Kentucky Law Review

Ky Law News Weekly Wrap-up: Sept. 17-23 , 2007

Top Legal Stories this past week from Kentucky

• Former Beshear firm paid $100,000 for ethics investigation
  The law firm where Steve Beshear once worked paid more than $100,000 to cover the costs of an ethics investigation into its work related to the liquidation of Kentucky Central Life Insurance, a newspaper reported on Saturday.  The firm, Stites & Harbison, paid the bill even though none of its lawyers ever saw the 1995 report containing the probe's final conclusions, the law office's managing partner told the Lexington Herald-Leader.  Kennedy Helm III also said Friday that regardless of what the report may say, the firm's work was ethical.
• Girl's recovery slow after feet severed on thrill ride

  The parents of a 13-year-old girl whose feet were severed on a Louisville theme park ride say her recovery three months later remains slow.
• Execution on hold; community remembers pain of lawmen's slaying

  As Ralph Baze awaits decisions on appeals for his life, a quiet community along the foothills of Appalachia is still waiting for his death.
• Execs: We were never warned

  In the two days before Louise Ogborn was strip-searched and sexually abused at the Mount Washington McDonald's, two regional supervisors were in the store, grading employees to ensure that customers were served quickly and that food was handled safely.
• Jurors in hoax case see video of ordeal

  One juror appeared to wipe a tear from her eye and a couple of others shook their heads yesterday as they watched a security video showing Louise Ogborn being sexually abused at the Mount Washington McDonald's in 2004.
• Fen-phen judge won't step down
A federal judge will not step down from a case in which he ordered three suspended lawyers to jail while they await trial on charges that they bilked former clients out of millions of dollars.
• Hoax victim testifies in civil lawsuit against McDonald's

  Louise Ogborn sat on the witness stand, at times in tears. She answered questions about being stripped, searched and sexually assaulted for more than three hours in the manager's office of a McDonald's restaurant in Mount Washington, sometimes speaking in detail. She talked about her life in the three years since that incident. "I lost my faith on April 9, 2004," Ogborn said Thursday. "I prayed and prayed, and it kept getting worse."
• Strip search leaves scars, psychiatrist testifies

  A 21-year-old woman suffers from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder after being strip-searched at a McDonald's in 2004, a psychiatrist testified yesterday. Dr. Stuart Grassian of Boston said Louise Ogborn's symptoms stemming from the incident will never fully go away.  "What you see right now is pretty much what you're going to get," Grassian said. 
• Psychiatrist testifies hoax victim still suffering

  A psychiatrist from Boston has testified at the civil trial against McDonald's in Bullitt County that strip search victim Louise Ogborn is suffering from chronic post traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Stuart Grassian also said Ogborn was severely depressed after the incident, but has recovered from that.
• Assistant manager's case next for McDonald's

  Update on the McDonald's phone hoax case in Shepherdsville.
• Judge jails man for wearing 'inappropriate' shirt to court
  A western Kentucky man spent the night in jail for wearing an inappropriate T-shirt to court. McCracken District Judge Chris Hollowell said he was conveying a message Tuesday when he sent James Hinman to jail for wearing what he felt was an obscene shirt to court.

Other Kentucky legal headlines

• Ky. Supreme Court lets stay of execution stand
• E. Kentucky Power to pay $11.4 million penalty in clean air case
• Rowan's display OK; Garrard's isn't
• Harrison County may pay $30,000 in federal lawsuit
• Breastfeeding not popular in Kentucky
• Patron asked to move is suing the Bristol
• Ky. public defenders taxed by caseloads, official warns
• 'Intent' affects display rulings

Local law blog postings

• When is business litigation like making stew? When all else failed: Bluegrass business law blog
• More On Evolving Paternity Law DIV. LAW JOURNAL
• Courts - More on "Transcripts of Federal Court Proceedings Nationwide To Be Available Online" IND. LAW BLOG
• Courts - "Transcripts of Federal Court Proceedings Nationwide To Be Available Online" IND. LAW BLOG
• Appeals Court Discusses Jurisdiction over Nonresidents and Forum Non Conveniens KY TORT AND INS. LAW BLOG
• John G. Prather, Sr. War Hero and one of states Leading Lawyers Passes On. LAWREADER
• Speaker Richards Prefiles New DUI Bill to Toughen Penalties LAWREADER
• Is an Attorney that Commits Legal Malpractice Entitled to a Credit POPPE LAW BLOG

