P. Brian grew up on an 86-acre farm in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle. After his parents divorced, both of his parents got some of the property and continued to live there in separate houses, then when his father passed away, he and his two brothers each got some acreage as well. P. Brian received 21 acres and lived on his land in a trailer his dad bought for him since the 1980s, and he worked on the farm to pay off the debt to his father.

In 2001, P. Brian lost his leg in a hunting accident, which did slow him down a bit. He had to give up some of his farm responsibilities and transition to using crutches and a wheelchair when necessary. This also made it harder for him to get in and out of his home, since it was not wheelchair accessible on either the inside or outside.

“I got married in 2010,” says P. Brian. “But my wife and I divorced after about five years.”

P. Brian continued working, but a few years later, he had to have open-heart surgery and couldn’t work anymore. At that point, moving around his trailer had gotten much more difficult, and a property tax mix-up made paying for his land a challenge.

“I asked my brother and his wife: If I give you my land, would you fix up my home so it’s handicapped accessible? And they agreed to it.”

The progress on his trailer’s accessibility was slow. P. Brian’s brother installed a ramp, but it was steep, and he had to pull himself up it as a result. There also were limited renovations made inside the trailer, with no handlebars installed or changes made to the door size to accommodate his wheelchair.

“At the end of the day, it was not handicapped accessible,” he says, and as time went on, the tension between the brothers grew.

Their mother passed away in 2021, and P. Brian’s brother slowly started changing things around the farm. He started charging P. Brian rent for his trailer, which felt like a betrayal coming from his brother.

In 2022, he gave P. Brian an eviction notice.

“Well, I knew that wasn’t right,” P. Brian says. “I kind of ignored it. They kept showing me apartments I couldn’t afford, and I drug my feet.”

Not long after, P. Brian applied for help from Legal Aid of WV (LAWV) and was assigned to work with LAWV attorney Carolyn in the Martinsburg LAWV office.

“I talked with Carolyn, and she thought I had a case, so I started the process of taking my brother and his wife to Court with her help.”

Meanwhile, P. Brian was also trying to find housing that he could afford and would meet his accessibility needs. It was a struggle. P. Brian completed paperwork and was told he was on a waiting list that could take about a year. They finally told him they had an apartment he could move into in spring of 2023.

With help from many Martinsburg office staffers, Carolyn continued to search for a solution for P. Brian’s housing struggles. She arranged for P. Brian, his brother, and his wife to meet at LAWV for mediation. The mediation took several hours, according to P. Brian, but they were able to come to an agreement.

P. Brian agreed to move out of his trailer and into the accessible apartment in the spring, and his brother and his wife agreed to give him some money as a settlement to help him with costs.

By the end of the summer 2023, P. Brian was fully moved into his new, handicapped accessible apartment through HUD, and the settlement money he received helped him pay bills and move.

“From when Carolyn first met me to now, I’m just so happy,” says P. Brian. “I highly recommend Legal Aid, and Carolyn is a wonderful attorney. She is kind, caring, and she goes above and beyond. Everybody in this office does.”