“Steve is dedicated to our growth, is tenacious, fair and discerning, all desirable qualities for our management team,” said Jenkins Fenstermaker CEO, Barry Taylor. “We are looking forward to working together, as we move forward with him in this new capacity.”

Mr. Wellman was hired as an associate by Jenkins Fenstermaker in 1998 and was elected to membership in 2005. He practices workers’ compensation defense and employment litigation. He is a University of Kentucky College of Law graduate, where he earned his juris doctorate, and a graduate of Marshall University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree.

Mr. Wellman is admitted to the West Virginia State Bar; the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia and the United States District Court, Southern District of West Virginia. He is a member of the American, West Virginia and

Cabell County Bar Associations, and has served as vice president of finance for the Tri-State Chapter of Society for Human Resource Management. He is also a member of the Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia, a statewide organization of defense trial lawyers and corporate counsel.

Wellman will serve a three-year term on the management committee beginning this month.

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“Recruiting is the key to our law firm’s future success,” said Jenkins Fenstermaker CEO, Barry Taylor. “Charlie both practices and understands the high quality standards that we have set for incoming attorneys. He is a Huntington native who returned here from a northern Ohio law practice. We are confident in his ability to find and recruit outstanding candidates to join our practice.”

Mr. Gould joined Jenkins Fenstermaker in 1997 with a focus in general civil litigation. His litigation and trial experience primarily is related to commercial and general litigation. He is a Case Western Reserve University/Franklin Thomas Backus School of Law graduate, where he earned his juris doctorate, and a graduate of Ohio University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude.

Mr. Gould is admitted to the Supreme Court of Ohio; the Ohio State Bar; the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia; the West Virginia State Bar; and the United States District Court, Southern District of West Virginia. He is a member of the West Virginia, Ohio and Cabell County Bar Associations, and has volunteered for a number of community organizations, including Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the United Way of the River Cities.

Gould will head the firm’s recruiting for two years.

Attorneys Lee Murray Hall, P. Thomas Krieger, Thomas Scarr, Robert “Bo” Sweeney and Barry Taylor are included in the publication which has been published biennially since 1983. Lawyers are selected based on a rigorous peer-review survey.

Ms. Hall has been recognized in the area of insurance law. She served as chair of the Insurance Substantive Committee for the West Virginia Defense Trial Counsel from 2004 to 2006, where she published updates on West Virginia tort and insurance law. She currently serves on the Board of Governors for the Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia.

Ms. Hall’s practice includes administrative and regulatory insurance issues, general liability claims and commercial liability disputes. She was recently selected to serve as arbiter for coverage disputes on professional liability policies in Kentucky and West Virginia.

Ms. Hall is a University of Kentucky graduate where she was an editor of the Kentucky Law Journal. She is active in a number of community organizations including the Highlands Museum and Discovery Center, Ashland American Little League, the First Presbyterian Church, and Bellefonte Country Club. She is licensed to practice law in West Virginia and Kentucky.

Mr. Krieger has been named to the list for his practice in labor and employment law. He also has been recognized with the highest professional rating by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory and has been listed in past editions of Best Lawyers as well as in Chambers USA, a listing of America’s leading business attorneys. He earned his law degree from the West Virginia University and has served on the board and as a member of several organizations, including Big Brothers-Big Sisters of the Tri-State, Cammack Children’s Center, Huntington Forward Committee, Fifth Avenue Baptist Church and the Guyan Country Club.

Mr. Scarr has been selected as one of the best lawyers in America in the area of commercial litigation. He received his juris doctorate at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg,

Virginia, and concentrates on general litigation, including commercial construction, personal injury, products liability, toxic tort and labor and employment law.

Mr. Scarr is a 2005 recipient of the Defense Research Institute Exceptional Performance Citation, “for having supported and improved the standards and education of the defense bar, and for having contributed to the improvement of the administration of justice in the public interest.” He is also rated as a top attorney in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory and has been recognized in past editions of Best Lawyers and Chambers USA.

Mr. Scarr serves on the boards of the Huntington Museum of Art and the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the West Virginia College of Law, Development Council. Mr. Scarr is licensed to practice law in West Virginia, Kentucky, and before the United States Supreme Court.

Mr. Sweeney practices construction litigation and general civil litigation with an emphasis on asbestos litigation, lead and toxic tort litigation and is a member of the American, West Virginia and Cabell County Bar Associations. He has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in the area of mass tort litigation. He earned his law degree from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law of the College of William and Mary and has been involved with a number of community organizations, including the United Way of the River Cities and the

Huntington Museum of Art. He was also a vestry member and junior warden for the Trinity Episcopal Church from 2000 to 2004.

Mr. Taylor, currently serving a three-year term as Jenkins Fenstermaker’s CEO, has been recognized in the list for medical malpractice law. He earned his law degree from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia and focuses on medical malpractice defense for physicians and hospitals, automobile warranty and insurance defense.

Mr. Taylor has bar admissions in West Virginia and Kentucky and is a member on the board of the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce and Executive Committee of HuntPAC, the Chamber’s political action committee.  

Mr. Taylor is actively involved with the Central Christian Church.

The Best Lawyers in America publication has been acclaimed by presidents of the American Bar Association and has been frequently featured in major metropolitan newspapers and magazines.

