Kentucky

NINE FEDERAL INDICTMENTS ISSUED IN GRANT COUNTY JAIL INVESTIGATION

Posted on January 25, 2008
Reports have been relayed to LawReader  concerning news that three Grant County Jail guards have been indicted.  Further the reports indicate, there were six sealed indictments issued.  Initial unconfirmed reports claim that several of the charges alleged major felony offenses...

Judicial Nominating Commission nominates three for vacant District Court judgeship in Knox and Laurel counties

Posted on January 24, 2008
  FRANKFORT, Ky., Jan. 24, 2008 — The Judicial Nominating Commission, led by Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert, today announced the three nominees to fill a vacant district judgeship for the 27th Judicial District, Division 2, consisting of Knox and Laurel counties...

Law Firms taking fresh looks at the billable hour, schedules and partnership tracks

Posted on January 24, 2008
Who?s Cuddly Now? Law Firms By LISA BELKIN  New York Times January 24, 2008  IN the last two decades, as working schedules became flexible, and even accounting firms, of all places, embraced the mantra of work-life balance (at least on paper), there was one unbending, tradition-bound profession: the law...

Chief Justice Proposes Plan for Deputy Clerk Pay Raises and announces other budget plans

Posted on January 24, 2008
Jan. 24, 2008  The state courts system plans to use fees from the courthouse sales of foreclosed homes to fund a 23 percent pay raise for beginning employees and substantial raises for other non-elected officials, many of whom now qualify for food stamps and other state assistance...

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KBA Board of Governors - Election Results ? Four new faces

Posted on January 24, 2008
We have the election results for the contested Board of Governors races. The deadline for receipt of ballots was January 15, and the Canvassing Board has made its report. The Board of Governors, beginning in July of 2008, will now include: 1st Supreme Court District  (newly elected) Jonathan Freed of Paducah 2nd Supreme Court District Jim Harris of Bowling [...

NEW DUI LAW (SB 71) WILL ALLOW DRIVERS WHO CURRENTLY CAN BE CONVICTED GO FREE ? LIMITS RIGHT TO COUNSEL

Posted on January 23, 2008
Analysis by LawReader Senior Editor Stan Billingsley.  (Note: Judge Billingsley is the co-author of Ky. Driving Under the Influence Law published by Thomson West, which is now in its l4th. addition.)  Senate Bill 71 (SB 71/LM/CI (BR 390) - R. Jones II, E...

Election 2008. A Pro-Civil Justice Presidential Platform

Posted on January 23, 2008
By the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy   Jan. 23, 2007 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy would like thank the following people who contributed to the publication of this report: for his work authoring and researching sections of the report during his time at DMI, Cyrus Dugger, former Senior Fellow in Civil Justice at [...

Candidate Filing Deadline One Week Away. Several judicial vacancies to be filled.

Posted on January 22, 2008
Jan. 22, 2008 (Frankfort, KY) Time is running out for potential candidates to place their name on the ballot for the 2008 primary elections.  Primary candidates, including political party candidates and candidates for non-partisan races that file with the Secretary of State, have until January 29, 2008 to file for office...

Steve Horner details extent of Michael Vicks financial loss due to conviction for Dog Fighting

Posted on January 22, 2008
By Judge Steve Horner ? Law Reader columnist and Sports Buff  Extraordinaire There were no decent ?final words? for last week but there are some incredible ?notable numbers? that appeared on C-J sports section page C-3 on Dec 11th:  ?A look at the financial losses ? totaling an estimated $142 million ? incurred by Atlanta [...

Stock Market drops 500 points in first minutes. Federal Reserve Makes Emergency 0.75% Rate Cut

Posted on January 22, 2008
Jan. 22, 2008 - Hold onto your seats, this could be a bumpy ride.  Stocks Open Sharply Lower Despite Interest-Rate CutWithin minutes of the opening bell in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 500 points, or 4 percent, and other major indexes also slid...

