Fairmont's newest law firm seeks to fill a gap in justice community

Jul. 1—FAIRMONT — The Garcia family has a history of putting the community first. Joey Garcia is still continuing that trend.

Friday afternoon, community members, family, friends and members of the Marion County Chamber of Commerce gathered along Locust Avenue to cut the ribbon on the community's newest law firm, Garcia Law.

Headed by Joey Garcia, the firm will focus on personal injury, civil rights cases, lemon laws and other related infractions. Garcia has spent the last several years of his career working with Manchin Injury Law and he hopes to take what he's learned from those years and put it into his own practice.

"Areas like lemon law and civil rights law, those are areas I don't think we have a lot of people doing that type of work in North Central West Virginia," Garcia said. "I'm pumped to get into those cases. I've advocated for a lot of reforms within the jail system and sometimes that might mean litigation is needed."

In addition to his time working at the Manchin firm, Garcia also served as legal counsel for West Virginia governors Earl Tomblin and Jim Justice. His goal is to bring the same caliber of legal expertise that is offered to the governor to the public without the major hourly rates.

Injury law will continue to be his expertise and he hopes to be a safe haven for individuals wronged by both employers or insurance companies.

"These folks can come and not have to pay these huge hourly rates and get advice from someone who's advised the governor of the state of West Virginia," Garcia said. "That's my goal. Even if I can't help somebody, I can help them get to the right place. I want to be a resource for the community."

Garcia's new office is located at 1403 Locust Ave. in a building that just a few years ago had a caved-in roof and ivy growing up the walls.

With the help of his family, Garcia renovated the 2,000 square-foot former residence into an office space of his own, complete with a conference room and kitchen.

Creating a new small business is always a boon to the community's business climate, but to also renovate a blighted structure in the process is a big deal for the folks on the chamber board.

Chamber President Tina Shaw said, from the standpoint of the community, this business opening is doing Fairmont a huge favor.

"Anytime you take a blighted property and you do what they did, especially one on a very busy street like Locust Avenue, it's definitely a win-win just to fix the property," Shaw said. "On top of that, you have a new business being opened by someone who is so involved in the community like Joey.

"He took a piece of property in Marion County that really needed a rehab and turned it into something very nice."

In addition to the support of the community Garcia was shown on Friday, he's equally as thankful to his family and his wife who have been supportive of his goals since he was young.

With help from his parents in the renovations and their support in his new business venture, he believes he's primed for success.

"My family, in my life, has been the most important thing," Garcia said. "Everybody has always supported by dreams whether it's supporting the community in the House of Delegates or opening my own business."

Garcia, a Domcrat, currently serves as a House Delegate for District 76.

For more information about Garcia Law, visit their website at www.wvgarcialaw.com

Reach David Kirk at 304-367-2522 or by email at dkirk@timeswv.com.