Ky Courts: Prosecutor's husband settles lawsuit

From Kentucky.com / Herald Leader is the following:

Prosecutor's husband settles lawsuit

The husband of an Eastern Kentucky prosecutor facing allegations of fraud in a bankruptcy case has agreed to pay $97,500 to settle a related lawsuit against him.

The settlement involves Charles T. "Chuck" Melvin Jr., a Paintsville businessman. An attorney for bankruptcy trustee Robin Browning Brock filed a motion this week seeking court approval of the agreement.

Melvin is married to Anna D. Melvin, the commonwealth's attorney for Johnson, Martin and Lawrence counties. Anna Melvin filed bankruptcy in January, listing assets of $8,425 and a debt of $280,000 to the estate of her one-time law partner, the late J. Scott Preston.

Preston's estate and a bankruptcy official have charged in lawsuits that Anna Melvin took part in fraudulent money transfers to hinder collection of that debt.

One allegation was that Anna Melvin closed her bank account and then, for several years, signed over her state paychecks to her husband, who paid her bills. Another was that the couple bought a house in Lexington and a condominium in South Carolina with proceeds from a $1 million legal fee she received, but put the houses only in Chuck Melvin's name to keep Preston's estate from tying them up in collection efforts.

Ky Law News Weekly Wrap-up: Sept. 10-16 , 2007

Top Legal Stories this past week from Kentucky

• New, improved facades

  The Jefferson County Courthouse is being restored to a better semblance of its 1836 Gideon Shryock design, which may or may not be good news, depending on your point of view. After all, the cumbrous presence on Jefferson Street was mocked in its early years as an "elephantine monstrosity of architecture."
• Judges in Louisville share legal insights

  Ibelice Rojasoramas sat in her third period history class at Fern Creek Traditional High School yesterday, listening carefully to a lesson about a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case involving the First Amendment and student publications. But the person teaching the class was not her teacher, Jarrad Durham. It was Denise Clayton, chief judge of Jefferson Circuit Court.
• Family Foundation fighting divorce

  In his Sept. 5 column, David Hawpe illustrated a clear example of what causes problems in many marriages: poor communication. Hawpe questioned why The Family Foundation is "wasting time" on domestic partner benefits and doing nothing about such things as easy-out divorces, which are now made simpler thanks to "do-it-yourself" divorce kits provided by Jefferson County courts.
• Courthouse in Louisville gets makeover

  The magnolia trees that spread out over the grounds of the old Jefferson County Courthouse have been cut down, and the pesky starlings that stubbornly roosted in them have gone. The birds' disappearance is a pleasant byproduct of the first phase of work by Louisville officials to restore the historic structure's exterior and return to its designer's intent of an unobstructed view of the building north of Jefferson Street between Fifth and Sixth streets.
• Appeals court says Bowling can challenge mental retardation law

  A Kentucky Death Row inmate can challenge how the state enforces its ban on executing the mentally retarded, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that Thomas Clyde Bowling's claim that Kentucky's procedures violate due process can go forward. The court also said Bowling could raise the issue of whether a mental retardation claim can ever be filed too late for consideration.
• Lawyers in diet-drug case to stay in jail until they account for money
  Two owners of Preakness winner Curlin will remain in jail until they account for money they received in a lawsuit over the diet drug fen-phen, a judge ruled yesterday. William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr. are in jail in Northern Kentucky pending trial on charges of conspiring to commit wire fraud. A third attorney charged in the case, Melbourne Mills of Lexington, is also jailed.
• Former UofL basketball player Brown reaches plea deal

  Former Louisville basketball player Erik Brown pleaded guilty but mentally ill to one count of criminal mischief stemming from incident at his home in August, 2006.
• Baze gets his day in Supreme Court

