Justia Kentucky Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Pratikshya Gurung (“the Estate”) was born with brain damage and quadriplegia. The Estate filed in the circuit court a medical negligence action against Norton Hospital. During the course of discovery, the Estate requested production from Norton of various hospital documents relating to patient safety. Norton argued that the documents were not discoverable. The trial court compelled the production of the disputed documents and denied Norton’s privileged claim. Norton filed a petition in the court of appeals for a writ of prohibition and a request for an order staying execution of the trial court’s discovery order. The Estate, in turn, received an emergency hearing with the trial court. Before the hearing on Norton’s emergency motion in the court of appeals and after the Estate’s emergency hearing with the trial court, the trial court handed the copies of the disputed documents directly to counsel for the Estate. The court of appeals subsequently dismissed Norton’s writ petition as moot. The Supreme Court reversed the dismissal, holding that the court of appeals abused its discretion because its decision was not based on sound legal principles. Remanded for consideration of Norton’s asserted privilege. View "Norton Hospitals, Inc. v. Hon. Barry Willett" on Justia Law

Glenn Hampton suffered a work-related injury during his employment with Flav-O-Rich. An administrative law judge (ALJ) found Hampton to be permanently totally disabled and awarded him permanent total disability benefits. The Workers' Compensation Board vacated the ALJ’s opinion and remanded, finding that the ALJ’s summary of the evidence and findings of fact were not sufficient to permit meaningful appellate review. Hampton filed a petition for review with the court of appeals. The court dismissed the petition as prematurely filed from a non-final Board opinion, concluding that because the Board’s opinion did not divest Hampton of a vested right and did not direct or authorize the ALJ to enter a different award on remand, it was not final and appealable. The Supreme Court reversed, holding under the test from Davis v. Island Creek Coal Co., the Board’s opinion was final and appealable. View "Hampton v. Flav-O-Rich Dairies" on Justia Law

Keith Randall Sparkman filed a complaint against CONSOL Energy, Inc. (CONSOL) and CONSOL of Kentucky, Inc. (CKI), as well as certain individuals, for breach of contract and tortious interference with contract. The jury found in favor of Sparkman and awarded damages. CONSOL/CKI appealed, and Sparkman cross-appealed. The court of appeals disposed of the matter sua sponte based on a perceived lack of jurisdiction. Because the contracts at issue in this dispute were entered into by In-Depth Sanitary Service Group (Group), a sole proprietorship not named in the complaint, and because the judgment was in favor of Group, a “non-party,” the court of appeals reversed and remanded the cause to the circuit court for further proceedings and any “appropriate corrective action.” The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the trial court’s judgment identified the correct party because the parties mutually consented to the amendment of the complaint to reflect Keith Randall Sparkman d/b/a In-Depth Sanitary Service Group; and (2) the naming of the parties in the notice of cross-appeal was sufficient to transfer jurisdiction to the court of appeals. View "Sparkman v. Consol Energy, Inc." on Justia Law

Appellant filed suit against her former manager and then amended her complaint to assert direct claims against Appellees, her employer and related corporate entities. The trial court entered a summary judgment dismissing the claims against Appellees as being time barred. The summary judgment left the manager as the sole remaining defendant but did not recite any of the finality language provided in CR 54.02(1). Appellant filed a notice of appeal from the summary judgment. The circuit court subsequently entered a nunc pro tunc order purporting to interject, retroactively, the necessary finality language into the summary judgment. The Court of Appeals ruled that the nunc pro tunc order could not have retroactively conferred finality upon an order that was not originally designated as final and that the “relation forward” doctrine of Johnson v. Smith did not apply. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the filing of a notice of appeal divested the circuit court of jurisdiction over this case and transferred that jurisdiction to the Court of Appeals, and therefore, the circuit court was without jurisdiction to enter the nunc pro tunc order, and its attempt to bestow finality upon the summary judgment was ineffective; and (2) the relation forward doctrine did not apply. View "Wright v. Ecolab, Inc." on Justia Law

Keith Justin Conley (Conley) was convicted of murder his girlfriend, Jessica Newsome, whom he fatally shot in the home of his father. At the time of the shooting, Conley’s father’s home was insured through a homeowner’s insurance policy issued by Kentucky Farm Bureau (Kentucky Farm). Jessica’s parents brought a wrongful death cause of action against Conley. Kentucky Farm intervened in the action seeking a declaration that the homeowner’s policy at issue did not provide coverage to Conley for the Newsomes’ claims. The trial court ruled that the homeowner’s insurance policy provided coverage for Conley’s acts. Kentucky Farm then filed a motion under Ky. R. Civ. P. 59.05 asking the court to alter or amend its order. The trial court denied the motion. Kentucky Farm subsequently filed its notice of appeal. The Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal as untimely, concluding that the Rule 59.05 motion failed to conform with Ky. R. Civ. P. 7.02, and therefore, the Rule 59.05 motion did not toll the thirty-day period in which notice was to be filed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the Rule 59.05 motion, while failing to strictly comply with the requirements of Rule 7.02, was nevertheless timely, and therefore, the motion tolled the time for filing the notice of appeal. View "Ky. Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co. v. Conley" on Justia Law

