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A Kentucky man was fired in 2003 from a steel plant a month after his bosses learned that his fiancée had filed a discrimination complaint against the company. He sued claiming that they fired him to retaliate against his fiancée. The U.S. Supreme Court has decided that he can sue his employer for retaliation related to his fiancée’s complaint. Justice Scalia wrote: “We think it obvious that a reasonable worker might be dissuaded’ from filing a complaint “if she knew that her fiancée would be fired.” The 8-0 ruling provides important protect for Kentucky workers whose spouses or relatives work at the same company and who might otherwise be afraid to file discrimination or sexual harassment complaints against their employers out of fear that relatives might suffer retaliation from such complaints.

For more information on the rights of Kentucky Workers in the workplace who have suffered from retaliation, sexual harassment, or discrimination, see one of our previous blog posts on these type of claims. (Click here for the link).570502_myself.jpg
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1191196_students__3.jpgIn Owensboro, Kentucky, a former youth minister has pled guilty to four counts of sex abuse and will receive three years in prison. The charges stemmed from a sleepover at a church which the man was accused of inappropriately touching a 15 year old girl. Those allegations lead to two other girls coming forward with similar charges.

It is always a tragedy when an adult in a position of authority and influence over a child takes advantage of the situation and make the child a victim. Sexual abuse is something that injures a child for the rest of their lives. It affects them socially, their ability to complete tasks and hold down stead employment, and hinders their ability to maintain trusting relationships. Person who sexual assault children deserve to be locked up and have the keys thrown away. They prey upon the most innocent, who look to them for guidance and protection.

Parents of child abuse victims can seek recourse not only through the criminal justice system, but also through the civil justice system. In cases which involve churches, schools, daycares, or other businesses which have a responsibility to protect kids at their business or under their care, parents can sue the businesses or institutions under a legal theory of negligent hiring retention, and supervision. These type of lawsuits against the businesses force the businesses to take responsibility for their employees, their actions and/or failure to take actions to protect children. Such lawsuits allow for the business to be punished, force the business to take proper steps to ensure such does not happen again under their watch, and obtains money for the victims to compensate them for what happened to them and affords money for their future care and therapy.

The Ackerson Law Offices have handles suits involving schools, daycares, and private swim clubs, where children have been sexually assaulted by adults, including persons in authority position.
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1308588_motorway_at_twilight.jpgThe Victim, age 56, of Louisville, Kentucky died Monday night due to injuries he sustained after his car broke down on the expressway, and he was attempting to flag down help. The Victim was stuck by another vehicle on the ramp from Phillips Lane and Louisville Airport. While no charges have been pressed against the other driver, fault in this case is still undetermined. The Victim leaves behind a wife and children. Vandeveer’s family has suffered a huge lose, for which the Kentucky Courts will allow an avenue for recovery.

The Victim’s family will need to setup an Estate through Probate, which will empower them to handle wrapping up his affairs and transferring his assets to his wife and children. Additionally, the Estate will be in a position to seek recovery of medical bills, funeral bills, loss of consortium claims, and a claim for a lifetime of lost wages/earning potential from both the other driver & the other driver’s insurance company and from the Victim’s own insurance company. This type of action is known as a wrongful death claim. While the legal system cannot bring the Victim back or lessen the pain his family is experiencing, it can provide a recovery financially for the family so they can be assisted in moving their lives forward and provide the money that they have lost as a result of this tragedy and the money that the Victim would have earned for the family over his lifetime.

Fault isn’t an issue at this time, and unless a person is 100% at fault, Kentucky law allows for a recovery of damages on a percentage basis. This is known as comparative fault under Kentucky Law. For example, under comparative fault and Kentucky law, a person injured or killed could bear 80% fault for an accident and the other party only bear 20%, and the party injured or killed who bore 80% fault could seek recovery of the 20% from the other party and their insurance company. Under such a theory, if the damages were calculated at $500,000.00 from an accident where a person was injured or killed, the recovery allowed under such an 80/20 split of fault would allow the injured or killed party to recovery $100,000.00.
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1038828_u_s__supreme_court_2.jpgAt 5:00 a.m. in January 2010 in Louisville, Kentucky, police were called to the scene of a parking lot where a man was passed out asleep in his truck. The keys were in the ignition, the truck was running, the man’s foot was on the accelerator, one hand was on the steering wheel, the other hand was on the gear shift, and the man was unconscious. The police officers reported hearing the engine running loudly from more than a block away, due to the truck being in park but having the gas pedal stepped on by the unconscious man. At the scene, the police had to break out the window because the man would not wake up and respond to the officers, and officers were afraid the vehicle would either caught on fire or jump into gear and propel itself through the parking lot.