  LOUISVILLE - The Kentucky Supreme Court will look at various aspects of the state's death penalty system when it hears multiple challenges to lethal injection by condemned inmate Ralph Baze.
  • State Supreme Court halts Baze execution

Other Kentucky legal headlines

• A moratorium on death penalty
• Beshear law firm probed in 1995
• Stumbo sues over university boards
• Suit claims enslavement of camel jockeys
• Court's many missteps kept man free
• Escaped Bourbon County inmate recaptured
• Extradition of murder suspect not expected to be problem
• Bid to stay fen-phen judgment fails
• Kentucky jail escapee makes 'most wanted' list
• Sex-abuse suit against Covington diocese dismissed
• VA suspends all inpatient surgeries at Marion medical center
• Mistrial declared for two teens charged in horse shooting spree
• Ex-principal enters Alford plea to arson
• Ex-official asks ethics hearing be moved up
• Former bank president accused in $4 million defrauding
• McDonald's Strip Hoax Suit in Bullitt Count
  • Lawyer: Employees warned over strip-search hoax
  • Witness: Hoax caller started with demands
  • McDonald's says it warned stores about strip hoaxes
  • Lawyer rips McDonald's
  • Lawyer says McDonald's did all it could
  • McDonald's ripped in sex hoax
  • $200 million strip-search case to begin
  • Courts - More on "McDonald's sanctioned in strip-search case"

Local law blog postings

• A Great Post From the Folks at Blog 702 DAY ON TORTS
• Tell-All PCs and Phones Transforming Divorce DIVORCE LAW JOURNAL
• Law - How electonic evidence has transformed divorce IND. LAW BLOG
• Courts - Missouri chief justice defends "Missouri plan" for judicial selections IND. LAW BLOG
• Law - "Brokers welcome in Kentucky: Ruling opens state for real estate deals" IND. LAW BLOG
• Courts - "How Should a Federal Appellate Court Decide Whether an Appeal Should Be Orally Argued?" IND. LAW BLOG
• New Focus on the Effects of Life Tenure for Judges LAWREADER

National law blog posts

• Acrobat and PDF Clones: What you should know . . .
• Tax Court on work product protection for IRS attorneys in sanctoins and attorneys fees context APP. LAW & PRACTICE
• Still More on Closing Files, Destroying Files and Making Money LAW PRACTICE BLOG
• Jack Goldsmith and the Duty of Confidentiality LEGAL ETHICS FORUM
• Undisclosed Legal Assistance to Pro Se Litigants LEGAL ETHICS FORUM
• W.V. med-mal reform, four years on POINT OF LAW FORUM
• Soft-tissue injury claimant wants $1.425 billion from Allstate POINT OF LAW FORUM

Ky Law News Weekly Wrap-up: Sept. 3-9 , 2007

Top Legal Stories this past week from Kentucky

• Attorney threatened with sanctions
  A federal judge on Wednesday issued an order threatening a Grayson attorney with sanctions for failing to show up for a hearing and for failing to have her client in court for the proceeding. via Independent
• Bond hearing slated Monday for lawyers in fen-phen case

  A federal judge said he will hold a bond hearing Monday for three Central Kentucky attorneys charged with defrauding their clients of tens of millions of dollars in a settlement over the use of the diet drug fen-phen.
• System for young sex offenders struck down

  FRANKFORT - Kentucky's system for classifying and housing juveniles who commit sex offenses has been struck down by a judge who ruled that it deprives the youths of proper treatment.
• Do-it-yourself divorce for $10

  LOUISVILLE - Anyone looking for a divorce in Louisville with no major settlement issues and $10 has an easier option to end a marriage.
• Detailed plan lacking for execution gone awry

  LOUISVILLE - When Kentucky carries out its first execution in eight years, the anonymous execution team will be well-rehearsed
• Death Row inmate challenges capital punishment standards

