Kentucky Law Review

Local Blogs, Mentoring and More: Check out the Divorce Law Journal for up to date state and local developments in family law

Law-specific blawgs are great.  Those in the know share the knowledge and experience with others providing a source of news, inspiration, and some perspiration from their work.

Plus the commentary and analysis of the law and procedure serve as a wonderful mentor for those on their own or alone.

Louisville's Divorce Law Journal is one of those blawgs.  I share with you some of their recent posts (with teaser comments).  Check it out.  Grab the RSS feed to your computer, and from now on you will be up to date, current, and go to person at the water cooler at your firm!

Divorce Law Journal

Divorce and Family Law Info for Professionals in Kentucky and Beyond

 

• 4 Items
• Sort Oldest First
• Updated: Fri, Sep 4 2009 5:49 AM

Young v. Holmes, Joint Custody, Ky COA Affirmed Order Of Religious School By Diana L. Skaggs on Constitutional Issues Young v. Holmes, __ S.W.3d __ (Ky. App. 2009) The parties share joint custody of their minor child and could not agree as to where the child should attend kindergarten. The trial court held a hearing and found that it was in the best interests of the child to attend St. Athanasius School. Young appealed. Young argued that the order violates her First Amendment right to religious freedom and that the court could only appropriately order the child to attend St.Athanasius if it found that he had special needs that would require him to attend a private school. COA affirmed.... Enclosure Keep New: Posted on: Thu, Sep 3 2009 4:14 PM Email This Clip/Blog This

P.C.C. v. C.M.C., Ky COA, Step-parent Adoption, Termination Of Parental Rights,Due Process By Diana L. Skaggs on Termination of Parental Rights P.C.C. v. C.M.C., __ S.W.3d __ (Ky. App. 2009) P.C.C. appealed the judgment of adoption which effectively terminated his parental rights and allowed the child’s stepfather to adopt him. P.C.C. and K.R.C. were married and had a son. The parties divorced and agreed that K would have sole custody and P would have a set visitation schedule with the child. K then married C.M.C., who filed a Petition for Adoption and Termination of Parental Rights. P objected, arguing that C lacked standing to initiate termination proceedings, and he filed a motion to enforce his visitation rights in the divorce matter.... Enclosure Keep New: Posted on: Wed, Sep 2 2009 3:25 PM Updated: Wed, Sep 2 2009 8:56 PM Email This Clip/Blog This

Two Ky Court of Appeals Published Opinions Released August 28, 2009 By Diana L. Skaggs Young v. Holmes No error nor constitutional violation where trial court determined the child’s best interests would be served by the child attending the father’s choice of parochial school when parents could not agree. Wilder v. Wilder After decree entered one party received 2008 federal stimulus check based on parties’ 2007 income. After other party filed CR60 motion, court ordered it to be equally divided and was affirmed. Digests to follow. Keep New: Posted on: Mon, Aug 31 2009 3:30 PM Email This Clip/Blog This

Two Ky Supreme Court Family Law Published Opinions Rendered August 27, 2009 By Diana L. Skaggs Mauldin v. Bearden Questions Presented: Child Custody and Visitation. Issues include whether Kentucky retained jurisdiction over visitation under KRS 403.824, a UCCJEA provision adopted in 2004. Goldstein v. Feeley Questions Presented: Petition for writ of mandamus and prohibition properly denied where there was an available remedy through an interlocutory appeal of an injunction via CR 65.07. Regardless of the question of in personam jurisdiction over the Executor, trial court retained subject matter jurisdiction over the marital property when one party died after the entry of the decree of marital dissolution but before resolution of the marital property issues. Digests to... Keep New: Posted on: Mon, Aug 31 2009 3:23 PM Email This Clip/Blog This

New Kentucky Commercial Law and Litigation Blog opens its web site in Northern Kentucky - Law Firm of Buechel and Conley

There's a new blawg in town (or actually the Commonwealth of Kentucky).

It is called Kentucky Commercial Law and Litigation.

The most recent post was entitled Class Actions and the Annihilation Defense .

The attorneys behind this blog (per their about page) are:

Buechel & Conley is a law firm started by two former partners -- one a Tax and Corporate Partner, the other a Litigation Partner -- in Greater Cincinnati's largest law firm. They now practice in a small firm environment with the personal touch of a smaller firm but with large firm experience and quality.

