Kentucky Court of Justice
Kentucky Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments Sept. 11 in Highland Heights
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The Kentucky Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in three cases Thursday, Sept. 11, at Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law in Highland Heights. Proceedings will be open to the public.
A three-judge panel consisting of Court of Appeals Judges Laurance B. VanMeter and Thomas B. Wine and Senior Judge Joseph E. Lambert will hear oral arguments starting at 9:30 a.m. in the Moot Courtroom at Nunn Hall 420 at Nunn Drive.
The cases are on appeal from circuit courts in Fayette, Jessamine and Martin counties.
A case docket containing summaries of the cases is below.
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS DOCKET
Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008
9:30 AM 2007CA001460
CITIZENS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF JESSAMINE COUNTY LLC v.
COOPER DEVELOPMENT LLC ET AL.
Summary: Civil. Appeal in land-use planning case. Issue is whether trial court erred in reversing decision of planning commission, which had denied application for a cluster development in an agricultural zone.
Jessamine County judge who ruled in the case – Judge C. Hunter Daugherty
Appellant’s attorney: David Russell Marshall
Appellees’ attorneys: Robert L. Gullette Jr., Bruce E. Smith and Daniel Barry Stilz
10:15 AM 2007CA000773
JUDY JUDE (NOW RUNYAN) v. COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY
Summary: Criminal. Appeal of conviction for second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance. Issues include allowing cross-examination of defendant on her opinion about credibility of witnesses, improper questioning about a witness’s prior conviction, denying a motion for a mistrial, and cumulative error.
Martin County judge who ruled in the case – Judge John David Preston
Appellant’s attorneys: Jamesa Joelle Drake and Kathleen K. Schmidt
Appellee’s attorney: Perry T. Ryan
11 AM 2007CA001192 and 2007CA001244
LARRY THOMAS v. ST. JOSEPH HEALTHCARE INC.
Summary: Civil. Appeal and cross-appeal of medical malpractice judgment. There is a pending motion to dismiss the appeal for lack of a final and appealable order. Thomas appeals trial court’s order that set aside punitive damages award and ordered a new trial. St. Joseph argues that it was entitled to judgment on Thomas’ EMTALA claim and a directed verdict on the malpractice claims and that punitive damages were excessive.
Fayette County judge who ruled in the case – Judge Robert Overstreet
Appellant’s attorneys: Charles A. Grundy Jr. and Elizabeth R. Seif
Appellee’s attorneys: Robert F. Duncan and Jay E. Ingle
Judge Laurance B. VanMeter
Judge Laurance B. VanMeter was elected to the Kentucky Court of Appeals in November 2003 to serve Division 1 of the 5th Appellate District. He was re-elected to the Court of Appeals in November 2006. The 5th Appellate District is comprised of Anderson, Bourbon, Boyle, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Jessamine, Madison, Mercer, Scott and Woodford counties.
Judge VanMeter also serves as Court of Appeals representative on the Ethics Committee of the Kentucky Judiciary.
Prior to being elected to the Court of Appeals, Judge VanMeter was appointed to serve as a Fayette County circuit judge in 1999. From 1994 to 1999, he was a district judge for Fayette County, Division 1 of the 22nd Judicial District. He practiced law with the Lexington firm of Stoll, Keenon & Park from 1983 to 1994.
Judge VanMeter has been actively involved in many community organizations, including Little League Baseball, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and Parents Place.
He received his undergraduate degree in 1980 from Vanderbilt University and his law degree in 1983 from the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and the Kentucky Law Journal.
Judge VanMeter was born in 1958 and is a native of Winchester.
Judge Thomas B. Wine
Judge Thomas B. Wine was appointed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals in August 2006 to serve Division 1 of the 4th Appellate District, which consists of Jefferson County. He was subsequently elected to the Court of Appeals in November 2006.
Judge Wine was elected to the Circuit Court bench in November 1991 and re-elected in 1999. He served as chief judge of Jefferson Circuit Court in 2000 and 2001 and as president of the Louis D. Brandeis American Inns of Court in 2002 and 2003. He was in private practice from 1990 until he assumed the duties of circuit judge.
Before embarking on his judicial career, Judge Wine worked in the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney in Jefferson County from 1979 to 1984 and from 1988 to 1990. He worked in the Office of the Attorney General in Frankfort from 1984 to 1988.
Judge Wine was born in Louisville. He graduated from the University of Louisville with a bachelor’s degree in 1977 and a juris doctor in 1980.
He and his wife, Annie, have two children, Daniel Jacob and Matthew Joseph.
Judge Joseph E. Lambert
Judge Joseph E. Lambert is a senior judge assigned to the Court of Appeals and the chief judge of Kentucky’s senior judge program. He became a senior judge after retiring June 27 as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Kentucky.
Judge Lambert served 22 years as a Supreme Court justice and 10 years as chief justice. He was first elected to the Supreme Court in 1986 from the 27 southeastern Kentucky counties of the 3rd Supreme Court District. He was subsequently re-elected in 1994 and 2002. He became Kentucky’s fourth chief justice in October 1998 by a vote of his fellow justices and was re-elected to two additional four-year terms as chief justice in 2002 and in 2006.
During Judge Lambert’s 10-year tenure as chief justice, the Kentucky Court of Justice made great strides in Family Court, judicial facilities, court technology, Drug Court, judicial education, pretrial services and diversity awareness. In the last decade, Kentucky has earned a national reputation for Family Court, court facilities improvement, Drug Court and many other cutting-edge initiatives.
As a justice of the Supreme Court, Judge Lambert authored more than 400 published opinions of the Court and scores of dissenting and concurring opinions. In addition, he authored more than 500 memorandum opinions. He has been a frequent lecturer at bar conferences and has authored articles for publication in scholarly journals and the Kentucky Bar Association’s Bench and Bar magazine. He has also participated in numerous national legal education events as an invited speaker or panelist. As chief justice, he was an active member of the national Conference of Chief Justices and was elected to serve on its board of directors.
In 2000, the Kentucky Bar Association named him Outstanding Judge of Kentucky. He is a former board member of the Conference of Chief Justices and a former regent of Eastern Kentucky University. He serves as board chair of the Kentucky Judicial Form Retirement Plan.
The Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy gave Judge Lambert its Public Service Award in 2006. In 2004, he received the Civil Rights Award from both the Northern Kentucky NAACP and the Lexington NAACP for his commitment to eliminating discrimination. In 2003, he was awarded the Kentucky Bar Association President’s Special Service Award. He was given the Kentucky Public Advocate Award in 2001. In 2000, the National Association of Drug Court Professionals gave him its Leadership Award.
In October 2007, U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. appointed Chief Justice Lambert to membership on the Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction of the Judicial Conference of the United States.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown (Ky.) College and a juris doctor from the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, which gave him its Distinguished Alumni Award. He has received honorary doctor of laws degrees from Georgetown College, Eastern Kentucky University and Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law.
Judge Lambert is a native of Rockcastle County and resides in Mount Vernon with his wife, Debra, an attorney. They have two sons, Joseph and John.
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.