Kentucky

No Texting Law Goes Into Effect ? Minors cannot use cell phones while driving

Posted on July 15, 2010
Ban extends to cell phone use for 16- and 17-year-old drivers FRANKFORT, Ky. ? Governor Steve Beshear?s ongoing effort to make Kentucky roads safer takes a big step on Thursday, July 15, when a new law takes effect to ban texting for all drivers and cell phone use for drivers under 18...

SIXTH. CIRT. CT. OF APPEALS VOIDS KY. RULES FORBIDDING JUDGES FROM ACCEPTING DONATIONS FROM POLITICAL PARTIES AND AFFILIATING WITH A POLITICAL PARTY

Posted on July 13, 2010
In a surprising ruling, Ky. Judicial Campaign Rules are turned upside down. The ruling demonstrates the growing trend of the Federal Courts to void laws or ethics rule that limits free speech of lawyers and judges. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati,  on Tuesday cleared the way for Kentucky judicial candidates to raise [...

Lindsay Lohan Has No Intention of Going to Jail ? Blames Her Lawyer ? Anyone Want To Bet On that?

Posted on July 12, 2010
Lindsay Lohan might have been sentenced to 90 days in the slammer last week by an angry judge, but that doesn’t mean the troubled young actress is going down without a fight. “Lindsay has no intention of going to jail,” a friend of Lohan’s tells me...

Florida chief justice creates innocence panel

Posted on July 03, 2010
The new chief justice of the state Supreme Court created the Florida Innocence Commission on Friday, saying it will study issues dealing with wrongful convictions over the next two years. Chief Justice Charles Canady signed an administrative order establishing the 23-member panel just a day after beginning his two-year term overseeing the high court...

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Oldham County Attorney John Fendley Suffers Fatal Injury

Posted on June 29, 2010
Fendley, 64, sustained fatal head injuries from a blow to the head by a horse he was loading into a horse trailer.   Fendley had served as County Attorney for 21 years.  Funeral arrangements have not yet been set.   The County Judge will appoint a replacement who will serve until the end of the current term  [...

U.S. Sup. Ct. Voids Honest Services Law

Posted on June 29, 2010
                                                                                                                                                            The Supreme Court on Thursday sharply curtailed prosecutors’ use of an anti-fraud law that was central in convicting politicians and corporate executives in many of the nation’s most prominent corruption cases...

U.S. Supreme Court Extends 2nd. Amendment Gun Rights to Strike Down Restrictive State Gun Regulation

Posted on June 28, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court today found that the constitutional right to bear arms applies to local and state efforts to regulate guns, a ruling that could place limits on some gun control laws across the country. The 5-4 ruling could be particularly important in California, which has some of the strictest gun laws of any [...

U.S. Supreme Ct. Voids Business-Method Patents

Posted on June 28, 2010
The long-awaited ruling in Bilski v. Kappos was finally handed down on Monday, giving you all some 66 meaty pages to sink your teeth into. Click here for the early WSJ story on the ruling. The bottom line: the Supreme Court, in an opinion written largely by Justice Anthony Kennedy, invalidated the patent at issue [...

Law Schools Are Inflating Grades ? Loyola by 1/3, Others alter traditional grades to make all graudates more attractice to employers?..So if that young Harvard Grad says he was an A student?.maybe he just got B?s like you

Posted on June 23, 2010
By CATHERINE RAMPELL One day next month every student at Loyola Law School Los Angeles will awake to a higher grade point average. But it?s not because they are all working harder. The school is retroactively inflating its grades, tacking on 0.333 to every grade recorded in the last few years...

Judge Who Overturned Drilling Ban Has Significant Oil Holdings ? Possible Ethics conflict

Posted on June 23, 2010
  The federal judge who overruled the administration’s six-month moratorium <http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/06/22/us/AP-US-Gulf-Oil-Spill.html?_r=1&hp> on deepwater drilling, stating that the government did not made a strong enough case for the ban, “has reported extensive investments in the oil and gas industry,” the Associated Press <http://www...

U.S. Dist. Judge Bertlesman Grants Summary Judgment in Favor of Kenton Com. Attn. Rob Sanders

Posted on June 19, 2010
COVINGTON ? A lawsuit claiming that a former Dayton High School teacher ? accused of having sex with a 16-year-old student ? was maliciously prosecuted has been thrown out of federal court.   Nicole Howell, who was acquitted of the criminal charge, claimed in the suit filed in November that Kenton Commonwealth?s Attorney Rob Sanders violated her [...

