Kentucky

HAVE WE RETURNED TO RIGID CODE PLEADING? Judge Kelly Thompson?s dissent rings like a bell calling for the Supreme Court to Prevent CR 77.02 from mandating dismissal of civil claims

Posted on March 30, 2011
  By LawReader Senior Editor Stan Billingsley                       March 29, 2011     When this author was in law school, some 40 years ago, we heard many stories about the old Code Pleading Rules  and how the new rules of procedure were designed to cut out many highly technical rules that made criminal and civil rules [...

On March 24, 2011 the Kentucky Supreme Court Presented a Vigorous Argument

Posted on March 29, 2011
  Justice Wil Schroder wrote a compelling dissent in favor of limiting the powers of the Chief Justice.  The dissent  was responded to by Justice Noble and Justice Abramson.  This case provides a rare look behind the curtains of our state’s highest court...

WHY DO POLICE DESTROY THE EVIDENCE IN DUI CASES?

Posted on March 29, 2011
WHY DO POLICE DESTROY THE EVIDENCE IN DUI CASES? When the police administer a breathalyzer, the suspect?s breath sample is analyzed ? and then destroyed by purging it into the air. Although it is easy and inexpensive to save the sample so that it could later be independently analyzed by the defense, the U...

PHILADELPHIA TO REVIEW ALL BREATHALYZER-DUI CASES FROM 15 MONTHS DUE TO MISCALIBRATION

Posted on March 29, 2011
  Philadelphia, PA.  March 25 ? A day after Philadelphia police announced that miscalibrated breathalyzers had compromised 1,147 drunken-driving cases, District Attorney Seth Williams  declared he would conduct a wholesale review of all DUI cases during the 15 months in question...

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U.S. SUPREME COURT TO WEIGH SOCIOLOGY ISSUE IN WAL-MART DISCRIMINATION CASE ? THIS IS A NOVEL USE OF SOCIOLOGY TO DETERMINE CLASS ACTION

Posted on March 28, 2011
By ADAM LIPTAK    March 27, 2011 WASHINGTON ? When the Supreme Court considers on Tuesday (March 29) whether hundreds of thousands of women can band together in an employment discrimination suit against Wal-Mart, the argument may hinge on the validity of the hotly disputed conclusions of a Chicago sociologist...

Attorneys are using internet chat sites to test out legal theories with the public

Posted on March 26, 2011
We just got back from a tour of southern Kentucky and spoke with many lawyers about current issues.  One lawyer gave us a tip that we thought was pretty unique.   This skilled litigator said they had used web sites such as Facebook and Topix  to present issues in pending trials and to see what the [...

MUST THE FEN PHEN PLAINTIFFS RETURN THE $23 MILLION DOLLARS NOW THAT THE COURT OF APPEALS HAVE SET ASIDE THE SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN THE CIVIL CASE?

Posted on March 24, 2011
By LawReader Senior Editor Stan Billingsley                                      March 24, 2011 In February the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed the summary judgment in the Boone County Fen Phen case.   Previously Special Judge Wehr had awarded a summary judgment in favor of the Fen Phen class action plaintiffs...

Florida House and Governor seek to take over court system ? It could happen in Kentucky ? Approval of all Judges by State Senate is a Wacko Idea

Posted on March 18, 2011
Rick Scott was virtually ran out of Louisville  when his company was charged with l4 felonies. In 1987 he helped found the Columbia Hospital Corporation with two business partners; this merged with Hospital Corporation of America in 1989 to form Columbia/HCA and eventually became the largest private for-profit health care company in the U...

U.S. SUPREME COURT TO WEIGH PRIVACY RIGHTS ? GOVERNMENT DATA BASES FOR POLICE BACK GROUND CHECKS CONTAIN INCORRECT INFORMATION ON CITIZENS

Posted on March 18, 2011
 By William Matthews 03/18/2011 Thanks to increasingly sophisticated communications technology and ever-expanding interconnected data bases, even small-town police can run detailed background checks to discover criminals during routine traffic stops. From their squad cars, officers can tap a network of government and private databases and in a matter of minutes retrieve a wealth of personal data [...

You can be convicted of perjury FOR TELLING THE TRUTH ? Federal Court eliminates ?literal truth? defense to perjury

Posted on March 17, 2011
Witnesses must answer not the question asked, but the imaginary “intended question” Perjury, or lying by a witness under oath, is a felony punishable with incaracertion in prison. But, one of the hallmarks of perjury law has always been that if a witness tells the truth, there is no crime of perjury committed...