There they go again. The media paints spirited debate as NASTY.

Posted on January 22, 2008
Jan. 22, 2008 Editorial by LawReader Senior Editor Stan Billingsley I enjoyed the Democratic debates last night.  Everyone asked some tough questions, and had to defend prior votes and positions on issues.   This morning the pundits in the media were almost universally using words like ?mean spirited?, ?below the belt? and ?nasty? to describe the [...

New York Times details the new project of Bluegrassreport.org founder Mark Nickolas

Posted on January 22, 2008
A Site Follows the Money So Users Can Slice and Dice By LAURIE J. FLYNN  January 21, 2008 The more people Shelby W. Bonnie can get arguing over politics, the better. More than a year after leaving CNet Networks, the online media company he ran for six years, Mr...

The Market and Lender collapse presents great business for lawyers.

Posted on January 22, 2008
 Who?s to blame? By VIKAS BAJAJ January 22, 2008 Everyone wants to know who is to blame for the losses paining Wall Street and homeowners.   The answer, it seems, is someone else. A wave of lawsuits is beginning to wash over the troubled mortgage market and the rest of the financial world...

Lawyer hid Prosecutorial Misconduct for 10 years due to Bar Association Ethics Rules

Posted on January 20, 2008
When legal ethics rules clash with morality.  Virginia took ten years to get this one right.  By ADAM LIPTAK  New York Times  - January 19, 2008 For 10 years, Leslie P. Smith, a Virginia lawyer, reluctantly kept a secret because the authorities on legal ethics told him he had no choice, even though his information could save [...

Angry wife uses cheating husbands cell phone to text all his contacts with fake confession she wrote for him

Posted on January 20, 2008
This really happened. The wife found her husband?s cell phone and sent dozens of his contacts (from his phone?s memory), the following text which she wrote to sound as if it came for him. Just another example of how technology can affect our lives, especially our love life...

Nevada and South Carolina primaries leave tight races to come

Posted on January 19, 2008
  In the Nevada Caucus attended by LawReader reporters Edward and Glenda Billingsley, Hillary Clinton received 63% of the vote against  37% for Barack Obama.  Edwards was declared unviable and  received no delegates at that caucus site.     The Culinary Union endorsement of Obama appears to have been largely ineffective as Clinton received close to half of Culinary [...

The growing wage gap is the real problem with the economy

Posted on January 19, 2008
LawReader: A lot of pundits express their ?feelings? about the economy.  We appreciate seeing some real statistics by reputable economists.   Good Jobs Are Where the Money Is - By BOB HERBERT January 19, 2008 Op-Ed Columnist New York Times    - Excerpts from Herbert?s column: My colleague at The Times, David Cay Johnston, took a look at income patterns [...

LawReader reporter meets the candidate in Las Vegas

Posted on January 19, 2008
LawReader reporter, Glenda Billingsley, attended a Hillary Clinton Rally in Las Vegas on  Friday, January 18, 2008.  Glenda and her husband Edward ?Brad? Billingsley live in Las Vegas and will caucus on Jan. l9th.  Glenda presents her observations and feeling in meeting President Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton...

COURT OF APPEALS RULES THAT BREATHALYZER SOURCE CODE MUST BE PROVIDED TO DEFENDANT

Posted on January 18, 2008
LawReader Senior Editor Stan Billingsley ? January 18, 2008 The Court of Appeals issued a decision on Friday Jan. l8,  written by Senior Status Judge Paul Rosenblum which allows a defendant to view the source code of the Intoxilyzer 5000.  The trial judge had suppressed the subpoena seeking the code filed by defense attorneys...

State Board of Elections to Release Funds for New Voting Equipment

Posted on January 18, 2008
Jan. l7, 2008 (Frankfort, KY)  The Kentucky State Board of Election (SBE) voted to ratify a memorandum of agreement to release funds for counties to acquire new voting equipment.             With the Board?s action to ratify a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with county governments, counties can take steps to purchase new voting equipment in time for the [...

