The Kentucky Court of Appeals announced 28 decisions on June 5, 2015, with 3 of their opinions designated to be published.
Click here for links to all the archived AOC Court of Appeals minutes at the web site for the Administrative Office of the Courts.
Click here for all of a listing of the Kentucky Court Report’s posts of the weekly COA minutes (or you can always access these within the KCR web site at the uppermost dropdown menu option for the Court of Appeals). AOC version of this week’s decisions can be accessed by clicking here.
For the complete set of this week’s minutes listed all decisions (published and not to be published) with links to the full text of each at the AOC, the continue reading below the digested summaries of this week’s published cases.
Published appellate cases for this week – June 5, 2015:
467. Divorce. Child Support.
Charlene Sallee (now Lovell) vs. Larry Sallee
Vacated and remanded trial court order refusing to hold ex-husband in contempt for not paying child support.
481. Arbitration. Nursing Home. Agreement/POA not include wrongful death claim
Kindred Nursing Centers Limited Partnership vs. John R. Cox III (Ex’or Estate of Elizabeth Cox)
Affirmed trial court’s interpretation that all claims per agreement must be arbitrated except the wrongful death claim (Ping v. Beverly Enterprises, Inc., 376 S.W.3d 581 (Ky. 2012). Nursing home appealed and lost.
485. Employment. Collective Bargaining Agreement
Cherri Beckhart vs. Jefferson County Board of Education
Selected Tort, insurance, civil decisions: The following not to be published decisions might be of interest and noteworthy to attorneys practicing injury and accident law, as well as insurance defense law:
463. Malicious Prosecution; Termination of proceedings in defendant’s favor.
Robert Pettit vs. Kathy Hensley (now Riley)
Opinion reversing and remanding order of Rockcastle circuit court dismissing malicious prosecution claim. In this case, the circuit court appears to have based its dismissal on a portion of Hensley’s answer wherein she stated: “Defendant admits the allegations contained in paragraph 11. Defendant agreed to dismiss the charges in exchange for Mr. Pettit leaving her and her family and friends alone.”1 The circuit court opinion relies on the fact that Pettit did not deny this “bargain” in any subsequent pleadings. As a primary matter, Pettit was not required to reply to this portion of Hensley’s answer. Our Civil Rules are clear that a plaintiff shall not reply to an answer unless ordered to do so by the Court. See CR 7.01. There is no indication in the record that the circuit court ordered Pettit to reply to Hensley’s answer. Therefore, it was error for the circuit court to deem an allegation contained in Hensley’s answer to have been deemed admitted by Pettit.2 Moreover, a review of the record indicates that Pettit vigorously denied ever negotiating with either Hensley or the Rockcastle County Attorney with respect to the criminal charges.
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