ATHEIST WEDDING VOW FROM 1862.

Posted on March 17, 2011
LawReader CEO Gwen Billingsley       My mother is getting on in years, and as mothers do, she passed on some family papers to me recently.  I found this interesting article from a Nashville newspaper from 1862.  ?NASHVILLE DAILY UNION, November 20,1862...

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT HOLDS MUGSHOTS EXEMPT FROM FOIA

Posted on March 15, 2011
FEDERAL APPEALS COURT HOLDS MUGSHOTS EXEMPT FROM FOIA   11th Cir. · March 14, 2011 ·   Releasing mug shot photographs under the federal Freedom of Information Act would violate the personal privacy rights of those depicted, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta (11th Cir...

User send poem with suggestion it describes Ministry of Ethics

Posted on March 14, 2011
The following poem was submitted to LawReader with the suggestion that it should have been included in Judge Billingsley’s novel, Alice vs. Wonderland which discusses the  abuses of the lawyer’s Ministry of Ethics. The Examination   1 Under the thick beams of that swirly smoking light,     2...

U.S. SUPREME COURT MODIFIES CRAWFORD AND ALLOWS INTRODUCTION OF DYING DECLARATION IN CRIMINAL TRIAL ? Scalia livid

Posted on March 10, 2011
Michigan v. Bryant, 130 S.Ct. 1685, 176 L.Ed.2d 179 (2010)    Justice Scalia, dissenting.         Today’s tale?a story of five officers conducting successive examinations of a dying man with the primary purpose, not of obtaining and preserving his testimony regarding his killer, but of protecting him, them, and others from a murderer somewhere on the loose?is so [...

U.S. SUPREME COURT MODIFIES CRAWFORD AND ALLOWS INTRODUCTION OF DYING DECLARATION IN CRIMINAL TRIAL ? Scalia livid

Posted on March 10, 2011
Michigan v. Bryant, 130 S.Ct. 1685, 176 L.Ed.2d 179 (2010)    Justice Scalia, dissenting.         Today’s tale?a story of five officers conducting successive examinations of a dying man with the primary purpose, not of obtaining and preserving his testimony regarding his killer, but of protecting him, them, and others from a murderer somewhere on the loose?is so [...

LEGISLATIVE ETHICS COMMISSION DIRECTOR TONY WILHOITE TAKES EXCEPTION TO LAWREADER ARTICLE ? Defends LEC

Posted on March 09, 2011
By LawReader Senior Editor Stan Billingsley In a phone conversation  with Tony Wilhoite, Executive Director of the Legislative Ethics Commission, we  discussed several recent LawReader articles regarding the LEC.  In the articles we compared the cost of disposing of complaints by the Judicial Conduct Commission versus the costs of the Legislative Ethics Commission...

Ex-Prosecutor May Face Disbarment ? Few Prosecutors Ever Sanctioned for Unethical Conduct by State Bar Associations.

Posted on March 09, 2011
Recent changes by the U.S. Justice Department have ordered that Federal Prosecutors are now subject to state ethical regulation. Bar regulators asked the District of Columbia’s highest court March 8, to strip G. Paul Howes, a former federal prosecutor, of his law license for “illegal and unethical” conduct in the mid 1990′s...

EX PARTE CAFE? ? Do you have one in your county? Let us know.

Posted on March 08, 2011
By Senior Editor Stan Billingsley                                                         March 8, 2011      Our definition of the term Ex Parte Cafe’:  A practice where a judicial officer improperly discusses the merits of a pending case with one of the attorneys or parties out of the presence of the opposing attorney or party...

Legislative Ethics Commission cost per complaint is 126 times greater than cost of the Judicial Conduct Ethics Commission

Posted on March 08, 2011
These numbers are stunning.   The cost of the operation of the Legislative Ethics Commission is shocking.   Before reading this you should take a deep breath and sit down for a moment.  Their single case cost is $250,000.   The cost of judicial ethics reviews is less than $2,000 a case...

The Legislative Ethics Commission costs taxpayers $500,000 a year and has dismissed 20 of 21 complaints in the last decade. In current budget crisis this is a good place to start cutting.

Posted on March 07, 2011
By LawReader  Senior Editor Stan Billingsley        March 7, 2011   The existing Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC) costs taxpayers $238,095 per complaint.  An average of two ethics complaints a year have been filed against legislators since 2000.  Over the last decade the one complaint upheld resulted in a $500 fine...