WOULD YOU TAKE THIS MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CASE?

Posted on January 17, 2008
 This case is another example of the difficulty in handling a medical malpractice case. By ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT, CNN Posted: 2008-01-11   ATLANTA, Georgia — When Christine had a hysterectomy in September, her doctor told her it would take about a week to recover from the laparoscopic procedure...

Judge Melcher announces Family Drug Court for Harrison, Nicholas, Pendleton and Robertson counties

Posted on January 17, 2008
  FRANKFORT, Ky., Jan. 16, 2008 ? Family Court Judge David E. Melcher announced a new Family Drug Court to serve adults and families in Harrison, Nicholas, Pendleton and Robertson counties at a news conference today at the Harrison County Justice Center in Cynthiana...

BESHEAR SPEAKS SOFTLY AND CARRIES A BIG STICK

Posted on January 17, 2008
Editorial by LawReader Senior Editor Stan Billingsley   Jan. l7, 2008 Gov. Beshear?s Monday night State of the State address was pounced upon by Republican columnist John David Dyche, Republican Party leader Steve Robertson and Senate Majority Leader David Williams...

THE GREATEST CLOSING ARGUMENT IN KY. JUDICIAL HISTORY

Posted on January 17, 2008
This almost ancient argument still resonants today as a valuable teaching tool on how it should be done.  L.F. Johnson in his book Famous Kentucky Trials and Tragedies,  Henry Clay Press, has preserved this closing argument of  the Hon. Sergeant S. Prentiss...

Federal Judge Sets Date for Fen Phen Criminal Trial ? No Ruling on Taint Evidence Obtained by Government

Posted on January 17, 2008
U.S. District Judge William Bertlesman has set the trial date for William Gallion, Shirley Cunningham and Melbourne Mills, Jr. for May 12. The three are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.  The attorneys reached a $200 million dollar settlement in a class action against the manufacturers of Fen Phen a diet drug that caused heart [...

United States: North Carolina Case Brings Toxic Mold Concerns Back Into The Courtroom

Posted on January 17, 2008
14 January 2008 Article by Tanya C. O’Neill Just a few years ago, “toxic mold” cases were resulting in multi-million-dollar awards. Health agencies, insurance companies, builders, architects, employers, homeowners, and personal injury attorneys all showed significant interest in mold...

Governor Beshear Seeks Ideas & Input from State Employees. Initiative to make government more efficient and productive

Posted on January 15, 2008
Jan. 15, 2008  FRANKFORT, KY ? On the morning following his first State of the Commonwealth address, Kentucky state government employees were greeted with a personal message from Governor Steve Beshear, asking for their help in addressing the Commonwealth?s looming budget crisis...

U.S. Supreme Court Shields Banks, Vendors From Investor Suits

Posted on January 15, 2008
By Greg Stohr   Jan. 15, 2008 Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Supreme Court put new limits on shareholder suits against a company’s banks and business partners in a ruling that may thwart efforts to recoup billions of dollars lost in frauds at Enron Corp...

LawReader Reporter to Cover Nevada Debates and Caucus. Your questions to the candidates sought

Posted on January 15, 2008
On Jan. 15th. there will be a nationally televised debate between the three major Democratic Candidates for the presidency.  LawReader is sending a reporter to this debate.  LawReader?s reporter Edward Billingsley will be present at the debate.   This presents an opportunity for our readers to suggest questions they would like submitted to the candidates for tonight?s [...

Can an illegal arrest justify a search? Supreme court ponders this issue.

Posted on January 15, 2008
By LINDA GREENHOUSE January 15, 2008 New York Times  WASHINGTON ? The Supreme Court?s long-running debate over the meaning of federalism took a new turn in a case the justices heard on Monday.  The question was, What happens when a state chooses to give criminal suspects more protection than the federal Constitution requires? If an arrest is [...

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