West Virginia Civil Litigation Lawyers

Civil Litigation

604 Virginia St E, Charleston, WV 25301, USA

Robert M. Bastress III is an experienced trial attorney. His practice includes representing victims of personal injury, wrongful employment termination, consumer fraud, and wrongful death. From 2012-2019, Mr. Bastress repeatedly has been recognized as a “Rising Star” by the West Virginia Super Lawyers publication in the areas of General Litigation and Personal Injury for Plaintiffs. He was also selected for inclusion in the 2018 and 2019 editions of Best Lawyers in America in the area of Employment Law – Individuals. In 2021, he was named “Lawyer of the Year” in the same category. Throughout his career, Mr. Bastress has worked on cases resulting in total recoveries of more than $110 million for his clients. Previously, Mr. Bastress served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection/Antitrust Division of the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office from 2004 to 2006, where he primarily represented senior citizens who were victims of consumer scams. Also, during those years, he was a frequent guest on the local cable access television show, Legal Journal, and gave talks throughout West Virginia on consumer-related issues. In 2006, Rob left the Attorney General’s Office to serve as law clerk for two years to the Honorable John T. Copenhaver, Jr., United States District Judge for the Southern District of West Virginia. In 2008, Mr. Bastress joined the firm, and in 2013, he became a member of DiPiero Simmons McGinley & Bastress, PLLC. He has a varied civil practice. In private practice, Mr. Bastress has been appointed as a Special Assistant Attorney General by the Attorney General and the Governor to work on the groundbreaking litigation against the drug distributors who flooded West Virginia with opioids. Mr. Bastress was one of a number of lawyers appointed to serve as class counsel for the former Mountain State University students adversely affected by the revocation of the school-wide accreditation in 2012. In 2015, he was appointed plaintiffs’ liaison counsel by the West Virginia Mass Litigation Panel in the LPG Land Litigation. Mr. Bastress has represented coal miners, veterans, doctors, lawyers, newspapers, small businesses, citizens’ groups, injured workers, landowners and a host of other individuals in a wide variety of cases, including in the following fields of litigation: personal injury, wrongful discharge, commercial, consumer fraud, deliberate intent, wage payment, products liability, medical malpractice, contract, insurance bad faith, property, and Freedom of Information Act, where he has recovered millions of dollars for his clients. Mr. Bastress has briefed and argued cases before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, one of which he won in a unanimous, published opinion. Speaking anonymously in a peer review process, his adversaries had this to say about him: “Mr. Bastress excellently represents his clients’ interests . . . . I have witnessed him pursue a pragmatic approach to resolving claims–always with the goal of meeting his clients’ objectives and often pressing financial needs. I’m sure all reviewers would agree that Mr. Bastress embodies a client-first case approach, in contrast to the me-first attitude exhibited by some plaintiffs’ attorneys. . . . . His knowledge of the law and composed manner during trial and oral argument confirm his status as a great attorney here in Charleston, WV.” In 2014, the State Journal named Mr. Bastress to the prestigious “Generation Next” list of 40 top young professionals in West Virginia under the age of 40 for his work achievements and community service. Prior to that in 2010, he received an award for public service from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia for his pro bono work on behalf of a stalking victim. Previously, he served as an attorney mentor for the West Virginia Board of Law Examiners and an officer of the Kanawha County Bar Association. Mr. Bastress has given continuing legal education seminars to the American Bar Association, West Virginia Association for Justice and the West Virginia Employment Lawyers’ Association. He has been on the Friends of Clay Center Board and on reunion committees for his undergraduate and law school alma maters. He also volunteers his time coaching his son’s many basketball and baseball teams. In 2017, Mr. Bastress was elected to a 3-year term on the West Virginia State Bar Board of Governors. Mr. Bastress currently serves as a State Delegate to the American Association of Justice and as a Board Member for the West Virginia Association of Justice.