  ELIZABETHTOWN - A Death Row inmate facing a retrial in a 1991 slaying is challenging how prosecutors decide when to seek capital punishment.
• Trial of doctor in hysterectomy case postponed
LEXINGTON - A judge has delayed the malpractice trial of a doctor accused of performing unnecessary hysterectomies, concerned about what plaintiffs allege was an attempt by the doctor's supporters to coerce the jury pool.
• Strip-search victim sues McDonald's for $200 million

  A jury will decide what price — if any — the $59 billion McDonald's Corp. should pay for Louise Ogborn's degrading ordeal involving a hoax strip-search in Bullitt County three years ago.
• Three nominated for McAnulty's court seat

  A seven-member nominating commission chaired by Chief Justice Joseph Lambert made the selections at a meeting today and sent the names of the three nominees to Gov. Ernie Fletcher.
• Deadline set to find missing evidence

  Prosecutors have been given 60 days to find two pieces of missing evidence wanted for DNA testing in a 1979 murder case, a Jefferson Circuit Court judge ruled today.
• Union lawyer loves his labor

  Herb Segal will celebrate 60 years representing workers next year. Beginning in 1948, industrial unions such as the United Auto Workers and the United Mine Workers called on him.
• Employee accused of faking being cop

  A Taco Bell employee in Rowan County is accused of impersonating a law enforcement officer and attempting to arrest some of his managers and co-workers, officials said.  Fast food restaurant employee Nicholas E. Williams, 27, of West Liberty was arrested yesterday after he tried to pass himself off as a UNITE detective to co-workers at the Taco Bell on Highway 32 in Morehead, Operation UNITE officials said.

Other Kentucky legal headlines

• Applebee's confrontation turns breast-feeding mom to activism
• EPA official guilty in scheme to defraud Fruit of the Loom BOWLING GREEN
• Retrial in slaying of wife begins
• Estate of dead Taser victim sues Louisville officers, city
• Stumbo may sue Fletcher
• Oldham drug-dog handler accused of growing pot
• State calls ruling threat to economy
• Court: Teen parenthood terminated too quickly
• State appeals court overturns satellite TV tax case
• Appeals court rules that jails can seize funds
• Judge strikes down system for classifying young sex offenders
• Lawyers ask court to stay $42 million judgement in fen-phen case
• Prosecutor won't charge gamblers who played generous slot machine

Local law blog postings

• FTCA Discretionary Function Exception DAY ON TORTS - TN.
• Jefferson County, KY Pro Se Divorce Forms Now In Use DIVORCE LAW JOURNAL
• Idea Festival DIVORCE LAW JOURNAL
• Ky Judicial Politics: And the potential candidates are already hovering around the expected COA vacancy in Jefferson County KENTUCKY LAW BLOG
• LAWREADER STUDY SHOWS: PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT: EVEN WHEN IT OCCURS THERE MAY BE NO RELIEF, AND FEW CONSEQUENCES LAWREADER
• McDonalds Sanction[ed] srip Search Case POPPE LAW BLOG
• We’re Movin’ On Up! APPLE STORY IN LOUISVILLE  TECHNOESQ BLOG

Ky Law News Weekly Wrap-up: Aug. 26 - Sept. 2

Top Legal Stories this past week

• Real protection for kids

  The good news coming out of Chief Justice Joseph Lambert's youth summit in Louisville is that a proposal is expected to emerge in the 2008 General Assembly, permitting judges to open some juvenile proceedings.
• Woman accuses Allstate of delaying tactics

  A Richmond woman who has accusing Allstate Insurance Company of systematically cheating injury victims of car crashes has increased her demand for damages substantially.
• Order on fen-phen lawyers finalized
  Three Central Kentucky lawyers accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars from their clients in a lawsuit over the diet drug combination fen-phen may soon have to start accounting for that money.
• Lawyer hit with $5 million verdict

  A Jefferson Circuit Court jury yesterday walloped Louisville lawyer Steven Keeney with a $5 million verdict after finding he bungled a lawsuit filed by a Kentucky woman who lost her home and possessions in a small-plane crash.
• Ex-KBA president disbarred for life