The man admitted to police that he had been drinking at 4th Street Live and the breathalyzer given at the scene showed the man was nearly 3 times the legal limit of impairment. He was dangerous and could have injured or killed someone in the state he was in and driving a car.

However, in October 2010, the Jefferson District Court Judge ruled that the man should not have been charged with DUI, because he was asleep and did not have physical control of the vehicle.

Judges in Kentucky have relied upon a 1986 Kentucky Court of Appeals Case when dealing with DUIs and facts similar to this case. In that Court ruling, the Appeals Court stated that there are four factors to consider when the intoxicated person is asleep in the vehicle, as to where a DUI has been committed. The factors to consider if the person should be charged with DUI are:
(1) Whether the suspect in the vehicle was awake or asleep;
(2) Whether the engine of the suspects vehicle was running;
(3) The vehicle’s location and all circumstances explaining how the vehicle got there; and (4) The intent of the person behind the wheel.
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Kentucky has passed a law and now is enforcing it that prohibits cell phone texting while driving. The law is designed to make it illegal for drivers to text while driving, which takes drivers’ hands off the steering wheel of the car and takes drivers’ attentions off of the road. Cell phone usage, including texting, causes many accidents in Kentucky. The use of these devises while driving distracts drivers and seriously diminishes the driver’s control over their vehicle. It may seem like a small thing to use a cell phone or text while driving, but the reality is it causes major accidents which injury and kill people. Drivers who text or take their attentions off of the road can injure or kill pedestrians, including people at crosswalks, motorcyclists, bike riders, and drivers of other vehicles.

Kentucky’s law 1307593_mobile_phone_in_hand.jpgprohibiting texting while driving is limited in its effects due to the problems in enforcing it, which include only a small fine for getting caught. Because the consequences of having an accident and seriously injuring or killing others are so substantial, the law and its enforcement needs to be strengthened.

The State of Tennessee, which also has laws outlawing texting while driving, has begun to have special patrols designed as “text patrols” which use unmarked vehicles to specifically watch for and issue tickets to those drivers texting while driving.
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294459_graves.jpgIn Kentucky, wrongful death lawsuits are brought by the Estate of the deceased person. Therefore to even have the authority to bring a wrongful death claim, an Estate must be setup through the Probate Court to empower a legally authorized representative for the Estate to handle the matters. Even though the wrongful death suit is started through the establishment of an Estate in Probate Court, the actual monetary settlement or award does not fall under the probated Estate. Even if the decedent had a will, the monetary funds from the wrongful death case are controlled by Kentucky Statute (KRS 411.130) which directs who is to receive the settlement and awarded funds.

KRS 411.130 directs that the funds from a wrongful death claim go to:
(1) If there is a living spouse, but no children, then 100% to the surviving spouse;
(2) If there is a surviving spouse and surviving child/children, then 50% to the surviving spouse and 50% is given equally to any surviving child/children;
(3) If there is no surviving spouse but there are surviving children, then the surviving children split the money equally;
(4) if there are no surviving spouse nor surviving children, then the money is split between the living parents of the decedent; and (5) if the decedent died without a wife or kids, and his/her parents are all deceased also, then the money would go to the Estate and be distributed through such to the right remaining heirs.

Additionally, there are a couple of Kentucky Statutes that deal with parents which have abandoned their children, as related to KRS 411.130. These statues are referred to as Mandy Jo laws, and deal with cases where KRS 411.130 would instruct money to go to the surviving parents, but not if the parent had abandoned the child and not had a role in the child’s life. Under the Many Jo laws, the courts treat the parent who was not involved in their child’s life as having not survived the child and therefore the wrongful death monies would pass to the next legal heir.
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In Kentucky swimming pool accidents can be the responsibility of the owners of the property. The area of Kentucky law that deals with these types of injuries related to swimming pools are premise liability laws. Whether the pool is part of an individual homeowner’s property or at a setting such as a school, park, neighborhood pool area, hotel, or resort, the property owner has a legal duty to maintain safety and health standards at the pool. Premises liability laws, including those pertaining to injuries involving swimming pools, considers who is at fault and why.

Liability examinations boil down to looking at what caused the accident, what did the owner do or should have done related to preventing the accident, and what was the status the person injured. The status of the person injured will affect what duty the owner has towards that injured party. In Kentucky a person’s status upon a property is broken down into three categories:
• Invitee: Someone who the property owner allowed onto the premises for social reasons, such as a guest invited to a pool party at a private residence, or the guests of a hotel using the pool there;
• Licensee: A person who was allowed on the property for reasons of business; for example, a swimming pool serviceman or a utility company technician;
• Trespasser: A person who was not given permission to enter the property where the swimming pool is located. For instance, if the injured person jumped over two high fences and broke a gate’s lock to get into the pool and was then injured, he or she will be found to have some or all of the liability for the accident.

