Kentucky Court of Justice
Kentucky Court of Appeals to hear oral arguments June 3 in Lexington
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The Kentucky Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in three cases Tuesday, June 3, at the Robert F. Stephens Courthouse, Fayette Circuit Court, in Lexington. The proceedings will be open to the public.
A three-judge panel consisting of Court of Appeals Judges Michael Caperton and Janet L. Stumbo and Senior Judge David C. Buckingham will hear arguments in the cases starting at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom I on the fourth floor of the courthouse, which is located at 120 North Limestone.
Summaries of the cases the panel will hear are below.
LEXINGTON DOCKET
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
9:30 AM 2006CA002194
MICHAEL WILSON v COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY
Summary: Criminal. Criminal appeal alleging error in trial court’s failure to give tendered instructions on self-defense, extreme emotional disturbance, voluntary intoxication and fourth-degree assault.
Robertson County judge who ruled in the case – Judge Robert W. McGinnis
Appellant’s attorneys: Joseph Brandon Pigg and Kathleen K. Schmidt
Appellee’s attorney: David Bryan Abner
10:15 AM 2007CA001423
JAMES HAMILTON v ELIZABETH HAMILTON
Summary: Civil. Appeal from post-decree order dividing funds held in non-dissolution-related litigation. Issues include amount of funds to be divided, award of attorney fee and propriety of court in permitting withdrawal of motion.
Fayette County judge who ruled in the case – Judge Jo Ann Wise
Appellant’s attorneys: Glen S. Bagby and J. Robert Lyons Jr.
Appellee’s attorneys: Nora Ann Koffman and Natalie S. Wilson
11 AM 2008CA000442
JOYCE WHITE ET AL. v CUMBERLAND VALLEY MANOR ET AL.
Summary: Worker’s compensation. Appeal from denial of attorney fee to successful litigant in medical fee dispute. Issue is standard for imposition of costs.
Judge who ruled in the case – Judge Franklin Stivers
Appellants’ attorneys: Brett Babat and Thomas W. Davis
Appellees’ attorneys: John B. Coleman, Richard Christion Hutson and Dwight T. Lovan
Judge Michael Caperton
Judge Michael Caperton was elected to the Kentucky Court of Appeals on Nov. 6, 2007, and represents Division 1 of the 3rd Appellate District.
The 3rd Appellate District is comprised of Adair, Bell, Casey, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Estill, Garrard, Green, Jackson, Knox, Laurel, Lee, Leslie, Lincoln, Marion, McCreary, Metcalfe, Monroe, Nelson, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Russell, Taylor, Washington, Wayne and Whitley counties.
Prior to his election to the Court of Appeals, Judge Caperton served for 14 years as a District Court judge for the 27th District, which consists of Knox and Laurel counties. He was elected district judge in 1994 and served until he was sworn in as Court of Appeals judge in December 2007.
Judge Caperton is a native of Laurel County, where he has resided most of his life. After graduating from Transylvania University in 1977, Judge Caperton earned a teaching certificate from Cumberland College in biology and chemistry. He received his juris doctor from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1987.
Judge Caperton has two teenage daughters.
Judge Janet L. Stumbo
In 1989, Janet L. Stumbo became the first woman from the 7th Judicial District to be elected to the Kentucky Court of Appeals. At that time, she was only the second woman to serve on the Court of Appeals and the first woman to be elected without having first been appointed.
Judge Stumbo served four years with the Court of Appeals before being the first woman elected (again without having first been appointed) to the Supreme Court of Kentucky in November 1993. She was re-elected to a full eight-year term on the Supreme Court in 1996. While a Supreme Court justice she served as chair of both the Civil Rules Committee and the Family Court Consortium, a statewide committee appointed by then-Chief Justice Robert F. Stephens to implement a pilot project for Family Court. The consortium’s work resulted in the enactment of an amendment to the Kentucky Constitution and legislation establishing Family Court in jurisdictions across the commonwealth.
