Lewis County Court House, Built 1864. Vanceburg, Ky. Image courtesy of Keith Vincent, www.CourtHouseHistory.com.
Lewis is Kentucky’s 48th county, named after Captain Meriwether Lewis. The first county seat was Poplar Flat. Clarksburg was the second county seat (1809) before they settled on Vanceburg in 1863. I could not locate an image for the first courthouse in Poplar Flat or of the two story log cabin courthouse at Clarksville. But here is a photo of the third courthouse which was built in 1864 at Vanceburg at a cost of $25,000. The fourth courthouse is still standing with a cornerstorne dated “A.D. 1939”. and the current judicial center adjacent thereto was completed in 2000. Pictures and markers will appear later. Diane and I visited on a drive through eastern Kentucky on October 24, 2015. A law school classmate of mine from Washington and Lee, Lloyd Spear, returned to and still practices law in Lewis County. Hello, Lloyd!
Published Court of Appeals appellate cases for this week –
November 25, 2015: Links are to full text of PDF decision with AOC.
None for this week.
Court of Appeal’s “not to be published” decisions on Trials, torts, insurance and civil procedure from November 6, 2015, in addition to the published decision above.
936. Product Liability, Jury instructions, multiple theories
Estate of Melvin R. Jones vs. Process Machinery, Inc.
COA NonPublished Decision Affirming Defense Verdict; Gallatin
NICKELL, JUDGE: The Estate of Melvin R. Jones, by and through Evelyn S. Jones, Administratrix, has appealed from an order of the Gallatin Circuit Court memorializing a jury verdict rendered in favor of Process Machinery, Inc. (“PMI”), in this products liability action. PMI then perfected a protective cross-appeal. Following the subsequent denial of Jones’s CR1 60.02 motion seeking a new trial, the estate filed a second appeal. The three actions have been consolidated for resolution in a single Opinion. Following careful review of the record, the law, and the briefs, we affirm.
This case was a wrongful death action premised upon a products liability theory. The decedent was a maintenance worker at an aggregate limestone mine. A bulk-belt conveyor was used by the mine in both its underground’s surface operations. One morning the decedent climbed into one of the bulk-belt conveyors to trim off a piece of frayed conveyor belting. He attempted to repair the frayed portion without wearing a safety harness or other fall protection. While traversing the non-walkway side of the conveyor belt, he sustained severe injuries which rendered him a paraplegic and ventilator -dependent. He died 15 months later.
The complaint alleged design defect, negligence in the design process, failure to instruct in the safe operation of the conveyor system, and failure to warn of potential dangers associated with the equipment which resulted in Jones fall and untimely death. The matter was tried, and the jury returned a verdict in favor of the manufacturer of the conveyor belt,PMI.
The crux of this appeal is whether the trial court properly instructed the jury. Jones requested the trial court instruct the jury on four separate theories of liability including strict liability for defective design, negligent design, failure to warn of potential dangers, and failure to instruct on safe use. The trial court rejected Jones’s tendered instructions and submitted a single strict liability instruction with respect to PMI under which the jury found in favor of PMI. Jones contends the trial court erred in failing to instruct on each individual theory of liability advanced during the trial and argues such error is presumptively prejudicial requiring remand for a new trial. We disagree.
Relying on Clark v. Hauck Mfg. Co., 910 S.W.2d 247 (Ky. 1995) (overruled on other grounds by Martin v. Ohio County Hospital Corp., 295 S.W.3d 104 (Ky. 2009)), Jones claims the trial court should have instructed the jury on defective design, failure to warn, and general negligence, in addition to the single strict liability instruction actually given. We believe Jones reads Clark too narrowly.
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 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.
The complete set of this week’s minutes listing all decisions (published and not to be published) with links to the full text of each at the AOC, are below following short summaries of this week’s published cases and extracts of tort, insurance and procedure cases.
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