The degree of the duty owed by the property owner to the person injured upon the property varies based upon the status. A trespasser status, for adults, will require the lowest form of duty owed by the property owner.

In Kentucky, young children, even if determined to be a trespasser, will likely not be liable for their own injuries in a swimming pool. This is because Kentucky law will consider the swimming pool an attractive nuisance to the young child, and thus considered to have lured the child to it, even if wrongfully entering the property to get to the pool.
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Kentucky Landlord Tenants laws limit personal injury lawsuits1328867_for_rent_sign_2.jpg against landlords. In Kentucky, a landlord is “not a guarantor of the tenants’ safety.” See Davis v. Coleman Management Co., Ky.App., 765 S.W.2d 37 (1989). However, a landlord owes a duty to his tenants to exercise reasonable diligence to keep common areas retained under the landlords control in a safe condition for the tenants. See Davis v. Coleman Management Co., Ky. App., 765 S.W.2d 37, 38 (1989).

“A possessor of land who leases a part thereof and retains in his control any other part which the lessee is entitled to use as appurtenant to the part leased to him, is subject to liability to his lessee and others lawfully upon the land with the consent of the lessee or a sublease for physical harm caused by a dangerous condition upon that part of the land retained in the lessor’s control, if the lessor by the exercise of reasonable care could have discovered the condition and the unreasonable risk involved therein and could have made the condition safe.” See Restatement (Second) of Torts, Section 360 (1965).

Only when the tenant is put in complete and unrestricted possession and control of the premises, will the landlord not be liable for known defects which existed at the time the tenant leased the premises. See May v. Moore, 2008 WL 2152274 (Ky. App.), citing Carver v. Howard, Ky., 280 S.W.2d 708, 711 (1955).
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1302191_cross_of_carhuaz_beach.jpgA Kentucky federal lawsuit claiming religious discrimination against the University of Kentucky by a former professor has been settled prior to reaching a jury trial. The case was in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and the judge had ruled there was enough evidence for the case to go to a jury trial.

The allegations of the case were that Professor Martin Gaskell was considered to be the top candidate for UK’s director of it new observatory, until the University became concerned about Gaskell’s religious beliefs and how he coupled such with scientific beliefs.

UK has agreed to pay Gaskell $125,000.00 to settle the case. This is the equivalent of nearly two years salary for Gaskell, who has since found other employment.

In Kentucky, people who believe that they have been discriminated against in the workplace can file suit under federal anti-discrimination laws or under the Kentucky Civil Rights Act (KRS 344.010 et seq.) There claims are viewed under a multi-prong test which establishes the evidence and shifts burdens of proof. Discrimination cases can be very difficult and hard fought because in most cases they boil down to conflicting testimonies of what really happened and why it happened. Many times, employers will try to mask their discriminatory conduct by coming up with other reasons why they did what they did with regards to the employee. Because of such, these type of cases require a tremendous amount of time combing through documents, emails, and deposing witnesses.
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A tragic Kentucky car crash has killed a woman in Louisville. Martha Diaz, age 40, of the 5000 block of Quail Court in Louisville, Kentucky has died from injuries she sustained in an automobile accident on Sunday. The fatal crash was caused by Francisco Balderez, age 26, after the BMW he was driving went off the road and hit a sign and a utility pole early Sunday morning on the Greenbelt Highway near Lower River Road. At the time of the crash, Balderez’s blood alcohol level was reported to have been .211, which is nearly 3 times the legal limit. Balderez has been charged with one count of murder, one count of first degree criminal mischief, one count of possession of a controlled substance, and DUI. Balderez was taken to UL hospital with non-life-threatening injures.

Further details of the accident are pending.

This is clearly a case where Balderez should not have been driving and is responsible for the death of Diaz. Diaz’s Estate will have a wrongful death claim against Balderez for the role he played in Diaz’s death. Kentucky wrongful death laws will allow Diaz’s Estate to seek damages from Balderez, including his automobile insurance carriers. Additional investigation into where Balderez was coming from may shed light on other persons who may share some fault in this tragic accident. In cases where alcohol was supplied to the drunken driver when it should not have been, due to their already known intoxicated state, either at a party or a bar, those persons or businesses can become liable to the Estate of the decedent for the drunken condition which caused the accident.
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