25 Crestview Hills Mall Rd.
Crestview Hills, Covington, Ky.  41017
859-578-6600
fax: 859-578-6609

Links to more biographical info on each of the two lawyers can be found at:

Edward J. Buechel

Joseph E. Conley, Jr

Medical: Kentucky Web Site Lists Quality and Comparative Information on Kentucky Hospitals including cost information

The print version of the Courier Journal had an interesting story beneficial to consumers that offers information on the quality of hospital medical care and price information on various medical procedures.  Thus, you can compare before being admitted.  Although this will be beneficicial to those with a choice among hospitals, it will be of little use to those in hard hit rural areas.  Links to federal information on health care are also listed.

The data will be useful in areas other than obtaining care, but will be useful to lawyers, claimants, and insurance adjusters in estimating the cost of future medical procedures that are reasonably foreseeable and thus providing some reasonableness in value.

Here is the intro page to the site:

Welcome to the Commonwealth of Kentucky's Health Care Information Center. Health care is very individualized to patient needs and patient care. As consumers, it is important that we all have access to reliable information about health care costs and quality to assist in making the best, most informed decisions.

The center provides both performance and outcome information on hospitals in Kentucky, as well as information about quality of care. Additionally, we will provide measurements of how well preventive care efforts are working to reduce the number of inpatient stays in Kentucky hospitals.

Here is the information on median costs among all Kentucky hospitals and median costs within a particular hospital based upon DRG codes:

Hospital Charge Information

The Kentucky Hospital Association provides hospital charge information by the top Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs). DRG is a classification of hospitalization types based on the patient’s medical condition, procedures performed (if any), and, in some cases, the age and/or sex of the patient. Other information includes average length of stay, median age of patient and number of discharges by DRG.

For example, I did a search for a spine fusion.  Several DRG codes popped up, so I simply selection 519 Cervical Spine Fusion and a severity scale of "0-minor". 

Hospital (C - Comments)	Discharges	Median Charges	10th Percentile	90th Percentile	Median Length of Stay	Median Age
Statewide	1169	$24,404.00	$14,946.20	$49,020.00	1.0	48

Tip: Obtaining certified copies of past weather conditions from National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)

Ever need to prove it was snowing, raining, etc on the day of the accident, and three years later, everyone "dummies" up.

Well, the federal government has anticipated not only your need for the information but your need for it to be evidentiarily admissible in court.  And you can order it on-line!  Snail mail is still available with a 5-7 day wait.  You can also obtain satellite, radar, and climate data.  See KRE 902 for self-authentication.

Most states require all records that are to be submitted as evidence in a court of law to be authenticated in some way. To accommodate this requirement, the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) offers two types of certification of the data maintained in the our archives.

The NCDC is designated by public law 754, passed by the 81st congress as the Federal Records Act of 1950, as the offical United States archive for climatic records. As such, the NCDC can certify copies of all records available from the NCDC archives. As an archive facility, the only fact the NCDC can attest to is that exact duplicates of climatic records on file at this center have been provided to those that request such data. The standard Department of Commerce (DOC) or General certification of authenticity regularly provided to clients appropriately accomplishes this. For more detailed information and answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) about certification of NCDC data, please read the free publication Environmental Information Summaries (EIS) C-1, Weather Records in Private Litigation.

Simple letter (confirm costs).  I would include the police report which might even have the GPS numbers.

National Climate Data Center (NCDC)
151 Patton Ave.
Room 129
Ashville, NC 28801

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to request a weather report (and all other data you are able to provide) pertinent to a traffic accident that occurred in the State of Kentucky in the year 2002.  The specific date and location of the accident are as follows:

1/02/2002 – Jefferson County, Kentucky

Enclosed is a check for $10.00 that I am tendering in prepayment of your stated fee for this information.  Please send the requested information to:

And don't forget other useful and odd data:

Naval Observatory - United States

Sun Rise/Set 

The times of sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, transits of the Sun and Moon, and the beginning and end of civil twilight, along with information on the Moon's phase by specifying the date and location.

Check out if it was a full moon or a dark and scary night when the witness claimed they could see what happened clearly! 

New Legal "Blogs" Making Mark on Judicial Landscape

The legal landscape in the Bluegrass is growing with two more additions to the "blog" roundup. 

Please take a look as each plows new ground for attorneys to peruse.

• Elusive Justice
  • Yet Another Reason to go Small!
  • Spend a Little - Save a Lot
  • Temporary Custody Not Modification
• Techno Esquire
  • Fujitsu ScanSnap S500
  • Sony E-Reader
  • First Entry