U.S. Supreme Court rejects workers? text privacy ? Employers may access worker?s messages

Posted on June 18, 2010
  Employees who want to send highly personal notes to a romantic partner were given a word of warning by the Supreme Court on Thursday: Do not use the messaging system supplied by your employer if you want to avoid embarrassment. In a 9-0 ruling, the justices rejected a broad right of privacy for workers and said [...

U.S. Supreme Court finds hundreds of labor cases were improperly decided due to lack of sufficient quorum

Posted on June 18, 2010
Marcia Coyle   National Law Journal  June 17, 2010 The vacancy-plagued National Labor Relations Board did not have authority to issue nearly 600 decisions in the last two years with only two board members, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. In New Process Steel v...

JUSTICE WINTERSHEIMER PUBLISHES A NEW BOOK TITLED ?SECRETS OF THE KY. SUPREME COURT.

Posted on June 17, 2010
Review by Judge Stan Billingsley (Ret.) Justice Wintersheimer has published a 384 page book which details his career on the court and reveals many anecdotes about his work and relationship with other  Justices and court personnel.  We particularly enjoyed one story about Justice Leibson who was walking near the  Juniper Hills Golf Course in Frankfort, and found an [...

SUPREME CT. DISMISSES PROSECUTION OF PREGNANT MOTHER WHO INGESTED DRUGS- REMANDS CASE OF PILOT WHO WAS A PASSENGER GOING TO WORK STATION UNDER WORKER?S COMP. GOING AND COMING RULE

Posted on June 17, 2010
The Kentucky Supreme Court issued 37 rulings on Thursday June 17, 2010.   All cases are synopsized in LawReader.   You must be a member to access these important cases. In one case the Court upheld a trial court who dismissed a charge against a mother who ingested drugs while pregnant...

SOMERSET COMMONWEALTH?S ATTORNEY EDDY MONTGOMERY THWARTS BRIBERY ATTEMPT

Posted on June 11, 2010
  Lesson to criminals don’t try to bribe a Commonwealth’s Attorney!!!  Relatives of a convicted drug dealer plotted to offer the commonwealth’s attorney $20,000 to get the man out of prison, police have charged. Those charged are Everett Hyden, 64; Noble Hampton, 63; his daughter Virginia “Carol” Hampton, 44; and Walter Creekmore, 62, all of Somerset...

Attn. Gen. Jack Conway is Correct On l4th. Amendment and Citizenshhip of Children Born in U.S. to illegal alien parents. Rand Paul is wrong on the law.

Posted on June 04, 2010
LawReader legal opinion by LawReader’s Senior Editor Stan Billingsley:                        June 4, 2010 Attorney General Jack Conway recently responded to a question regarding Rand Paul’s suggestion that the l4th. Amendment did not grant citizenship to a child of parents who were illegally in this country...

U.S. Supreme Ct. Rulings for Tuesday June 1, 2010

Posted on June 01, 2010
The Supreme Court on Tuesday: ___ _ Ruled 5-4 that suspects must explicitly tell police they want to be silent to invoke Miranda protections during criminal interrogations. _ Unanimously held that a former Somali official could not use the federal foreign sovereign immunity law to protect himself from a lawsuit filed in a U...

In a 5-4 decision the U.S. Supreme Court weakened Miranda rights by holding that a suspect must explicitly tell police they want to be silent

Posted on June 01, 2010
In a 5-4 decision the U.S. Supreme Court weakened Miranda rights by holding that a suspect must explicitly tell police they want to be silent to invoke their Miranda protection during interrogations.  A right to remain silent and a right to a lawyer are the first of the Miranda rights warnings, which police recite to suspects during [...

Another Fen Phen case?.claims of 50 litigants represented by Angela Ford dismissed due to statute of limitations

Posted on May 30, 2010
This is a fen phen case which was filed by some 50 litigants whose cases were transferred from the Ky. fen phen case to another attorney and joined in a class action in Alabama.   This case is different from the Boone County fen phen case which is currently on appeal to the ct...

U.S. Supreme Court Toughens Standards for Consideration of Plain Error Rule.

