Here are the June 2016 summary of published decisions and attorney disciplinary orders from the Supreme Court of Kentucky which have been prepared by the Administrative Office of the Courts.

No tort, insurance or civil decisions, but we had one published workers compensation case which I am including for your reading enjoyment.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, Inc. v. Jason Tudor, et al.

2015-SC-000381-WC June 16, 2016

Opinion of the Court by Justice Keller. All sitting. Minton, C.J.; Cunningham, Hughes, Keller, and Venters, JJ., concur. Wright, J., concurs in part and dissents in part by separate opinion in which Noble, J., joins. The ALJ found that Toyota failed to pay TTD benefits when due and that Toyota’s in-house physician misled Tudor about the true nature of his injury thus tolling Tudor’s statute of limitations. The Board and the Court of Appeals affirmed.

The Supreme Court vacated and remanded. As to the TTD issue, the Court noted that Tudor had not missed any time from work and that he had been paid at his usual rate. Because the Court recently rendered an opinion clarifying entitlement to TTD in such situations (Trane Commercial Systems v. Tipton, 481 S.W.3d 800 (Ky. 2016)), it remanded to the ALJ for further review consistent with that opinion.

As to whether Toyota misled Tudor, the Court noted the ALJ found that the in-house physician told Tudor he only had bulging discs when a radiologist’s report stated the discs were herniated. According to the ALJ, this amounted to misleading Tudor about his “true condition.” However, as the Court noted, a neurosurgeon agreed with the in-house physician’s assessment that the discs were only bulging. In that circumstance, the Court held the ALJ’s finding that Tudor “possibly” had herniated discs was not sufficient to support his finding that Toyota had misled Tudor about his true condition. In order to make a finding that Toyota misled Tudor about his true condition, the ALJ was required to definitively find what the condition was, not what it possibly was. The Court also noted that the ALJ made several other factual findings which were not supported by the record. Therefore, the Court remanded to the ALJ with instructions to review the evidence and make a determination as to Tudor’s true condition, to correct any factual misstatements, and to make findings accordingly. The Court did not foreclose the ALJ from ultimately reaching the same conclusion, as long as that conclusion was based on a correct reading of the record

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