Kentucky Spirit Health Care Plan, Inc. brought a declaratory judgment action seeking a ruling that it had a right to terminate its Medicaid managed care contract with the Finance and Administration Cabinet prior to the expiration of the contract without penalty. The trial court entered partial summary judgment in favor of the Cabinet. Both parties appealed. While the appeals were pending, the circuit court stayed Kentucky Spirit’s pre-trial discovery efforts relating to its rights under the Medicaid contract until resolution of the partial summary judgment appeals. The Court of Appeals granted Kentucky Spirit’s petition for a writ of prohibition against the circuit court judge prohibiting the judge from enforcing the order imposing the stay of discovery. The Supreme Court vacated the writ and remanded for entry of an order denying Kentucky Spirit’s petition for a writ of prohibition, holding that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion by temporarily staying discovery, as a stay of discovery was appropriate pending resolution of the threshold issues currently on appeal. View "Commonwealth v. Hon. Wingate" on Justia Law

The home of Keith Conley was insured through an insurance policy issued by Kentucky Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company. Conley’s son fatally murdered his girlfriend, Jessica Newsome, in Conley’s home. Gregory and Loretta Newsome brought a wrongful death action against Conley for damages arising from Jessica’s death. Kentucky Farm Bureau provided a defense to Conley for the Newsomes’ claims against him and intervened in the action seeking a declaration that the policy did not provide coverage to Conley for the claims arising from Jessica’s murder. The trial court ruled that the homeowner’s policy provided coverage for Conley’s acts. Kentucky Farm Bureau subsequently filed a Ky. R. Civ. P. 59.05 motion asking the court to alter or amend its order. The trial court denied the motion. Kentucky Farm Bureau then filed a notice of appeal. The Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal, concluding that the Rule 59.05 motion was deficient due to a lack of “particularity” and therefore failed to toll the time for filing a notice of appeal. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that, although Kentucky Farm Bureau’s Rule 59.05 motion did not strictly adhere to the particularity requirement of Ky. R. Civ. P. 7.02, the defect was not so serious that it should have been stricken. View "Ky. Farm Bureau Ins. Co. v. Conley" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Appellant was found guilty of fleeing and evading in the second-degree, being a felon in possession of a handgun, and being a persistent felony offender in the first-degree. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the trial court (1) did not err by denying Appellant’s motion to suppress evidence found incident to a Terry stop; (2) abused its discretion by imposing limitations upon Appellant’s hybrid counsel arrangement, but the error was harmless; (3) did not err by admitting evidence of other crimes; (4) did not err by permitting the Commonwealth to refer to Appellant’s his post-arrest silence; (5) properly denied Appellant’s motions for a continuance; and (6) did not err by imposing court costs. View "Nunn v. Commonwealth" on Justia Law

Kentucky Spirit Health Care Plan, Inc. brought a declaratory judgment action seeking a ruling that it had a right to terminate its Medicaid managed care contract with the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Finance and Administration Cabinet, without penalty, prior to the contract’s expiration. The circuit court granted partial summary judgment for the Cabinet. Both parties appealed. While the appeals were pending, the circuit court stayed Kentucky’s Spirit’s discovery efforts until the resolution of the appeals. Kentucky Spirit petitioned for a writ prohibiting the circuit court judge from enforcing the order imposing the stay of discovery. The court of appeals granted the writ, determining that the trial court’s suspension of discovery amounted to an indefinite stay on discovery without a pressing need to do so. The Supreme Court vacated the writ and remanded for entry of an order denying Kentucky Spirit’s petition for a writ of prohibition, holding that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion by temporarily staying discovery pending the resolution of matters in the appellate courts pertaining to the partial summary judgment. View "Commonwealth v. Hon. Thomas D. Wingate" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of criminal attempt to commit murder, two counts of first-degree robbery, and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon. The Supreme Court reversed and vacated Defendant’s conviction of criminal attempt to commit murder and affirmed the remainder of his convictions, holding (1) the trial court did not err in finding that Defendant’s confession was voluntary and by denying Defendant’s motion to suppress his confession; (2) the trial court erred by admitting Defendant’s redacted confession to the jury, and the improper redaction constituted reversible error; and (3) the jury unanimously convicted Defendant of possession of a handgun by a convicted felon. Remanded. View "Sykes v. Commonwealth" on Justia Law