REVERSING OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUSTICE KELLER . Mary Smith (Smith), a former employee of the Estill County Fiscal Court (the Fiscal Court), sent a letter to the Fiscal Court complaining about working conditions and was subsequently discharged. The Kentucky Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (the Commission) determined by Final Order that Smith's letter constituted an occupational health "complaint" under Kentucky Revised Statute (KRS) 338.121(3)(a), and found that the...
OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUSTICE KELLER . Kentucky River Foothills Development Council, Inc. 1 (Kentucky River), a community action agency, filed a motion for summary judgment on the grounds that it is entitled to sovereign immunity. The Madison Circuit Court denied Kentucky River's motion and the Court of Appeals affirmed. We granted discretionary review and, having reviewed the record and the parties' arguments, we affirm the denial of summary judgment but for reasons that differ...
OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUSTICE VENTERS . Appellants, Kentucky State Police officers Gary Martin, Mike Sapp, and Bobby Motley (collectively, the Officers) appeal from the Court of Appeals' opinion reversing the Franklin Circuit Court's summary judgment. Appellants assert the Court of Appeals erred by 1) interjecting federal 42 U.S.C. 1983 malicious prosecution law into the analysis of a state malicious prosecution claim, and 2) concluding that Appellants are not entitled to immunity...
NOT FOR PUBLISHED THIS OPINION IS DESIGNATED "NOT TO BE PUBLISHED." PURSUANT TO THE RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE PROMULGATED BY THE SUPREME COURT, CR 76.28(4)(C), THIS OPINION IS NOT TO BE PUBLISHED AND SHALL NOT BE CITED OR USED AS BINDING PRECEDENT IN ANY OTHER CASE IN ANY COURT OF THIS STATE; HOWEVER, UNPUBLISHED KENTUCKY APPELLATE DECISIONS, RENDERED AFTER JANUARY 1, 2003, MAY BE CITED FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE COURT IF THERE IS NO PUBLISHED OPINION THAT WOULD ADEQUATELY ADDRESS THE ISSUE...
OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUSTICE VENTERS . Appellee, Mohamud Abukar, a United States citizen and a native of Somalia, was convicted of first degree rape in Kenton Circuit Court and sentenced to twelve years in prison. The Court of Appeals reversed the judgment upon its conclusion that the trial court's failure to provide Abukar with a Somali interpreter for his rape trial violated KRS 30A.410. 1 The Commonwealth sought discretionary review of that decision, arguing that the trial court...
OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUSTICE NOBLE . This case presents two questions. First, does the Attorney General or an individual member of the General Assembly have standing to challenge the Governor's actions as violating a statute or the constitution The Court concludes that the Attorney General has standing but that the individual legislators in this case do not. Second, may the Governor reduce the amount of money made available to a state university under a legislative appropriation...
OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUSTICE HUGHES . This Court granted the motion for discretionary review by Countryway Insurance Company, a New York corporation, in its dispute with United Financial Casualty Company, 1 over how to apportion damages between the two, both insurers having provided uninsured motorist (UM) coverage to a passenger injured in an automobile accident in Bowling Green, Kentucky. In light of what it deemed mutually repugnant "other insurance" clauses in the two policies,...
OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUSTICE WRIGHT . Appellant, Kyle Sheets, was convicted of first-degree sexual abuse and two counts of first-degree sodomy. In a separate trial with a separate jury, he was convicted of possession of a handgun by a convicted felon. He was sentenced in accordance with the juries' recommendations to ten years' imprisonment for the sexual-abuse conviction, forty years' for each sodomy conviction, and six years' for the handgun conviction, all to run consecutively,...
OPINION OF THE COURT BY CHIEF JUSTICE MINTON . A circuit court jury convicted Kevin Herp of two counts of first-degree sodomy and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. The trial court sentenced him to seventy years' imprisonment. He appeals the resulting final judgment to this court as a matter of right 1 , alleging errors relating to the amendment of the indictment and the content of the jury instructions denied him a fair trial. Because we conclude the trial court abused its...
OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUSTICE NOBLE . In this case, the Court of Appeals affirmed the Boyd Circuit Court, which deviated from the statutory guidelines support amount by setting the child-support obligation of Appellee, Lance Carver, at $60 per month, based on his living expenses. Appellant, Michelle Carver (Butler), asks this Court to reverse that holding as an abuse of discretion. We affirm in part and reverse in part, address deviations from the statutory guidelines, and remand to the...
OPINION OF THE COURT BY CHIEF JUSTICE MINTON . The Kentucky Motor Vehicle Reparations Act (MVRA) defines an underinsured motorist as "a party with motor vehicle liability insurance coverage in an amount less than a judgment recovered against that party for damages on account of injury due to a motor vehicle accident." 1 The Act directs all insurers to make available to their insureds, upon request, underinsured motorist coverage (UIM) to pay the insured, according to the terms of the...
