.
The case revolves around unpaid wages, with the motion for summary judgment explaining “the total amount of wages owed to Plaintiff Martin for work performed and reflected on the relevant time sheets equals $15,400 in wages over a period of several months.”
On Monday, Mar. 7, Martin sought to have the case resolved before going to trial through summary judgment by Greenbrier County Circuit Court Judge Robert Richardson. To do this, Martin filed a motion for summary judgment for the second time on Dec. 31, 2021. Richardson asked Martin’s attorney, Mike Olivio, where the case stood.
“Your Honor, Steve (Hunter) and I spoke on Friday [and] he advised that he was not going to oppose the motion for summary judgment,” said Olivio. “[He] would admit liability and would ask the court to order us back to mediation on damages, something that I would not oppose. My client is not opposed to that.”
Steve Hunter agreed.
“That is correct, your honor, the sooner I get this behind me, the happier I’ll be,” said Hunter. “We took a deposition and, obviously, my wife admitted that was during a period of time that she was sick. If we owed [Martin] money, we owed him money. I’m trying to get it resolved.”
According to the motion, Martin “was employed to provide legal services for clients of [the] defendants’ law office and was paid for services rendered based upon a compensation system previously agreed upon. … However, for reasons unknown to plaintiff, defendants stopped paying [Martin] for work actually performed for clients of defendants’ law office, in spite of the fact that [Martin] continued to work on behalf of clients to whom he, and defendants, owed professional duties.”
In the original defense response, filed Dec. 31, 2020, the defense stated they “deny that Martin is entitled to any recovery under the laws of the State of West Virginia” and hoped for “a judgment of dismissal be entered in favor of the defendants.”
The defense also stated “DeEtta King Hunter has no stock ownership in the corporation and is prohibited from doing so by state law. She was named secretary-treasurer for those filings requiring a corporate officer.”
The motion for summary judgment focuses on depositions given by both defendants.
“Defendant Mr. Hunter was aware that his wife and office manager, defendant Mrs. Hunter, received time sheets from plaintiff Martin in 2017 but that she never processed those timesheets for payment to plaintiff Martin,” the motion reads. ”Defendant Mr. Hunter took no steps to handle the matter, instead, choosing to leave the matter to defendant Mrs. Hunter as it was her responsibility at defendant Steve Hunter & Associates.”
“Defendant Ms. Hunter admits she received timesheets from plaintiff Martin for the months of May and June 2017,” the motion reads. “Defendants took those timesheets for May and June 2017 with them to Florida. Defendant Ms. Hunter admits that plaintiff Martin was never paid for the work reflected on his timesheets for May and June 2017. Instead, defendant Ms. Hunter admits that with regard to plaintiff Martin’s timesheets for May and June 2017, defendants not only did not pay plaintiff’s wages, but they never looked at those timesheets again. Defendants never made a decision either to pay plaintiff Martin or not pay him for the work performed and documented on his timesheets for May and June 2017. After receiving notice of the formal complaint filed with the WV Division of Labor, defendants did not review the subject timesheets for May and June 2017. Instead, they did nothing. Defendant Ms. Hunter further admits that even after being served with the Summons and Complaint in this civil action, defendants never looked at the May and June 2017 timesheets that they admit were never processed or paid.”
The motion also points to “the defendants’ failure to respond within thirty (30) days of receipt of Requests for Admissions,” and that the “defendants failed to respond for an additional fifty-one (51) days beyond the date required under Rule 36.”
Richardson agreed to grant the motion for summary judgment. The case is now going to remediation to determine damages, such as attorney’s fees.
According to the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office, DeEtta King Hunter filed to run for Greenbrier County Commission on Jan. 28.
