APPLICATION TO ASSUME ORIGINAL JURISDICTION AND PETITION FOR DECLARATORY RELIEF AND WRITS OF INJUNCTION AND/OR MANDAMUS WINCHESTER, J. 1 The issue before this Court concerns the constitutionality of House Bill 2032 (HB 2032), passed by the 54th Legislature, First Regular Session, and signed into law by the Governor on May 13, 2013. The bill concerns income tax rate reduction as well as the creation of a fund for repairs to the State Capitol building. We assume original jurisdiction and hold...
THE OPINION OF THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS is VACATED; THE TRIAL COURT'S ORDER IS REVERSED. EDMONDSON, J. 1 We must determine whether the three-day mailing rule of 12 O.S.2006(D) applies to defendants'/appellants' post-trial motions for costs and attorney fees filed in the trial court. 1 We answer in the affirmative. A jury verdict was rendered in favor of the defendants in a condemnation action on February 17, 2011. The award was at least ten percent greater than the award of the...
WATT, J. 1 We retained this cause to address two issues. The first is whether a political-subdivision employer may be required to provide workers' compensation benefits to an off-duty employee injured while providing services to a private entity. Second, we are asked whether, under the facts presented, the claimant's salaries from his full-time employment as a deputy sheriff and his part-time job as a security officer may be combined when determining the amount of benefits to which the...
COMBS, J. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY 1 On or about, August 13, 1997, Appellee, Keith Allen Osburn (hereinafter, "Osburn") was charged with one felony count of indecent exposure in violation of 21 O.S., 1021(A)(1) (CF 97-262; Kay County, Oklahoma). On June 22, 1998, Osburn pled no contest to the charge and was given a five-year sentence of which he was to serve ten weekends in the Kay County Jail with the remainder of his sentence suspended. Thereafter, in 2000, Osburn began registration...
EDMONDSON, J. 1 The controversy framed by the parties involves whether Lincoln Farm, L.L.C., breached a contract to sell potatoes to Farming Technology Corporation, and whether certain provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code involving the unavailability of a carrier and a commercially impracticable method of delivery are applicable to the parties. Farming Technology argued in the trial court that Lincoln Farm was required to build a private rail spur in order to fulfill Lincoln Farm's...
EDMONDSON, J. 1 James David Ogle (Respondent), OBA No. 17476, was admitted to practice law in the State of Oklahoma in 1997. He currently stands suspended in SCBD 5902 pursuant to Rules 7.1 and 7.2 of the Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings (RGDP), 5 O.S. 2011, ch. 1, app. 1-A. A complaint was brought pursuant to Rule 6, RGDP against the Respondent in SCBD 5940. The matters were joined for hearing before a trial panel of the Professional Responsibility Tribunal (PRT), for briefing and...
GURICH, J. Facts & Procedural History 1 This case involves an automobile accident between Plaintiffs and two employees of Carolina Forge Company, L.L.C, the Appellee in Sheffer v. Carolina Forge Co., 2013 OK 48, 306 P.3d 544 . While the facts and procedural history of the case are set out in detail in that opinion, in short, Plaintiffs Charles Sheffer, Jennifer Sheffer, and their minor son, J.S., were injured when a rental vehicle leased to employees of Carolina Forge collided with...
REIF, V.C.J. 1 This case concerns a claim that the Berryhill Fire Protection District wrongfully terminated the employment of Steven King for his efforts to stop a "training exercise" that involved the burning of structures owned by the fire chief. The trial court believed that the circumstances surrounding the fire chief's decision to burn the structures in question created a factual issue over whether this "training exercise" would violate the statutory prohibition against arson. The...
REIF, V.C.J.: 1 This case presents a Certified Question of Law submitted by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, pursuant to 20 O.S.2011, 1601 through 1606. A three-judge panel of that court seeks an answer to an unsettled question of Oklahoma law concerning the application of equitable subrogation. The panel inquires: Whether a second-level excess insurer can assert a claim for equitable subrogation against a first-level excess insurer even though the insured has agreed...
KAUGER, J.: 1 The complainant, Oklahoma Bar Association (Bar Association), charged the respondent, Robert Bradley Miller, (attorney/Miller) with five counts of professional misconduct resulting from circumstances surrounding the alleged irresponsible and deceitful prosecution of murder trials in his capacity as Assistant District Attorney for Oklahoma County. The Bar Association alleged that the respondent's actions involved: dishonesty, fraud, unfairness, lack of candor toward the tribunal,...