In November 2006, two years after completing her Supreme Court tenure, Judge Stumbo was elected to the Court of Appeals for a second time to represent the 7th Appellate District. The 7th Appellate District is comprised of Boyd, Breathitt, Carter, Elliott, Floyd, Greenup, Harlan, Johnson, Knott, Lawrence, Letcher, Magoffin, Martin, Menifee, Montgomery, Morgan, Owsley, Perry, Pike, Powell, Rowan and Wolfe counties.
Judge Stumbo earned her bachelor’s degree from Morehead State University and her juris doctor from the University of Kentucky College of Law. She began her legal career as a staff attorney to the late Judge Harris S. Howard of the Kentucky Court of Appeals. She entered private practice in 1982 with Turner, Hall & Stumbo PSC, where she focused on cases involving workers’ compensation, federal black lung claims, dissolution of marriage and personal injury.
She also served as assistant Floyd County attorney for three years and sat on the board of directors of the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky from 1983 to 1989, serving as board chair from 1984 to 1989. Judge Stumbo became a partner in Stumbo, DeRossett & Pillersdorf in 1989, just before being elected to the Court of Appeals for the first time.
During her break from the bench from 2004 to 2006, she taught at the Appalachian School of Law and the University of Kentucky College of Law. She also taught a mock trial course for high schools students at Verbally and Mathematically Precocious Youth, a summer camp hosted by Western Kentucky University.
Judge Stumbo was inducted into the UK College of Law Alumni Hall of Fame in 1999 and into the Morehead State University Alumni Association Hall of Fame in 1990. In 1996 the Kentucky Bar Association for Women gave her its first Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, which recognizes professional excellence in the practice of law and efforts to open the field for other women. In 1995 the Women in State Government Network presented her with its Bull’s Eye Award. The Kentucky Women Advocates gave her its 1995 Outstanding Justice Award for her support of adopting gender fairness into state judicial language. In 1991 the Kentucky Women Advocates gave her its Justice Award for her use of spousal abuse evidence as grounds for setting aside a settlement in dissolution of marriage cases and for her support in creating a shelter for abused women in Floyd County.
Judge Stumbo is a native of Floyd County. She and her husband, attorney Ned Pillersdorf, have three daughters, Sarah, Nancee and Samantha.
Senior Judge David C. Buckingham
Senior Judge David C. Buckingham has been a senior judge assigned to the Court of Appeals since 2006.
He was previously a Court of Appeals judge for nearly 10 years, serving from December 1996 to May 2006. From 1987 until he was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 1996, Judge Buckingham served as a Circuit Court judge. He was a District Court judge from 1982 to 1986.
Prior to his judicial career, Judge Buckingham served as an assistant county attorney.
Judge Buckingham, who is a Murray native, graduated from Murray State University and earned his juris doctor at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law.
Judge Buckingham and his wife, Dianne Lee Buckingham, have one son, Tyler.
Kentucky Court of Appeals
Nearly all cases heard by the Kentucky Court of Appeals come to it on appeal from a lower court. If a case is tried in Circuit Court or District Court and the losing parties involved are not satisfied with the outcome, they may ask for a higher court to review the correctness of the trial court’s decision. Some cases, such as criminal-case acquittals and divorces, may not be appealed. In a divorce case, however, child custody and property rights decisions may be appealed. Cases are not retried in the Court of Appeals. Only the record of the original court trial is reviewed, with attorneys presenting the legal issues to the court for a decision.
Fourteen judges, two elected from seven appellate court districts, serve on the Court of Appeals. The judges are divided into panels of three to review and decide cases, with the majority determining the decision. The panels do not sit permanently in one location, but travel throughout the state to hear cases.
The Administrative Office of the Courts in Frankfort supports the activities of 4,000 Kentucky Court of Justice employees, including the elected offices of justices, judges and circuit court clerks. As the fiscal agent for the state court system, the AOC prepares a biennial budget draft and executes the Judicial Branch budget.