Supreme Court of Kentucky announced 22 decisions on May 14, 2015, with 14 Kentucky Supreme Court opinions designated for publication; 5 attorney/judicial ethics and disciplinary matters were announced;  and 5 motions for discretionary review were granted.

Click here for a list of all our posts on Supreme Court of Kentucky decisions posted east month as minutes.    Click here for a link to archived list of minutes posted at the Administrative Office of the Courts official web site.

Here is the PDF with links to all of the decisions (published and not published), as well as the disciplinary decisions.

Selected published decisions:

47.  Workers Compensation
City of Ashland vs. Taylor Stumbo, SC, Published, 5/14/2015,  Affirming
Questions Presented: Workers’ Compensation. Permanent Total Disability. Remanded to Administrative Law Judge for analysis mandated by KRS 342.0011(11). Five-step analysis to be performed by an Administrative Law Judge in order to determine whether a claimant is totally disabled is set out in the opinion.

48.  Workers Compensation, Reopened claim.
Garden Glen Farm vs. Bethany Taylor Balderas
SC Published 5/14/2015; Affirming COA
Questions Presented: Workers Compensation. Reopened Claim. When a settled claim is reopened, the monetary value of the original negotiated settlement may not reflect the claimant’s actual disability. The change in occupational disability should be calculated as the difference between the actual disability on the date of the settlement, as found by the ALJ, and the occupational disability at the time of reopening.

55.  Sovereign Immunity
Coppage Construction Co. Inc.  vs. Sanitation District No. 1
SC Published 5/14/2015; Reversing Vacating & Remanding, Kenton County
Questions Presented: Sovereign Immunity. Issues include whether sanitary sewer districts are entitled to sovereign immunity.

Selected tort decisions (published and not published):

See, No. 55 above.

65.  Disability, obesity
Wagner’s Pharmacy, Inc. vs. Melissa K. Pennington
SC, Not Published; Reversing (Jefferson County)

Appellee, Melissa K. Pennington, alleged that Appellant, Wagner’s Pharmacy, discriminated against her by terminating her employment due to her morbid obesity. The trial court determined that the testimony of Pennington’s medical expert failed to establish a physiological cause for her obesity and granted Wagner’s motion for summary judgment. The Court of Appeals concluded that Pennington had established a prima facie case of disability discrimination, vacated the trial court’s order of summary judgment and remanded for further proceedings. This Court granted discretionary review to consider whether a physician’s testimony about the cause of morbid obesity in general – not specific to the plaintiff – is sufficient to establish a prima facie case of disability discrimination under the Kentucky Civil Rights Act. We conclude it is not. Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals and reinstate the trial court’s order of summary judgment.

Here are the complete set of minutes for this week with links to full text of each decision and disciplinary matter.

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