Posted on May 25, 2010
   2nd. Circuit Court had ruled that “whenever there exists ‘any possibility, no matter how unlikely, that the jury could have convicted based exclusively on pre-enactment conduct,” a new trial was justified.   The Supreme Court reversed that standard and held that the error must be sufficiently weighty to affect ’substantial rights...

GOV. SIGNS BILL TO GIVE PREFERENCE TO IN-STATE BIDDERS ON STATE CONTRACTS

Posted on May 24, 2010
GOV. SIGNS BILL TO GIVE PREFERENCE TO IN-STATE BIDDERS ON STATE CONTRACTS FRANKFORT, Ky. ?  Gov. Steve Beshear on April 26th. signed into law legislation that will provide Kentucky-based businesses a level playing field with out-of-state vendors as they compete for Kentucky state government contracts...

U.S. SUPREME COURT ALLOWS DANGEROUS SEXUAL PREDATORS TO BE HELD IN JAIL AFTER SERVING SENTENCE

Posted on May 24, 2010
.S. SUPREME COURT ALLOWS DANGEROUS SEXUAL PREDATORS TO BE HELD IN JAIL AFTER SERVING SENTENCE   Monday, May 24, 2010 Sexually-violent predators can remain held in prison after serving their sentences if the government provides ?clear and convincing? evidence that the individuals remain a threat to society, according to a new ruling from the U...

U.S. SUPREME COURT EXPANDS ATTORNEY FEES TO ?EITHER PARTY? IN ERISA ACTION IF SOME DEGREE OF SUCCESS SHOWN ON THE MERITS

Posted on May 24, 2010
  HARDT v. RELIANCE STANDARD LIFE INS. CO. BRIDGET HARDT, PETITIONER, v. RELIANCE STANDARD LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. No. 09-448. Supreme Court of United States. Argued April 26, 2010.    Decided May 24, 2010. JUSTICE THOMAS delivered the opinion of the Court...

U.S. Supreme Court Takes Another Step Against Absolute Immunity for Prosecutors ? Won?t Stop Dismissed Juror?s Suit Against Federal Prosecutor

Posted on May 21, 2010
  Excerpted from The National Law Journal  May 20, 2010  The U.S. Supreme Court this week declined to hear a case in Washington, D.C., where a federal prosecutor is being sued for his alleged role in improperly removing a grand juror from D.C. Superior Court...

Mongiardo Files Ethics Complaint Against Attorney General Conway ?

Posted on May 04, 2010
The following excerpts are taken from the complaint filed by U.S. Senate Candidate Dan Mongiardo against candidate and Attorney General Jack Conway.   The complaint was filed with the Executive Branch Ethics Commission on May 4, 2010. Allison Hayley of the Conway campaign responds: ?These accusations are baseless and false...

Stanford University Study Expresses Serious Concern About Funding of Ky. State Pension System

Posted on May 03, 2010
  In an editorial in USA on Monday May 3rd. a Stanford University study was quoted as listing the Kentucky State Pension System as a  ”serious concern” along with 19 other state pension systems. The concern is due to underfunding of pension obligations...

David Steele at steele2732@gmail.com has a law office desk for sale?.

Posted on May 02, 2010
 I have FOR SALE a LACASSE Mahogany 30×72 Desk with Hanging file; extended corner unit; Two Drawer lateral file; Hutch 72X16×36; Keyboard Drawer; Center pencil drawer; 24? task light; storage cabinet with 2 drawer lateral file; Excellent condition...

Can legislators be prosecuted criminally for refraining from performing a duty imposed on him by law?such as failure to pass a budget?

Posted on May 01, 2010
  An interesting question is presented when the legislature fails to perform their constitutional duty to pass a budget.  We are not aware of any criminal statue or constitutional provision that says Legislators are immune from the Criminal Code.  Perhaps there is a court ruling that created such immunity...

Ky. Supreme Court warns that KBA ethics opinions may have improper chilling effect on attorney conduct. Rule provides method to seek review of Ethics Committee rulings.

Posted on April 21, 2010
   Stengel v. Kentucky Bar Ass’n, 162 S.W.3d 914 (KY, 2005)   REVIEW OF ETHICS OPINIONS         The Ethics Committee of the KBA may submit to the KBA Board of Governors a formal advisory opinion setting forth what activities constitute the ethical or unethical practice of law...

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