Justia Kentucky Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

This case presented two constitutional questions related to Kentucky's prevailing wage law. The first question was whether the law violates procedural due process by failing to afford contractors a hearing before the Labor Cabinet assesses back wages and civil penalties and demands their payments. The second question was whether the law improperly delegates legislative or judicial authority to the Labor Cabinet by failing to define the categories of workers to which it applies. The circuit court found that the law does not violate due process or improperly delegate legislative or judicial authority. The court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the prevailing wage law does not violate either the Kentucky or U.S. Constitutions. View "Teco Mech. Contractor, Inc. v. Commonwealth" on Justia Law

Appellants Marcus Swan and D'Andre Owens were tried and convicted of multiple crimes related to a violent home invasion they carried out in 2008 in which they stole money and threatened to kill the home's inhabitants, two of whom they ultimately shot and one of whom they threatened to rape and sodomize. The Supreme Court (1) affirmed Swan's judgment of conviction and sentence in its entirety; and (2) affirmed in part and reversed in part Owens's judgment, although his overall sentence was unaffected, holding that Owens's convictions for first-degree assault and first-degree wanton endangerment of one of the home's inhabitants must be reversed, as (i) the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on second-degree assault as a lesser-included offense of first-degree assault, and (ii) the trial court erred in failing to grant a directed verdict on the charge of first-degree wanton endangerment. View "Swan v. Commonwealth" on Justia Law

Appellants James Baldwin and Ronda Reynolds allegedly sustained injuries in separate highway incidents after objects came loose from unidentified vehicles and collided with their vehicles. Both Appellants sought uninsured motorist (UM) coverage for hit-and-run accidents through their automobile insurance policies. Baldwin's State Farm policy provided coverage when an uninsured motor vehicle "strikes" the insured vehicle, and Reynolds's Safeco policy covered damages when an uninsured motor vehicle "hits" the insured vehicle. The Supreme Court accepted review in these consolidated cases to focus on whether Appellants' accidents satisfied the impact requirements contained in the UM clauses of their insurance policies. The Supreme Court held that the impact requirements of the UM clauses of Baldwin's and Reynolds's insurance policies were not met, and therefore, UM coverage was not applicable to Appellants' hit-and-run accidents. View "State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Baldwin" on Justia Law

Appellants, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a class action complaint against their Internet service providers (Providers). Providers' Internet service agreement contained an arbitration clause that required customers to submit damage claims against Insight to arbitration, and it barred class action litigation against Providers by their customers. The circuit court determined the class action ban was enforceable and dismissed Appellants' complaint. The court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part, holding (1) the contractual provision under which Appellants waived their right to participate in class action litigation was enforceable under federal law; (2) the service agreement's choice of law provision was not enforceable; (3) the service agreement's general arbitration provision was enforceable; and (4) the provision imposing a confidentiality requirement upon the litigants to arbitration proceedings was void and severable from the remaining portions of the agreement. Remanded for entry of a final judgment. View "Schnuerle v. Insight Commc'ns Co., LP" on Justia Law

At issue in this appeal was the question of an agent's authority to bind his or her principal to an arbitration agreement presented with other documents upon the principal's admission to a long-term care facility. Agent in this case was the daughter and executrix of the deceased Principal. Agent brought a claim for negligence against the long-term care facility where Principal spent the last years of her life. Invoking an arbitration agreement executed in conjunction with Principal's admission to the nursing home, Defendants moved the trial court to dismiss the complaint. The trial court denied the motion, holding that Agent, who executed the admissions agreement on behalf of Principal, had no authority to agree to arbitration. The court of appeals reversed, holding that the agreement was enforceable. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the optional arbitration agreement Agent purported to execute on Principal's behalf was beyond the scope of Agent's authority and was therefore unenforceable. View "Ping v. Beverly Enters., Inc." on Justia Law

Appellant appealed his convictions in two separate cases. In the first case, Appellant was found guilty of trafficking in a controlled substance, possession of marijuana, feeing or evading, and being a persistent felony offender (PFO). In the second case, Appellant was convicted of escape, trafficking, and PFO. The Supreme Court (1) reversed Appellant's conviction for possession of a controlled substance, vacated his sentence for that conviction, and remanded for a new trial, holding that Appellant's waiver of his right to counsel was made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily, and therefore, the trial court erred by denying his request to proceed pro se; and (2) affirmed Appellant's remaining convictions and corresponding sentences. View "King v. Commonwealth" on Justia Law

Claimant sustained a work-related injury in 2003, for which he was awarded temporary total disability (TTD) benefits followed by 425 weeks of permanent partial disability benefits. In 2007 Claimant sustained another injury. After finding the effects of the 2003 injury caused Claimant's 2007 injury, an ALJ increased Claimant's partial disability benefit at reopening and tripled the entire income benefit awarded for his injury. The workers' compensation board and court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) substantial evidence supported the finding of increased impairment as well as the finding that Claimant lacked the physical capacity at reopening to perform the type of work performed at the time of his injury; and (2) the combined effects of the impairment present at the time of the initial award and the additional impairment present at reopening entitled Claimant to triple benefits based on the whole of his disability for the balance of the compensable period. View "James T. English Trucking v. Beeler" on Justia Law

Following a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of robbery in the first degree. The trial court sentenced Defendant to twenty years' imprisonment enhanced to thirty years by virtue of Defendant's status as a second-degree persistent felony offender (PFO). The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the trial court did not err (1) by denying Defendant's motion to suppress eyewitness identification evidence; (2) by not allowing Defendant during voir dire to inform the jury of the potential range of PFO enhanced penalties; (3) by denying Defendant's motion for a mistrial when, during voir dire, the Commonwealth suggested that Defendant had concealed evidence of the crime; (4) by denying Defendant's motion for a mistrial when the Commonwealth referred to scientific studies of which there was no evidence; and (5) by denying Defendant's motion for a new trial, not just a new penalty phase, when during the original penalty proceedings, an improper argument by the Commonwealth necessitated a mistrial. View "Jacobsen v. Commonwealth" on Justia Law

An ALJ determined that Claimant sustained a work-related hearing loss and that Kan. Rev. Stat. 342.7305(4) placed the entire liability for income and medical benefits with Appellant, the last employer with whom Claimant was last injuriously exposed to hazardous noise. The workers' compensation board and court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the record contained substantial evidence that testing revealed a pattern of hearing loss compatible with that caused by hazardous noise exposure and contained substantial evidence that Claimant sustained repetitive exposure to hazardous noise in the workplace, including his final employment with Appellant; and (2) Kan. Stat. Rev. 342.7305(4) does not permit apportioning liability among employers in such cases. View "Greg's Constr. v. Keeton" on Justia Law

A jury convicted Defendant of theft by unlawful taking over $10,000 and three counts of first-degree criminal mischief. The trial court sentenced Defendant to twenty years' imprisonment. The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's convictions and sentence but vacated the trial court's amended judgment and remanded to the trial court to reinstate the final judgment as originally entered, holding (1) Defendant's convictions did not violate double jeopardy; (2) the trial court did not err by ordering Defendant to pay restitution that exceeded $100,000 because the $100,000 statutory cap was not applicable to the trial court's restitution order; but (3) the trial court lacked authority to amend the final judgment more than ten days after its entry. View "Fagan v. Commonwealth" on Justia Law