Fascinating History of Lincoln?s Inauguration

Posted on March 07, 2011
 March 6, 2011,  The First Trick By JAMIE MALANOWSKI Disunion follows the Civil War as it unfolded. Lincoln?s inauguration, President Buchanan March 2?9, 1861 Library of Congress President-elect Lincoln and President Buchanan (tipping his hat) at the base of the Capitol grounds on their way to Lincoln?s first inauguration...

U.S. SUPREME COURT ASKED TO HEAR CASE INVOLVING STRIP SEARCH AND JAILING OF DEFENDANT WHO HAD PROOF OF PAYMENT OF TRAFFIC FINE IN HIS POCKET. DISCRETIONARY REVIEW FELT LIKELY. If took eight days in jail before he was released.

Posted on March 07, 2011
By ADAM LIPTAK   WASHINGTON                    March 6, 2011 Albert W. Florence believes that black men who drive nice cars in New Jersey run a risk of being questioned by the police. For that reason, he kept handy a 2003 document showing he had paid a court-imposed fine stemming from a traffic offense, just in case...

See for yourself the John Berry Letter which resulted in a KBA sanction. If you can find an ethical violation here please share it with us.

Posted on March 06, 2011
     Anyone concerned about Free Speech Rights should review what John M. Berry Jr. said in his 2007 letter to the Legislative Ethics Commission that resulted in a two year investigation by the KBA and a Warning Letter telling him his letter was “inappropriate”...

WHY DID JOHN M. BERRY, Jr. WRITE HIS LETTER ? WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO OTHER ATTORNEYS WHO WISH TO PETITION THEIR GOVERNMENT FOR A REDRESS OF THEIR GRIEVANCES?

Posted on March 05, 2011
By LawReader Senior Editor  Stan Billingsley    March 5, 2011  The Common Cause Complaint filed in July of 2007 by Richard Beliles, Attorney and State Chair of Common Cause of Kentucky generally alleged that Senator David Williams violated the Legislative Ethics Code regarding solicitation of campaign contributions from lobbyists...

BAR COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS IN MISSOURI ? IF DISBARRED HE WOULD NOT BE REMOVED FROM SUPREME COURT

Posted on March 04, 2011
March 4, 2011  Alter Net Report U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should be disbarred for his failure to truthfully complete financial-disclosure forms over a 20-year period, according to a complaint filed by the watchdog group Protect Our Elections (POE)...

KENTUCKY FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT SOON TO RULE ON IMPORTANT CASE RE: ATTORNEYS FREE SPEECH RIGHTS ? John M. Berry and the ACLU seek limitation of the KBA?s attempt to limit free speech of Kentucky attorneys.

Posted on March 04, 2011
    By LawReader Senior Editor Stan Billingsley  ?   March 3, 2011 Author?s disclosure:   I have known John M. Berry Jr. since 1971.  I worked for him for three years just after getting out of law school.  Berry?s story inspired me to write a novel about this issue,  Alice vs...

NEW BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR LAWYERS LAUNCHED IN LOUISVILLE ? Features Louisville Area Lawyers

Posted on March 03, 2011
  Review by LawReader Senior Editor Stan Billingsley LawReader has been hearing rumblings about a new magazine about Louisville Lawyers.  We dropped by to check them out and met with the publisher, Anna Barker.  We are very impressed with their design, and their graphics are out of sight...

U.S. SUPREME COURT ? JUDGES POWERS AT RESENTENCING OF REHABILITATED FELON EXPANDED

Posted on March 03, 2011
Posted Mar 2, 2011 11:39 AM CST An Ohio state law professor says a U.S. Supreme Court decision issued today on judges? powers at resentencing will likely provide fodder for defense lawyers. The court held that a defendant?s efforts to rehabilitate himself may be taken into account at resentencing, despite a sentencing guideline to the [...

KENTUCKY FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT SOON TO RULE ON IMPORTANT CASE RE: ATTORNEYS FREE SPEECH RIGHTS ? John M. Berry and the ACLU seek limitation of the KBA?s attempt to limit free speech of Kentucky attorneys.

Posted on March 03, 2011
    By LawReader Senior Editor Stan Billingsley  –   March 3, 2011 Author’s disclosure:   I have known John M. Berry Jr. since 1971.  I worked for him for three years just after getting out of law school.  Berry’s story inspired me to write a novel about this issue,  Alice vs...

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Use of Dying Statements as ?Non-Testimonial? Evidence

Posted on March 01, 2011
 The Supreme Court has ruled that a mortally wounded man?s dying statement is ?non-testimonial? and can be used to convict a man of murder. The ruling, written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor raised serious concerns under the confrontation clause of the Constitution...

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