Affirming. The appellant, Theodore Zeutzius, was indicted by the grand jury of Jefferson County, Kentucky, for the murder of Charles E. Fowler. Upon a trial of the case he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and his punishment fixed at confinement in the state penitentiary for ten years. There is no complaint as to the sufficiency of the evidence and the only grounds relied on for reversal are, (1) the court failed and refused to instruct the jury on the law of self-defense, and (2) the...
Reversing in part and affirming in part. The appellant, Thomas H. Young, Jr., was admitted to the practice of law in Kentucky in September, 1936, and has been engaged in the general practice of law *Page 198 since that time. In November, 1937, he was elected a Justice of the Peace for the Second Magisterial District of Jefferson County, Kentucky, and assumed office from January 3, 1938, which position he still holds. Appellee, Lawrence S. Grauman, County Attorney of Jefferson County, Kentucky,...
Affirming. In 1897 James A. Vann by deed of general warranty sold and conveyed to James H. York and his wife, M.A. York (also known in this record as Della York), a certain tract of land in Pulaski County, Ky., containing 46 1/2 acres. The deed is in the usual form purporting to convey to the grantees a fee simple title to the land, containing, however, this provision: "Now it being understood that the said within conveyance reverts to the said wife, M.A. York at the death of said husband James...
Affirming. Appellant, Ralph C. Wyatt, is appealing from a judgment rendered under a verdict where the jury had been peremptorily instructed to find for the appellee, City of Danville, on its counterclaim in the sum of $276.92. Wyatt, who served as city engineer of Danville from 1932 to the early part of 1936, sought to recover the sum of $1200 from the city over and above his regular salary of $3600 a year for services rendered as engineer and agent of the city on the improvement and extension...
Reversing. C.M. Wright was indicted for a violation of Section 1213a, Kentucky Statutes, known as the "Cold Check Law." At the conclusion of the evidence for the Commonwealth, and again at the conclusion of all the evidence, the accused moved for a directed verdict of acquittal, but in each instance the motion was overruled and the case was submitted to the jury. The jury returned a verdict finding the defendant guilty as charged in the indictment and fixing his punishment at confinement in the...
Reversing. *Page 424 In December, 1935, T.B. Tapp acquired a general store in the village of Stanley, Daviess County, and his wife principally conducted the business until it was destroyed by fire one night in September, 1936. In January, 1936, Tapp obtained $1,850 insurance with the World Fire and Marine Insurance Company (of which $1,000 was on merchandise, $300 on the fixtures and equipment, and $550 on the building), and in addition a policy for $1,000 on the stock with the Home Insurance...
Reversing. *Page 714 This is purportedly a declaratory judgment action, filed in the Jefferson Circuit Court by appellant, Harold W. Worden, as an individual doing business in the name of "National Tailoring Company, against the "City of Louisville." The petition avers that plaintiff is engaged, or about to become engaged — under the name of National Tailoring Company — in the tailoring business within the city, and that he has adopted and intends to or has put in operation a scheme whereby his...
Reversing. Appellant, with Zach Walden and Taylor Sparks, was indicted for the murder of Dave Woolery, appellant's husband. Walden was tried on the indictment in October 1938 and sentenced to a life term in the penitentiary. On appeal to this court the judgment of the lower court was reversed, the opinion being handed down on June 2, 1939. See Walden v. Com., 129 S.W.2d 559 . By reference thereto it will be found that the reversal was on the ground that the commonwealth had failed to present...
Reversing. The appeal is from a judgment "that the estate of George E. Wood is indebted to the plaintiffs for double liability of the amount of stock held by the estate in the First American Bank of Wilmore, Kentucky," and that the plaintiffs recover of the estate $1,200 with interest. The plaintiffs, now appellees, are the First American Bank, by the Director of the Division of Banking of the Commonwealth and the Special Deputy Banking Commissioner in charge of its liquidation. The defendants,...
Reversing. On August 1, 1935, Melvin Edward Wolfe, an employee of the American Rolling Mill Company, was engaged in slagging molten metal. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon he became so ill or incapacitated that his foreman proposed to send him to a hospital, but instead, and at his insistence, he was taken by fellow workmen to his home where he died the following morning. His widow, Florence Wolfe, on behalf of herself and their four minor children as his dependents, filed claim for an...