  A former president of the Kentucky Bar Association has been permanently disbarred for mishandling more than $500,000 in public funds in Bowling Green. Steve Catron, who was the KBA's president in 2003, also was accused by the bar of improperly taking a commission on an insurance policy he bought for the Western Kentucky University Student Life Foundation.
• Judge tosses most of suit against Fletcher

  A federal judge yesterday threw out most of the claims in a lawsuit brought against Gov. Ernie Fletcher and others by a Transportation Cabinet employee who said he was illegally fired in 2005.
• Ragland admits killing DiGiuro, will go free
After more than seven years of professing his innocence, Shane Ragland admitted yesterday that he killed University of Kentucky football player Trent DiGiuro in a sniper-style attack. But as part of his agreement to plead guilty to a charge of second-degree manslaughter, Ragland will go free Thursday.
• McAnulty memorial had joy, sadness

  In a ceremony filled with more laughter and applause than tears, hundreds of mourners yesterday remembered former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice William E. McAnulty Jr. as a fair-minded judge, father, coach and friend, with a razor-sharp wit and unflinching commitment to justice.

Legal Headlines

• Comair crash backlash
• Jurors in n. ky federal case agree arrest proper
• Crash report recommends safety rules
• Kentucky Toyota workers to pay for family insurance coverage
• NTSB's Comair urgings no shoe-in
• Ethics investigation clears Sen. Williams
• Workers charged in death of senior
• Co-pilot sues runway lights designer
• Important lessons learned from Frank Burke
• Humana pays $500,000 fine in Oklahoma
• One of two charges dropped against former judge
• Month-long trial anticipated; may begin next year
• Lawyer admits conspiracy to commit wire fraud

Blawg Posts - Local

• Medical Diagnosis/Code - Acronym Look Up DAY ON TORTS
• Cameron v. Cameron, Discretionary Review Granted DIVORCE LAW JOURNAL
• Ind. Law - Indiana Law Journal Supplement announced INDIANA LAW BLOG
• Law - Retirement planning for same-sex couples IND. LAW BLOG
• Peering into the Future of Law JURISDYNAMICS
• Justice Roach Doing Well In His Private Law Practice In Lexington LAWREADER
• Planning Ahead To Respond To E-Discovery Requests LAWREADER
• Federal Legislation Would Invalidate Arbitration Clauses In Franchise, Consumer, And Employment Agreements LAWREADER
• Progressive Insurance Caught Sneaking Into Church Support Groups to Spy on Claimants POPPE LAW FIRM BLOG
• Emerging Standards for Production of Electronically Stored Information 6TH CIR. BLOG

Blawg Posts - Elsewhere - BELOW THE FOLD!

Ky. Law News for Aug. 20-25, 2007: In Memoriam, Comair Crash Developments, another JCPS lawsuit, execution order signed, and more......

Top Stories

• Justice William McAnulty remembered
  William E. McAnulty Jr., who served nearly 30 years on the bench and made history as the first African American to sit on the Kentucky Supreme Court, died Thursday night at home, two weeks after his battle with cancer forced him to step down. He was 59.
• Recovery slow after Comair crash

  "The bulk of my pain on a personal level stems from the loss that my boys suffered," said Scoutmaster Roger Lane.
• Emotional recovery from crash is slow

  Few people knew that just weeks before the crash of Comair Flight 5191, Greg Threet, a den leader with Lexington's Cub Scout Pack 363, saved a stranger from drowning during a campout at Cave Run Lake. Such footnotes, hidden in the fine print of the 49 victims' everyday lives, help explain why Kentucky's emotional recovery from the crash is so slow, even one year later.
• Lawsuit challenges JCPS attendance zones

  A Louisville lawyer is challenging the district's use of different attendance zones for black and white students at three traditional magnet elementary schools.
• Opinions sought on electronic health records

  The voluntary network would store patients' health records in hopes of reducing medical errors and health-care costs. Quick access to a patient's records could alert doctors to drug allergies or prevent unnecessary medical tests.
• Killer's request to die is approved

  A child-killer who asked to be put to death would have his wish granted under a unanimous ruling by the Kentucky Supreme Court yesterday.
• Study finds as many as 69 cases of human trafficking in Ky.