GURICH, J. Facts & Procedural History 1 On August 24, 2006, William Garris III and David Billups flew from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Joplin, Missouri, on a business trip for their employer, Carolina Forge Company, L.L.C. Garris was the quality manager for Carolina Forge, and Billups was a customer service representative. The trip was scheduled to take place from August 24, 2006, to August 27, 2006, in Joplin, Missouri. Normally, William Casella, the corporate representative and plant...
TRIAL COURT'S ORDER DISMISSING CASE IS REVERSED; CAUSE REMANDED FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS CONSISTENT WITH TODAY'S PRONOUNCEMENT GURICH, J. Facts & Procedural History 1 On April 2, 2009, Richard Douglas was admitted to the Defendant's rehabilitative care center for extended care. Douglas remained at the facility for approximately 21 days and was discharged on April 23, 2009. He died a short time later on May 12, 2009. The decedent's estate filed a wrongful death action in Tulsa County...
GURICH, J. Facts and Procedural History 1 In January 2006, Robert Cornett brought a lawsuit in the Oklahoma County District Court, challenging the sale of real property ordered to be sold by his ex-spouse, Rhonda Carr, in connection with the parties' divorce proceeding. According to the petition, a divorce judgment entered by the Seminole County District Court directed Carr to sell the subject property at the highest possible price and evenly divide the net proceeds with Cornett. It...
TAYLOR, J. 1 We previously granted the defendant/petitioner's, CompSource Oklahoma's (CompSource), petition for certiorari review of a first impression question of law: Whether 85 O.S.2001, 67.1 1 applied to all cancellations of workers' compensation insurance, both insured-initiated and insurer-initiated. We conclude the longstanding construction and application of 67.1 of Title 85 of the Oklahoma Statutes by the Oklahoma Insurance Department required CompSource to make a pro rata...
KAUGER, J: 1 Petitioner, Miami Business Services LLC (Miami), and Real Parties in Interest were involved in a joint venture. The law firm of Phillips Murrah, P.C. (Phillips) served as general counsel for Miami as well as Real Parties in Interest and their joint venture. Over the course of that joint venture, Fogg, one of the defendants, acted as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Miami and acted as the principal in the real party in interest business entities. While COO of Miami, Fogg...
EDMONDSON, J. 1 This proceeding was commenced in the District Court as an administrative appeal from student disciplinary proceedings at the University of Oklahoma. We conclude that the District Court lacked administrative appellate jurisdiction and direct the District Court to dismiss the administrative appeal. We do not resolve the claims by the student that the University failed to use the constitutionally proper procedures for imposing discipline on him. These claims were not adjudicated...
KAUGER, J.: 1 The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma certified four questions of Oklahoma Law under the Revised Uniform Certification of Questions of Law Act, 20 O.S.2011 1601-1611, seeking clarification concerning the remedies available to a plaintiff who brings an excessive force lawsuit pursuant to the Okla. Const. art. 2, 30. 4 We have reformulated the questions into three. FACTS 2 We note at the onset, that the facts presented by the parties in...
WATT, J.: 1 The respondent is before this Court for the second time in less than six months. The details of his first appearance are outlined in State ex rel. Oklahoma Bar Ass'n v. Moon ( Moon I ), 2012 OK 77, 295 P.3d 1 . In that cause, the attorney was publicly censured, ordered to pay costs, and a deferred suspension of two years and one day was imposed during which time Moon was ordered to refrain from any and all use of alcohol and illegal drugs while participating in activities...
WINCHESTER, J. 1 In a dispute over insurance coverage between the plaintiff/appellee, City of Choctaw, and its insurer, Oklahoma Municipal Assurance Group (OMAG), defendant/appellant, the trial court granted a motion for summary judgment for Choctaw. Both in the trial court and on appeal, the city argued that OMAG should cover an inverse condemnation judgment entered against the city in a suit brought by a landowner, even though the city admits it obtained coverage from OMAG for liability...
COMBS , J. 1 On March 24, 2005, Michael Todd Benson (Applicant) made an application to Leader Life for a $90,560.00 life insurance policy, naming his wife Shannon, as Beneficiary. The application asked if the applicant had ever been treated for liver disease, had any medical or surgical treatment in the last five years or any departure from good health and whether or not the applicant had ever had an alcohol or drug problem. Applicant answered yes to the departure from good health...