Reversing. The appellant and plaintiff below, Leah Witt (wife), and the appellee and defendant below, Hugh Witt (husband), were married on September 17, 1913. They lived together as husband and wife until a few days before October 29, 1931, during which time two girl children were born, who on the latter date were each under 21 years of age. For some time prior thereto the relations between the parties — because of alleged cruel and inhuman treatment of the husband toward the wife, and, perhaps,...
Affirming. In the court below appellant was plaintiff; Lula Haddix (real party in interest) and members of the Compensation Board were defendants. Lula Haddix was the widow of John Haddix, who met his death on May 7, 1937, while in the employ of appellant, operator of a coal mine in Knott county. In due time the widow filed her application with the Board seeking adjustment of her claim, it being asserted that her husband met his death as a result of an accident arising out of and in the course...
Affirming. Appellant, Charles F. Wingfield, filed this suit against appellee, Irvin Mann, seeking to recover a sum of money which he alleged was usury on a loan made by Mann to him. He is appealing from the judgment dismissing his petition. It is his contention that the court erred in adjudging the transaction he had with Mann to be a bona fide sale of property with an option to repurchase same rather than a mortgage to secure a usurious loan. The chancellor has so succintly stated the facts...
Affirming. This action was brought September 26, 1936, in the Martin circuit court by the appellee, Robert Stewart, as Inspector of Scales and Weights, for recovery of damages against the appellants, Winco Block Coal Company and its superintendent, Charles Lambert, allegedly sustained by him as the result of appellants' violation of the provisions of the penal statute, Section 2739-48, Kentucky Statutes (Baldwin's 1936 Revision), forbidding the company or its agents from hindering or preventing...
Affirming. This litigation involves questions as to whether the appellant Anna K. Wilson had abandoned an oil and gas lease on the property of the appellees, Chris and Clara Wilson, and thereby forfeited the equipment thereon to the lessors. The lease was executed by the appellees in July, 1930, and passed through various assignments before coming into the hands of the appellant. It covered a period of five years and contained the usual stipulations to such leases. The lessee began drilling...
Reversing. This appeal seeks a reversal of a judgment rendered against the appellant, Wilson Gas Utilities Corporation, in the Perry Circuit Court, and in favor of the appellee, Dr. Boyd B. Baker, for damages for personal injuries suffered by him in a gas explosion occurring in his offices, alleged to have been caused by the negligence of defendant in turning gas into the building when having knowledge of the defective or uncapped condition of the gas pipe in Dr. Baker's office. Upon trial of...
Affirming. At its 1938 session, the legislature created a new Judicial District, designated as the Thirty-eighth, out of the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Districts. Acts 1938, c. 13. The judge of the Seventh District challenged the validity of the act. We reversed a judgment sustaining a demurrer to his petition and dismissing it. Willis v. Jonson, 275 Ky. 538 , 121 S.W.2d 904 . The Honorable Clarence Bartlett, having been elected judge of the new district to succeed the appointed judge, was...
Reversing. On December 30, 1935, the appellee and plaintiff below, Cecil Barber — then an infant 18 years of age — was injured while working as a miner extracting coal from a small coal mine theretofore opened and operated on the farm of appellant and defendant below, Charles Willis. He sought by this action filed by him against defendant in the Greenup circuit court by his next friend to recover damages therefor which he laid in his petition at the sum of $25,000. The alleged injuries were...
Affirming. Robert Williams was convicted in the Estill Circuit Court of the murder of Wilburn Horn, the verdict of the jury fixing his punishment at confinement in the penitentiary for life. From a judgment entered on that verdict he prosecutes this appeal, contending that the judgment should be reversed because of the following errors on the part of the trial court: (1) That the verdict is flagrantly against the evidence; (2) error in permitting incompetent evidence to be introduced and in...
Affirming. The grand jury of Madison County, in October, 1938, returned a true bill charging appellant with the crime of incest, committed by having carnal knowledge of his daughter, knowing at the time of the relationship; an offense denounced by Section 1219, Kentucky Statutes. He was found guilty, the jury fixing the penalty at confinement for a period of seven years. In his motion and amended motion for a new trial, he set up six or more grounds. In brief on his behalf it is insisted that...
