Kentucky Law Review

Minutes for Kentucky Supreme Court for Jan. 25, 2007

Minutes for Kentucky Supreme Court for Jan. 25, 2007 at KyCases.com

Side Bar: On-Line Legal Research Secrets for Kentucky Law "Minute by Minute"

Some wonder where does one get the time to find the legal materials posted on this blog.  Well, one of the best sources which accumulate information is the "minutes".

The Court of Appeals announces officially their decisions every Friday, and the Supreme Court announces their decisions the third Thursday of every month except for the month of July.

The Minutes are posted at the AOC Web Site. You can find them in the drop down menues at the official site for each court at www.KyCourts.net.  The minutes are in Adobe Reader format with hot links to the actual full text of each appellate decision announced (published and non-published).

• The Supreme Court just recently posted an index of their minutes for the year 2005 (click here).  This had required me to save them on my own computer for future reference, and we have suggested to the web master to continue keeping the old minutes for future research.   For each decision announced, you will see in tabular format the names of the parties, the number, the judges, the presiding judge, the result on the lower court's decision (affirming, etc), the names of any concurrers or dissenting judges, the county of the lower court opinion (or workers compensation board if appropriate).
  
  The BLUE links are hot and clicking them will take you to the actual decision in PDF format.
  
  Should you wish to track their caseload for the year, the left-hand column beside each decision is a sequential number showing that was the '223'rd opinion decided thus far for the year.
  
  The opinions identifying the judges go first, followed by the "Memorandum Opinions" of the Court.  As you know, the bulk of the Supreme Court's decisions are criminal and workers compensation cases, usually identified with a "MR" or "WC" at the end of the case name.
  
  After the decisions, comes the OPINIONS and ORDERS, to include attorney disciplinary matters, grants and denials of discretionary review, etc.
  
  These minutes are crucial for keeping current with what is transpiring with the Supreme Court's decisions and actions.  The weakness in the minutes is that the type of case is not always obvious.  You can probably figure this out by the context of the case such as the parties and the case codes which can clue you in on the general nature of the case, such as - WC for Workers compensation; MR for Criminal and Commonwealth of Kentucky as a party helps; DG refers to civil matters but you have to guess from the parties whether it is a family law matter (same last names and different sexes, initials for minors and a state agency to protect families), torts or insurance (a named insurance company); employment (retirement system or unemployment commission is a named party). These help but they are not fool-proof.  A simple key word system in one of the columns would be beneficial, such as:
  • Criminal
  • Family
  • Employment
  • Extraordinary Relief
  • Administrative or Regulatory or Government Law
  • Torts and Insurance
  • Civil Procedure
  • Family Law
• The Court of Appeals has had an index to their decisions for as long as I can remember, but remember I did not figure out this little secret of the minutes until the last year.  Their minutes are similar and include orders reflecting discretionary review, publishing/correcting/depublishing etc.  They also keep a cumulative list of the number of decisions in the left-hand column but you will have to manually count them if you want to know the number of cases published.

As you can see the minutes are a useful doorway into the official actions of our appellate courts. 

New Bankruptcy Law in Effect

The New Bankruptcy Law Went into Effect Oct. 17, 2005.  Here are some links to start your "One Minute  CLE" on the topic. Pick one or two.

• PBS
  Several stories on new bankruptcy law.
• The new bankruptcy: how it works
  from the IndyStar.com with FAQ's etc.
• Talking Points Memo Blog
  Special on the Bankruptcy Law
• New Jersey Law Blog
  Bankruptcy Section with notes and podcasts.

Plans for the Future

To avoid the blawg getting bawged down in postings, I am planning the following changes.  As you know, this is a work in process and change is what drives it.

"Spittin' the Bit".  I like this equine term in the sense that a "bit" is used to control the horse at one of its most sensitive points, and even though the term usually refers to the horse being tired, I think more along the lines of the horse rejecting the control of the rider.  To that end, I will post my commentary, opinions, musings, thoughts, insights, reflections, editorials and what-not under the rubric of "Spittin the Bit".  Sorta, kinda like Arsenio Hall's "Things that make you go hmmmmm."

[update 8/14/2005] Upon further reflection, I have spit the bit on this name and will use one that lacks originality but makes sense to me "Inadmissible Hearsay".

"Around the Circuit".   Rather than list each on-line news story as a separate posting throughout the week, I will just list the links to the on-line stories at the end of the week.  Kinda like the old television show, "That Was the Week that Was", without the musical ditties or the potential infringement of that line (I also liked their off the record name of 'TW3').  The regular postings will concentrate on black-letter law (appellate decisions, trials, and law-related developments) and any spotlights on lawyers, judges, or trials.

"One-Minute CLE".    I used to share these little case ditties in the LawWire but quit due to the size and length of the emails.  I will operate in Lazarus mode for a while resurrecting some from the past, and upon a total redux of those former postings, I will endeavour to plow new ground.  As always, your comments and emails are requested, appreciated, and NEEDED.

If the creek don't rise, and 'big brother' leaves us alone, we will try in earnest to keep this project going for at least 1 year (until the end of June 2006).  The site maintenance is our expense, the digests of appeals are from the volunteers, and the rest will be up to you!   

What can YOU do to help us, yourself, and others? 
Why thank you for asking!

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