The Roanoke Lawyer and Peanutbutter Boy

Peanutbutter Boy's lawyer Andrew Goldstein of Roanoke>

This region's national notoriety continues to blossom today with the bankruptcy filing of Lynchburg's Stewart Parnell, the lovely man whose peanutbutter company appears to have been responsible for 630 sick people (in 44 states) and nine dead ones. Of course, the lawsuits are piling up, the feds are looking at a public boiling of Parnell and he's nervous--as he might well be.

Parnell's lawyer is one Andrew Goldstein of Roanoke--and remember that we all have the right to legal counsel, according to our own constitution, regardless of how morally repugnant we appear to be. Goldstein is a partner in Magee Foster Goldstein and Sayers, a corporate firm that specializes in bankruptcy. Goldstein is a UVa grad who got his J.D. from the University of Bridgeport and earned a master's in tax law from Georgetown U. He is well thought of among his colleagues.

Parnell, of course, is not very well thought of at this moment in his life. Forty seven people are suing him through a Seattle lawyer named Bill Marler, including two relatives of people who died eating salmonella-tainted peanutbutter, allegedly Parnell's company's peanutbutter.

The bankruptcy filing, according to the Washington Post, "will slow the flood of lawsuits against the company, but will not prevent individuals who have been sickened from filing claims." Marler says he intends to have the stay of suits lifted so those affected by the bad peanutbutter can sue.