The opinion of the court was delivered by BILES , J. : It is well established that anyone wishing to bring a lawsuit against a municipality under the Kansas Tort Claims, K.S.A. 75-6101 et seq., must give that municipality prior written notice of the claim. K.S.A.2013 Supp. 12-105b(d); Sleeth v. Sedan City Hospital, 298 Kan. 853, 317 P.3d 782 (2014); Continental Western Ins. Co. v. Shultz, 297 Kan. 769, 304 P.3d 1239 (2013). This case questions whether that statutory notice is...
The opinion of the court was delivered by BILES , J. : This appeal challenges the district court's property division in a divorce case. Our focus is on a document entitled "Post-Nupt[i]al Agreement Dissolution of the Marriage," which the attorney-husband drafted during the marriage, reserving most of the assets for the wife. Husband now claims the agreement is void because of the lopsided property division, even though the agreement explicitly states it is "fair, just and reasonable, and...
The opinion of the court was delivered by NUSS , C.J. : Per the general rule stated in K.S.A. 59-617, no will is effective unless a petition is filed for probate of the will within 6 months of the date of the testator's death. The Marshall County District Court nevertheless admitted Betty Jo Strader's will to probate when it was found in her attorney's office more than 4 years after her death and court intestacy proceedings were well underway. One of Betty Jo's five adult children, Janet...
The opinion of the court was delivered by NUSS, C.J.: Patrick B. Grossman filed a motion for postconviction relief under K.S.A. 60-1507, alleging his counsel at a probation revocation hearing was unconstitutionally ineffective. The district court denied his motion after a preliminary hearing, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. We granted his petition for review. We agree with Grossman that the Court of Appeals erred by applying the doctrine of res judicata to bar his claim. But because his...
The opinion of the court was delivered by ROSEN, J.: Billy J. Stanley is a persistent sex offender who is involuntarily committed to Larned State Security Hospital. He seeks review of a published Court of Appeals opinion affirming a district court order dismissing his three petitions for writs of habeas corpus. The courts below agreed that Stanley's failure to exhaust administrative remedies precluded habeas corpus relief. In August 2012, Stanley filed a petition seeking habeas corpus...
ORIGINAL PROCEEDING IN DISCIPLINE PER CURIAM: This is an original proceeding in discipline filed by the office of the Disciplinary Administrator against the respondent, Rodney K. Murrow, of Lenexa, an attorney admitted to the practice of law in Kansas in 1990. On December 27, 2013, the office of the Disciplinary Administrator filed a formal complaint against the respondent alleging violations of the Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct (KRPC). The respondent filed an answer on January 22,...
The opinion of the court was delivered by BEIER, J.: This case arises out of a Kansas Insurance Department decision imposing sanctions on appellant Golden Rule Insurance Company for unfair claim settlement practices. The Department's final order was upheld in district court. Then, on appeal to our Court of Appeals, the panel reversed. We accepted a petition for review filed by appellees, Assistant Commissioner of Insurance Robert M. Tomlinson and the Department. Although the underlying facts...
The opinion of the court was delivered by NUSS, C.J.: Santiago Sola-Morales filed a motion for postconviction relief under K.S.A. 60-1507, alleging his trial counsel was unconstitutionally ineffective. The district court denied his motion without conducting an evidentiary hearing, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. We granted his petition for review. We hold the district court erred in denying the motion without conducting an evidentiary hearing. Accordingly, we reverse the decisions of the...
The opinion of the court was delivered by PER CURIAM: The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit requests our answers to two certified questions regarding the proper classification of FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. (FedEx) delivery drivers under the provisions of the Kansas Wage Payment Act (KWPA), K.S.A. 44-313 et seq. Specifically, the Seventh Circuit inquires: "1. Given the undisputed facts presented to the district court in this case, are the plaintiff drivers...
The opinion of the court was delivered by PER CURIAM: This is an original action under Article 3, Section 3 of the Kansas Constitution by petitioner Chad Taylor against respondent Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Taylor seeks a writ of mandamus prohibiting Kobach from including Taylor's name on the ballot for the United States Senate in the November 4, 2014, general election. The heart of their controversy is whether Taylor's September 3, 2014, letter to Kobach requesting that his...