Civil Litigation

746 Myrtle Rd, Charleston, WV 25314, USA

Area of Practice: Trial law Stephen B. Farmer - Steve Farmer was born in Morgantown, West Virginia. He received a bachelor of science degree from West Virginia University in 1979 and a degree from the West Virginia University College of Law in 1984, where he was a member of the Law Review, Moot Court Board and Marilyn E. Lugar Trial Association. He was the recipient of the 1982 Baker Cup Moot Court Award. Mr. Farmer focuses his practice on trial work, including commercial, product liability and personal injury litigation. He is a member of the American Bar Association (Sections on Litigation and Criminal Justice), the West Virginia State Bar, the Kanawha County Bar Association, American Association for Justice, West Virginia Trial Lawyers Association and West Virginia Defense Trial Counsel. Mr. Farmer has served as a faculty member of the Trial Advocacy Institute, University of Virginia School of Law since 1988. Mr. Farmer has an AV "Preeminent" rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has been recognized as a Super Lawyer in West Virginia by Thomson Reuters for more than ten years. He is currently recognized as one of the Top Ten Super Lawyers in West Virginia by Thomson Reuters. Mr. Farmer is also a member of the Million Dollar and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forums.

Civil Litigation

1108 Third Ave, Montgomery, WV 25136, USA

Tyler B. Smith, a native of Huntington, West Virginia, is a litigation attorney with eleven years of experience. He recently worked as a sole practitioner engaged in a general trial practice. Mr. Smith served as interim Huntington Municipal Judge. A graduate of Marshall University with a Bachelor of Regents Degree, he received his Juris Doctor degree from Toledo College of Law in 2003. He is a member of the West Virginia State Bar Association and the Ohio State Bar Association. Mr. Smith is also a former member of the Board of Directors of the Huntington, West Virginia Area Habitat for Humanity where he served as Vice President and President.

Civil Litigation

48 Donley St suite 501, Morgantown, WV 26501, USA

Tiffany R. Durst was born in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania in February 1971. She attended Clay-Battelle High School in Blacksville, West Virginia and then West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. Tiffany was on the Dean’s List and/or the President’s List for academic honors the entirety of her undergraduate education. In 1993, Tiffany completed her undergraduate education, graduating Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Anthropology. In the fall of 1994, Tiffany began her legal education at the West Virginia University College of Law in Morgantown, West Virginia. Tiffany earned her J.D. in 1997 from the College of Law. Following admission to the West Virginia State Bar, Tiffany began work with McNeer, Highland, McMunn & Varner, L.C., in Clarksburg, West Virginia as an associate. In 2004, Tiffany became a director with McNeer, Highland, McMunn & Varner, L.C. Tiffany’s practice included defense litigation, representing insurers and corporations in a wide variety of litigation including insurance defense, insurance coverage, insurance extracontractual liability (bad faith), medical malpractice defense, nursing home negligence defense, legal malpractice defense, adoption, and personal injury defense. In addition, Tiffany had an active appellate practice before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, presenting oral argument before the Court in both appeals and extraordinary petitions on several occasions. In that regard, Tiffany was chief appellate counsel in Strahin v. Sullivan, 230 W.Va. 329, 647 S.E.2d 765, (2007) and Jackson v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 215 W. Va. 364, 600 S.E.2d 346 (2004), two seminal cases addressing insurance bad faith and excess verdicts in the State of West Virginia. In March of 2008, Tiffany continued her legal practice when she joined the law firm of Pullin, Fowler, Flanagan, Brown & Poe, PLLC, as a member, in the firm’s Morgantown office. She has continued her appellate practice and has also developed an active trial practice with over forty trials where she represents clients in a number of different areas of the law, including bad faith, deliberate intent, employment law and medical malpractice. Tiffany is admitted to practice before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the United States District Court, in both the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. Tiffany is also actively involved in the Monongalia County Bar Association currently serving as Secretary. She is also a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates where she serves as Vice President of the West Virginia Chapter. In addition, Tiffany serves as a Board Member for Panhandle Farmers Mutual Insurance Company. Tiffany currently resides in Blacksville with her husband, James, and their two labs, Loomis and Darby. She enjoys all things WVU Sports and vacationing at the beach. Tiffany is also a member of Mason-Dixon Rotary where she enjoys service-oriented activities in her local community.