Kentucky

Top court reinstates $42M award against 3 lawyers who plundered $200M fen-phen settlement

After six years of litigation, it appears that over 430 plaintiffs are back on track to collect a $42 million verdict against three lawyers who took more than their fair share of attorney’s fees from a $200 million settlement of diet-drug litigation. Reversing an intermediate appeals court, which had ruled…

Aug 30, 2013 12:10 PM CDT

Ex-judge who blasted appellate counsel is reprimanded; might have been removed if still on bench

A former Kentucky judge who resigned earlier this year after being suspended, with pay, has been reprimanded for blasting an appellate lawyer in a high-profile murder case and refusing to allow a defendant in an unrelated case, who was not represented by counsel, to make arguments on his own behalf.…

Aug 12, 2013 5:23 PM CDT

Cease-and-desist letter on Ky. AG’s letterhead spurs suit by parenting columnist

The Kentucky Attorney General’s office says one of its lawyers “inadvertently” used its official letterhead when he sent a cease-and-desist letter to a nationally syndicated parenting columnist. The letter by assistant attorney general Brian Judy, dispatched to John Rosemond, said the columnist should stop calling himself a psychologist and engaging…

Jul 23, 2013 12:07 PM CDT

Stunned Chicago pizzeria waitress is latest to benefit, via $500 tip, from stranger’s bequest

In a number of families, even a will drafted by a lawyer is subject to challenge, formally or informally, as relatives fight for a piece of the pie. But the survivors of a Kentucky man who committed suicide last year have found a way to create assets he didn’t have,…

Jul 12, 2013 12:00 PM CDT

Judge who angrily lectured appellate counsel in death-penalty case is suspended with pay

A senior Kentucky judge has been suspended with pay after threatening last year, as a figure of speech, to strangle a lawyer who was making an appellate argument in a high-profile death-penalty case if he ever again called the jurist’s cellphone. (The lawyer had done so with opposing counsel’s permission,…

Jun 6, 2013 9:40 PM CDT

Threatening to strangle a PD leads to ethics charges against judge; did stroke affect his ‘filter’?

A Kentucky senior judge faces ethics charges, in part for a well-publicized case in which he threatened to “strangle” a public defender he deemed a “backseat driver” rather than a “real” lawyer. The ethics charges against Judge Martin “Marty” McDonald cite the September incident in which the judge chastised the…

Jun 4, 2013 12:14 PM CDT

Officer fined $2 for hitting handcuffed suspect

A police officer in Louisville, Ky., was convicted Friday of official misconduct and harassment for striking a handcuffed suspect. But Officer David Graham was spared jail time and fined only $2. Despite facing jail time and hundreds of dollars in fines, jurors chose to fine him $1 for the misconduct…

Mar 11, 2013 2:18 PM CDT

Murder defendant’s claimed threats against his attorneys have left him lawyerless

Saying that he found himself in an “interesting and unique” situation, a Kentucky judge told a murder defendant on Monday that local attorneys aren’t willing to represent him because of his past threats to kill two defense lawyers. “I honestly don’t know where we are going to go from here,”…

Feb 12, 2013 4:26 PM CST

Jailed Ky. Judge-Executive Hasn’t Resigned; Will He, Like Predecessor, Hold Job in Prison?

For the second time in a row, the judge-executive of Knott County, Ky., has gone to prison after being convicted in a vote-buying case. That raises the question, will Knott County Judge-Executive Randy Thompson, like his predecessor, former Judge-Executive Donnie Newsome, continue to hold office as judge-executive while he serves…

Dec 10, 2012 5:11 PM CST

Lawyer Blasted by Ky. Judge Who Called Case ‘Ridiculous,’ Client a ‘Carcass’ Now Seeks His Removal

A lawyer who was blasted by a senior Kentucky judge during a videotaped hearing that has generated much comment from observers has now filed a removal motion seeking a new jurist to oversee his client’s motion for a new trial in a capital murder case. “It is my opinion that…

Oct 16, 2012 9:58 PM CDT

See the Video: Angry Judge Blasts ‘Backseat Driver’ Appellate Counsel in High-Profile Murder Case

Updated: In an action-packed Sept. 28 hearing, a Kentucky senior judge blasts an appellate lawyer seeking a new trial for his client in a high-profile murder case. As the camera rolls, retired Jefferson Circuit Judge Martin McDonald repeatedly criticizes assistant public advocate David Barron and cuts him off as he…

Oct 9, 2012 7:37 PM CDT

Lawyer Disciplined for Using Personal Laptop at Work to Earn Extra Bucks from JustAnswer.com

A Kentucky lawyer has been reprimanded for using his personal laptop computer during downtime at work to earn extra income by answering legal questions on JustAnswer.com. Matthew Scott Finley also got into hot water by occasionally using his state computer at his job in the public protection cabinet of Kentucky’s…

Oct 1, 2012 5:47 PM CDT

Jury Deadlocks in Murder Trial of Lawyer’s Widow; She Says He Shot Himself in His Law Office

A Kentucky jury deadlocked Wednesday in the murder trial of a lawyer’s widow accused of shooting him to death in his London law office last year. Larry and Lisa Gilliam had been married just 44 days on Jan. 7, 2011. The prosecution in the Laurel Circuit Court case contended that…

Sep 20, 2012 4:13 PM CDT

On Trial for Murder, Lawyer’s Widow Says He Shot Himself to Death in His Law Office

On trial in Kentucky for the murder of her husband, attorney Larry Gilliam, who was shot to death in his law office last year, Lisa Gilliam is arguing that his death was in fact a suicide. The defense says Lisa Gilliam was in another area of the London office when…

Sep 18, 2012 4:35 PM CDT

Bingham McCutchen Plans to Open Centralized Admin Office at U of Kentucky Business Park

Bingham McCutchen has become the latest major law firm to centralize its back-office legal services in a facility far from its expensive big-city attorney offices. The 1,000-attorney firm announced Wednesday that it will be opening a 250-employee facility next year in Lexington, Ky., the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. Bingham said in…

Sep 12, 2012 10:31 PM CDT