The opinion of the court was delivered by JOHNSON, J.: Rodney Turner seeks review of the Court of Appeals decision that reversed the district court's dismissal of a multiple-count indictment returned against him by a citizen-initiated grand jury. The petition to convene the grand jury alleged wrongdoing by the officers and directors of the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas (Unified Government). Turner, an attorney who did...
The opinion of the court was delivered by PER CURIAM: Defendant Jonathan D. Carr, and his brother, Reginald Dexter Carr, Jr., were jointly charged, tried, convicted, and sentenced for crimes committed in a series of incidents in December 2000 in Wichita. This is J. Carr's direct appeal from his 43 convictions and four death sentences. Our opinion in codefendant R. Carr's direct appeal also is filed today. State v. Carr, No. 90,044, 299 Kan. ___, ___ P.3d ___, 2014 WL 3681049 (2014). With...
The opinion of the court was delivered by PER CURIAM: Sidney Gleason was convicted by a jury of capital murder for the "intentional and premeditated killing of more than one person as a part of the same act or transaction or in two or more acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or course of conduct." K.S.A. 21-3439(a)(6). In a separate penalty phase, the same jury sentenced Gleason to death for the capital offense. The jury also convicted Gleason of...
The opinion of the court was delivered by MORITZ, J.: This case began innocuously enough when Johnson County Sheriff's Department Master Deputy Michael Maurer cracked a department vehicle's windshield with a binder while attempting to shoo a bothersome horsefly. While the horsefly's life may have ended, the long and tortuous factual and procedural history of this case had just begun. Maurer initially reported the incident by writing "Crack in windshield-rock" on a yellow sticky note and...
The opinion of the court was delivered by JOHNSON, J.: Kevin L. Brown sought revenge against Otis Bolden for perceived sexual transgressions against his girlfriend, Jalessa Bonner, and her friend, Kiara Williams. After enlisting the help of his cousin, Quartez Brown (hereafter Quartez), the two men proceeded to Bolden's apartment, accompanied by Bonner and Williams, where the Brown cousins entered the apartment, assaulted Ashley Green with a firearm, and fatally shot Bolden. All four...
The opinion of the court was delivered by BILES, J.: Francis Smith directly appeals his convictions of four sex offenses. The charges stem from an incident during which Smith touched two girls, who were 13 and 15 years old, while photographing them in provocative poses wearing two-piece, bikini-style bathing suits. Smith orchestrated the photo session and had the teenage girls touch each other for some of the photographs. He was convicted of two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with...
The opinion of the court was delivered by ROSEN, J.: Terry Ray Hayes appeals from his convictions and sentences for premeditated first-degree murder and aggravated assault. He challenges the denial of his request for a voluntary manslaughter instruction and the district court's imposition of a hard 50 life sentence. Hayes was married to Tiffani Hayes for a little over a year. In April 2010, Tiffani moved back home with her mother. Shortly afterwards, Hayes filed for a divorce. He experienced...
BEIER, J.: Claimant David Williams petitioned this court for review of the Court of Appeals decision reversing his Workers Compensation Board award. Because the evidence on whether Williams was at work or leaving work at the time of his injury was not amenable to only one factual finding, the Court of Appeals erred by deciding it as a matter of law. We therefore reverse the Court of Appeals and hold that substantial competent evidence supported the Board's factual finding in Williams' favor....
The opinion of the court was delivered by LUCKERT, J. Corky A. Williams appeals his convictions for the premeditated first-degree murder of James Earl Dyer, Jr.; conspiracy to commit first-degree murder; and criminal possession of a firearm. Williams raises numerous issues. We have reorganized and combined some issues. As restated, Williams' arguments require us to consider: (1) whether the evidence was sufficient; (2) whether the complaint was insufficient when the aiding and abetting theory...
The opinion of the court was delivered by NUSS, C.J.: Damon Vontress contends the district court and Court of Appeals both erred in denying his motion for habeas relief as untimely under K.S.A. 60-1507(f). While admitting his motion was untimely filed after the 1-year limit in K.S.A. 60-1507(f)(1), Vontress argues the summary denial of his motion caused "a manifest injustice" which entitled him to an extension of the time limit under K.S.A. 60-1507(f)(2). Both lower courts rejected this...
