Chase Neely
CHARLESTON – A partner in a high-profile Charleston law firm claims the other partner ghosted him.
Michael O. Callaghan filed his complaint May 7 in Kanawha Circuit Court on behalf of himself and his law firm Neely & Callaghan against Charles W. Neely. Charles “Chase” Neely is the son of the late Richard Neely, a former state Supreme Court justice.
Callaghan is a former federal prosecuting attorney. He and Richard Neely created the firm in 2007. Richard Neely died in 2020, and Callaghan formed the partnership with Chase Neely soon thereafter.
Callaghan
“Actually, this one is just sad to me,” Callaghan told The West Virginia Record. “Chase disappeared on me. I had a great partnership with his father Richard for over 13 years. I just want to close out the partnership equitably.
“I am in the process of winding down Neely & Callaghan. The while situation is very sad for me. I loved Richard and, despite both of our strong personalities, we never had a cross word or raised our voice against each other the whole time we were partners. This is just a sad ending to that great partnership.”
According to the complaint, there is no partnership agreement for Neely & Callaghan, but Chase Neely and Callaghan entered the partnership agreeing to equally split overhead. It says the two jointly worked on cases as well as having individual cases.
Neely represented the plaintiffs in two related cases filed in 2017 and 2018 in Kanawha Circuit Court. Callaghan was not involved in the case until last December when Kanawha Circuit Judge Tera Salango entered an order in that case finding Neely in contempt. That order directed Callaghan to mail a copy of the order to each plaintiff, and it ordered Callaghan and the plaintiffs to appear for a scheduled status conference.
Callaghan says Neely’s “contemptuous actions” were concealed from him until the court order, which also said Salango was notifying the state Office of Disciplinary Counsel of Neely’s actions.
That court order says Neely failed to comply with a mediation order “despite many attempts by the mediator to facilitate” with Neely. It also says Neely failed to appear at a show cause hearing to show why he shouldn’t be held in contempt.
The complaint says Callaghan took over the case and obtained a settlement satisfactory to the client.
“Neely provided no assistance in the case, refusing to return multiple emails, text messages and phone calls and (Neely) ignored requests to provide the case file,” the complaint states, and it goes on to say Neely “has to date refused to return multiple emails, text messages and phone calls from … Callaghan addressing the impact of his conduct on the Neely & Callaghan partnership and the continued viability of the partnership.”
In the complaint, Callaghan says he has sought help from Neely’s mother, brother and best friend, who all have talked to Neely. But the “efforts have been for naught.”
“Chase disappeared on me,” Callaghan told The Record. “Chase shut down and has not communicated with me in a long time. I really hope he is OK, but I have no way to know.”
Callaghan says he hired an accounting firm to help wind down the law firm by performing an ownership allocation for Neely. That showed Neely’s share of the firm is -$277,757. That information was sent to Neely as well as his mother and brother, but Callaghan says Neely has refused to pay or engage in communication with him.
Callaghan accuses Neely of breach of fiduciary duties, negligence and abandonment. He seeks compensatory damages for monetary losses as well as for annoyance, inconvenience and aggravation. He also seeks court costs, attorney fees, expert witness fees, pre-judgment interest and other relief.
Callaghan says he just formed his new firm, which is called Callaghan Legal PLLC.
The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Dave Hardy.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 25-C-591