Attorneys John Jenkins, Jr.,  P. Thomas Krieger and Thomas Scarr are included in the publication which has been published biennially since 1983. Lawyers are selected based on a thorough peer-review survey.

Jenkins, one of the founding members of Jenkins Fenstermaker, PLLC,  focuses on general civil litigation and labor and employment law. He is a University of Virginia graduate and has been involved with several organizations within the community, including the Cabell-Wayne Heart Association, the Fire Department Civil Service Commission, the Greater Tri-State Development Corporation and the Huntington Museum of Art, among others. Jenkins is a 2002 recipient of the Justicia Officium Award, the highest honor bestowed by  the West Virginia University College of Law, recognizing outstanding contribution and service to the profession.

Krieger emphasizes labor and employment law. He graduated from West Virginia University and is a past president of Big Brothers – Big Sisters of the Tri-State, and a former board member of the Cammack Children’s Center and Guyan Country Club. He also has been a member of the Huntington Forward Committee and has served on the Personnel and Finance Committees of the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church. Krieger has been recognized in several past editions of The Best Lawyers of America and has also been recognized as an America’s Leading Business Lawyer in the Top Tiers of West Virginia Employment - Lawyers by Chambers USA.

Scarr received his juris doctorate at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and concentrates on general litigation, and labor and employment law. He currently serves on several boards, some of which include the Huntington Museum of Art, the Huntington Jewish Benevolent Association, the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Boy Scouts of America, Tri-State Area Council Executive Board. He also is a 2005 recipient of the Defense Research Institute Exceptional Performance Citation, “for having supported and improved the standards and education of the defense bar, and for having contributed to the improvement of the administration of justice in the public interest.”

The Best Lawyers in America publication has been acclaimed by presidents of the American Bar Association and has been frequently featured in major metropolitan newspapers and magazines.

Scarr recently completed a one-year term as president of the Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia, a group of more than 400 West Virginia lawyers and 50 legal assistants that devote the majority of their legal practice to the representation of defendants in civil litigation. At his last meeting as president, Scarr was presented with the DRI Exceptional Performance Citation “for having supported and improved the standards and education of the defense bar, and for having contributed to the improvement of the administration of justice in the public interest.” Only a handful of attorneys are recognized with this prestigious award throughout the country each year.

Scarr served the DTCWV previously as vice president, secretary, treasurer and as a board member.

Scarr received his juris doctorate at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He currently serves on several boards, some of which include the Huntington Museum of Art, the Huntington Jewish Benevolent Association, the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Boy Scouts of America, Tri-State Area Council Executive Board.

The DRI award is one of several that Scarr has been honored with during his career. He will be recognized at the DRI Annual Meeting in Chicago this October.

In the first case, JF defended SNE Enterprises, Inc., a window manufacturing company, and its former human resources officer in a handicap and disability discrimination action, in the Circuit Court of Cabell County, West Virginia. JF attorneys, Thomas Scarr and Steven Wellman asserted for the defendant that the claimant, an SNE employee who suffered a shoulder injury, was not called back to work following a seasonal layoff due to lack of available light duty work and the claimant’s inability to perform essential functions of any regular line job. The plaintiff claimed that SNE failed to make reasonable accommodations so that the employee could return to work.

In a second case, attorney Scarr successfully defended Central West Virginia Regional Airport Authority (Yeager Airport) in a premises liability action in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia. The plaintiff claimed she was injured when she slipped and fell on stairs while exiting Yeager Airport Terminal to board an Atlantic Coast Airlines flight. A jury found that although the Airport Authority exercised control over the premises on which the plaintiff fell, the condition that may have existed was not affirmatively caused by any negligent act of the Airport Authority. Judge Irene C. Berger entered judgment on a defense verdict after a three day trial.    

Attorney Scarr and fellow JF attorney Charles Gould, representing defendant property owners, opposed another effort in the Circuit Court of Cabell County, West Virginia, to invalidate a covenant in a 103-year-old deed limiting property owners to the erection and use of buildings for residential purposes. The plaintiff sought to invalidate the restrictive covenant so that it could demolish certain existing homes and develop a retail drug store in the residential neighborhood.   Judge John L. Cummings found the plaintiff’s proposed use of the property was in violation of the restrictions. He also found that changes in conditions either within or outside the covenant area were not so radical as to destroy the intent and purpose of the restrictive covenant, and that the defendants had not otherwise abandoned or waived their rights to enforce the covenant. 

In a fourth case, JF attorneys Barry Taylor and Max Corley, III, defended a Huntington cardiothoracic surgeon in a medical malpractice suit in the Circuit Court of Cabell County, West Virginia. The claim related to a nerve injury which occurred during the surgical removal of a carotid artery blockage in 2001.

Complications occurred which arguably resulted in difficulties related to speech, swallowing and oral function. A defense verdict was entered after a four day trial. No appeal is being pursued.

And in a fifth case, Taylor and JF attorney Brian Lindsay successfully defended a former Huntington obstetrician/gynecologist in a medical malpractice suit in the Circuit Court of Cabell County, West Virginia. The physician performed a hysterectomy in 2000 for a post-menopausal patient with an enlarged fibroid uterus. Complications occurred which arguably contributed to the surgical removal of a kidney in 2002. Judge John L. Cummings entered judgment on a defense verdict following a three day trial.  Again, no appeal is being pursued.