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED THIS OPINION IS DESIGNATED "NOT TO BE PUBLISHED." PURSUANT TO THE RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE PROMULGATED BY THE SUPREME COURT, CR 76.28(4)(C), THIS OPINION IS NOT TO BE PUBLISHED AND SHALL NOT BE CITED OR USED AS BINDING PRECEDENT IN ANY OTHER CASE IN ANY COURT OF THIS STATE; HOWEVER, UNPUBLISHED KENTUCKY APPELLATE DECISIONS, RENDERED AFTER JANUARY 1, 2003, MAY BE CITED FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE COURT IF THERE IS NO PUBLISHED OPINION THAT WOULD ADEQUATELY ADDRESS THE ISSUE...
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED THIS OPINION IS DESIGNATED "NOT TO BE PUBLISHED." PURSUANT TO THE RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE PROMULGATED BY THE SUPREME COURT, CR 76.28(4)(C), THIS OPINION IS NOT TO BE PUBLISHED AND SHALL NOT BE CITED OR USED AS BINDING PRECEDENT IN ANY OTHER CASE IN ANY COURT OF THIS STATE; HOWEVER, UNPUBLISHED KENTUCKY APPELLATE DECISIONS, RENDERED AFTER JANUARY 1, 2003, MAY BE CITED FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE COURT IF THERE IS NO PUBLISHED OPINION THAT WOULD ADEQUATELY ADDRESS THE ISSUE...
OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUSTICE NOBLE . This case presents the question whether a dying spouse's decision to remove the surviving spouse as a life-insurance beneficiary and to name someone else can constitute fraud on the surviving spouse's statutory elective share. Like the Court of Appeals, this Court concludes that it cannot. I. Background John Wesley Bays and Carole Kiphart married in 2000. They had one child, Bryce Bays. In 2001, John and Carole executed reciprocal wills. Carole...
OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUSTICE VENTERS . Appellant, John Charalambakis, appeals from a decision of the Court of Appeals which affirmed the summary judgment entered in the Jessamine Circuit Court dismissing Appellant's KRS 344.040 wrongful discrimination claim and his KRS 344.280 wrongful retaliation claim brought against his employer, Appellee Asbury University (Asbury). Appellant's lawsuit centered upon allegations that Asbury discriminated against him in an employee disciplinary matter...
OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUSTICE HUGHES . On May 21, 2011, Appellant Jerry Jamgotchian claimed Rochitta, a bay filly, for $42,400 in a claiming race at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Foaled February 26, 2008 in Pennsylvania, Rochitta was first purchased at the 2009 Keeneland Yearling Sales in Lexington, Kentucky for $160,000 by Rabbah Bloodstock. Prior to her debut at Churchill Downs, Rochitta had run previously at Saratoga Race Course and Belmont Park in New York as well as...
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED OPINION THIS OPINION IS DESIGNATED "NOT TO BE PUBLISHED." PURSUANT TO THE RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE PROMULGATED BY THE SUPREME COURT, CR 76.28(4)(C), THIS OPINION IS NOT TO BE PUBLISHED AND SHALL NOT BE CITED OR USED AS BINDING PRECEDENT IN ANY OTHER CASE IN ANY COURT OF THIS STATE; HOWEVER, UNPUBLISHED KENTUCKY APPELLATE DECISIONS, RENDERED AFTER JANUARY 1, 2003, MAY BE CITED FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE COURT IF THERE IS NO PUBLISHED OPINION THAT WOULD ADEQUATELY ADDRESS THE...
MEMORANDUM OPINION OF THE COURT A circuit court jury convicted Jeffrey Sasser of first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, receiving a stolen firearm, and of being a first-degree Persistent-Felony Offender (PFO), for which the trial court entered judgment imposing a total effective sentence of 30 years' imprisonment. Specifically, Sasser was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for first-degree robbery, enhanced by his PFO status to 30 years; 20 years' imprisonment for first-degree burglary,...
OPINION OF THE COURT BY CHIEF JUSTICE MINTON . Thirteen-year-old Stephen Patton was an eighth-grader at Allen Central Middle School (ACMS) when he committed suicide allegedly because he was bullied at school. His estate 1 filed this lawsuit naming various teachers 2 and administrators 3 claiming that they all knew, or should have known, of the bullying he suffered at school. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the Teachers and the Administrators, ruling that they were...
OPINION OF THE COURT BY CHIEF JUSTICE MINTON Following an automobile accident, Lonnie Dale Riggs sued the adverse driver for negligence, but settled the claim for the adverse driver's automobile-liability-insurance policy limits. Before dismissing the suit, Riggs asserted a claim against his own automobile liability insurer, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, for underinsured motorist benefits (UIM). Riggs filed his UIM claim three years to the day after the date of the automobile...
