CHARLESTON – A Charleston attorney is being accused of smearing dog feces on his South Hills neighbor’s door.
The plaintiff, identified only as M.T.K., filed his complaint November 8 in Kanawha Circuit Court against William Marshall Swann. Swann is an attorney in the Charleston office of Frost Brown Todd.
The attorney representing Swann disputes the allegations in the complaint and says it contains a number of “inaccurate assertions.”
Swann
| Frost Brown Todd photo
According to the complaint, the plaintiff is a 66-year-old man who was forced to take a medical retirement because of his disabilities. He says he is a “vulnerable victim” according to state code because of his age and disability.
The parties live next door to each other, but the plaintiff says he never had met the defendant before this incident.
On November 11, 2022, Swann came to the plaintiff’s home and began pounding angrily on the kitchen door, according to the complaint. The plaintiff said he and his son were in the house when Swann demanded the plaintiff get his son and open the door.
When the plaintiff refused, he says Swann accused him of allowing his dog to defecate in his Swann’s yard. The plaintiff says Swann was holding a plastic bag that contained dog feces.
“The defendant told the plaintiff if he did not open the door, he would smear feces on the door window,” the complaint states, noting the plaintiff asked Swann to leave his property and that he was going to call the police. “The defendant told the plaintiff to go ahead and call the police.
“The defendant then took the bag and smashed it against the window. The defendant proceeded to smear the feces against the door’s window and the door itself.”
The plaintiff says he feared for his safety, left the kitchen and retrieved his cell phone to call 911. When he went back to the kitchen, the plaintiff says Swann no longer was outside the door. But he says the plastic bag containing the feces had fallen from the window “leaving only smeared feces on the window and door.”
While the plaintiff was on the phone with 911, he says Swann returned to the kitchen door.
“The defendant walked to the door and picked up the grocery bag still containing feces and hung the bag on plaintiff’s doorknob making sure to coat the doorknob with the feces,” the complaint states. “Defendant continued loudly berating the plaintiff. The defendant refused to leave plaintiff’s property even as plaintiff continued insisting that he do so.”
When police arrived, they told Swann he was being charged with criminal trespass and criminal defilement of property. The plaintiff says Swann’s posture during this interaction was “extremely threatening and frightening.”
The plaintiff says he was granted a personal safety order against Swann after law enforcement suggested it. He also says he had to hire Servpro to provide biohazard remediation to clean his front door. In addition, he says he has sought mental health counseling to assist with processing the incident.
Teresa Toriseva, an attorney for the plaintiff, declined to comment on the matter. But W. Jesse Forbes, who is representing Swann, did.
“We dispute the allegations in this complaint and look forward to demonstrating the truth of what actually occurred as this process moves forward,” Forbes told The West Virginia Record. “This was an unfortunate situation between neighbors that arose when the plaintiff, who is also an attorney, allowed his dog to continually defile our client’s property.
“The plaintiff’s adult son continually invaded our client’s yard to allow their dog to use the bathroom. This behavior continued even after promises that it would not happen again and involved fecal matter being left in our client’s infant son’s play area over many months.”
Forbes said he and Swann are in the process of reviewing the complaint and “will fully respond at the appropriate time.”
“But already we can say the complaint includes a number of inaccurate assertions that do not match up with the facts of this unfortunate neighborhood incident,” Forbes told The Record. “We look forward to the details coming out as we respond to the allegations and will take all necessary steps to protect our client’s interests, including pursuing any legal avenues available.”
The plaintiff accuses Swann of trespassing, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and damage to real property. He says he has suffered psychological and personal injury as well as suffered from shame, embarrassment, lost enjoyment of life and other damages.
He seeks compensatory and punitive damages, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
The plaintiff is being represented by Toriseva and Joshua Miller of Toriseva Law in Wheeling. Swann is being represented by Forbes of Forbes Law Offices in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Kenneth Ballard.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 23-C-991