  A new study says it has documented as many as 69 cases of human trafficking in Kentucky and calls for better coordination of efforts to crack down on it.
• Public defenders claim Baze death warrant premature

  Two public defenders representing convicted murderer Ralph Stevens Baze released a statement Thursday claiming that Gov. Ernie Fletcher signed a death warrant prematurely, before Baze exhausted all his legal appeals.  John Palombi and David Barron said Baze has cases pending in the Kentucky Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. For that reason, Attorney General Greg Stumbo shouldn't have requested an execution date and Fletcher shouldn't have signed the death warrant, the lawyers said.
• Attorneys debate suspect's statements in police chief killing

  Lawyers for a man accused of fatally shooting a small-town police chief asked a judge on Thursday to suppress statements their client made to officers after his arrest.
• Hearing set for Monday after attorney claims JCPS violated Supreme Court ruling

  Is JCPS still using race as a basis for where students attend school? The first hearing since the Supreme Court ruling is set for Monday after another parent complained her child was denied entry into a school based on race. WAVE 3's Shayla Reaves investigates.

Other Legal Headlines

• Scott County man accused of molesting girl
• Former DJ pleads guilty to fraud
• Socialized medicine'
• Dentist to surrender license, seek treatment for addiction
• Diet drug lawyers will remain behind bars
• Flight 5191's safety lessons not all followed
• Lawsuit alleges criminal fraud againstg deceased Boone County PVA
• Guilty plea filed in child porn case
• Deters' plan: Condemn jail site, use it for school
• Ethics panel to push for change
• Lawyer wins another round in school attendance battle
• Appeals Court orders re-evaluation of Lexington smoking case
• Part-time teacher escapes with probation after Internet sting
• Trial set in slaying of Clay City sheriff
• Fletcher creates political flap with death warrant
• Trooper indicted in death of man he arrested
• Evidence missing in Death Row man's case
• The execution of Ralph Baze would be the first execution in Kentucky in eight years
• Domestic violence worker charged with tipping client to raid
• Civil-rights pioneer chosen as human rights commission director

From local blogs

• A Practice Tip for Federal Court DAY ON TORTS
• Big News from Medicare DAY ON TORTS
• Negotiating With Liars DIVORCE LAW JOURNAL
• Best Wishes To Indiana's Law Blog Matriarch, Marcia Oddi DIV. LAW JOURNAL
• Child Protection in Kentucky part 7 ELUSIVE JUSTICE BLOG
• About this blog - Announcement from the ILB editor ILB
• Courts - SCOTUS to make briefs centrally available online, the day after filing IND. LAW BLOG
• Courts - Drafting an effective notice of appeal in the federal system IND. LAW BLOG
• Kentucky Dog Bite Lawyers: new Court of Appeals case and some news in Louisville KY INJURY LAW BLOG
• Expert Testimony Required in Finger Surgery Resulting in Loose Teeth? KY TORT AND INS. LAW BLOG
• Court Upholds Denial of Coverage for Insured Due to Status of Injured Party KY TORT AND INS. LAW BLOG
• Judge Lisabeth Abramson and Judge Shake to seek nomination and election to Supreme Court (No, the other Judge Shake.) LAWREADER
• AUGUST 3, 2007 KENTUCKY COURT OF APPEALS DECISIONS (2006:37) LOUISVILLE LAWWIRE
• On Rehearing En Banc, Sixth Circuit Affirms Panel Decision and Dismisses Removed Case for Want of Substantial Federal Question Under Grable Doctrine 6TH CIR. BLOG
• Aug 20-25, 2007 6th Circuit Published Decisions ( NO Ky Published Case) 6TH CIR CASES ADV. SHEETS
• Aug 13-17, 2007 6th Circuit Published Decisions (1 Ky Published Case) 6TH CIR. CASES ADVANCE SHEETS
• Will Medicare Drive Medical Errors (further) Underground? TORTELLINI BLOG