Kentucky

New Equine Law Casebook Interweaves Human Drama of Horse Racing

Equine Regulatory Law might sound like a dull legal topic. But in fact the new book by attorney and former Kentucky lawmaker Bob Heleringer is a highly readable history of the country’s thoroughbred horse-racing industry, according to the Daily Racing Form and a Bloodhorse.com review republished by The Horse. “I…

Sep 11, 2012 5:43 PM CDT

Disbarred Lawyer Gets 5 Years in Federal Prison for Embezzling $1M From Elderly Clients

A lawyer for Louis M. Smith said his Parkinson’s disease is at least in part responsible for the now-disbarred Kentucky lawyer’s alleged embezzlement of over $1 million from two elderly women from his church and sought a sentence of home detention for his ailing 63-year-old client. But a federal prosecutor…

Sep 5, 2012 4:50 PM CDT

Kentucky Residents Sue over ‘Black Gunk’ Whiskey Fungus

The whiskey fungus identified by researchers in a 2007 article has a name—Baudoinia—and a long history of bedeviling those who live near distilleries. The scientific discovery had led to class-action lawsuits against five major distilleries filed by home and business owners in the area of Louisville, Ky., the New York…

Aug 31, 2012 2:28 PM CDT

Judges in One Kentucky Court and Their Vacation ‘Honor System’ Get Poor Marks from Lawyers

Some lawyers didn’t hold back in a survey intended to gauge reaction to a reorganization in Kentucky’s Jefferson District Court. A majority of the 164 lawyers who responded to the survey disagreed that the reorganization led to positive change, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported in a story last week. Under the…

Aug 30, 2012 6:46 PM CDT

Ky. Bar Association Ordered to Pay $191.5K Legal Bill for Lawyer Whose Free Speech Was Chilled

The Kentucky Bar Association has been ordered by a federal judge to pay a little over $190,000 in attorney’s fees to a lawyer whose free speech rights were chilled. The order follows a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision last month that the KBA should not have warned attorney…

Aug 22, 2012 9:42 PM CDT

6th Circuit Says Ky. Bar Chilled Lawyer’s Free Speech; He Had a Right to Criticize Public Agency

A federal appeals court has sided with a Kentucky lawyer who challenged, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, a threatened legal ethics case concerning his criticism of the state Legislative Ethics Commission ruling dismissing a case against a prominent politician. The comments made by attorney John M.…

Jul 27, 2012 8:40 PM CDT

As U of Louisville Reviews $2.4M Overbudgeting of Law Scholarships, Admissions Official Resigns

The University of Louisville’s law school budgeted $550,000 for scholarships to incoming students this academic year. But, officials say, the school actually offered first-year law students $1.3 million. That error, multiplied by three years, is going to cost the university’s Brandeis School of Law $2.4 million over the next three…

Jul 18, 2012 5:47 PM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: ALM’s New Marketing Arm; Hastings Dean Explains 20% Cut in Enrollment

ALM’s Latest Moves Last week, American Lawyer Media announced that it’s forming a “Marketing Services team that will work with clients to plan, execute and measure a comprehensive legal marketing campaign to better achieve their business goals.” “Our clients in the legal services industry are moving away from ad hoc…

Jun 1, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

Woman Sues Dentist, Claims He Dropped Tool, She Swallowed and It Had to Be Surgically Removed

A Kentucky woman sued a Lexington dentist on Thursday, contending that she reflexively swallowed a small implant screwdriver he dropped in her mouth during a routine treatment and it had to be surgically removed from her digestive tract. Lena David, 71, is seeking unspecified damages in the Fayette County Circuit…

Apr 27, 2012 6:30 PM CDT

Disbarred Civil Rights Lawyer Once Won 2005 SCOTUS Ban on Ten Commandments in Ky. Courthouses

One of Kentucky’s most prominent civil rights lawyers has been disbarred after failing to remit to three clients over $150,000 to which they were entitled. David Friedman had been suspended in August 2010 after complaints concerning two clients, one of whom was a Jefferson Family Court judge, reports the Courier-Journal.…

Apr 26, 2012 4:45 PM CDT

Judge Castigates ‘Petulant and Peevish’ Prosecutors for Media Contact, Says He Won’t Be Swayed

A Kentucky judge blasted prosecutors for alerting local media in what he claimed was a “petulant and peevish” effort to pressure him into ruling in the state’s favor when deciding whether to release a jailed defendant on shock probation. However the first assistant of the commonwealth’s attorney’s office, Harry Rothgerber,…

Apr 23, 2012 5:57 PM CDT

Malpractice Insurance Fraud Charge Is Dropped Against Ky. Lawyer Disbarred for Role in Fen-Phen Case

Disbarred even after he was acquitted in a high-profile criminal case against three attorneys accused of swindling clients in multimillion-dollar fen-phen diet drug litigation, a Kentucky lawyer has won another round in criminal court. A Fayette Circuit Court judge has acquiesced to a prosecutor’s request to dismiss without prejudice a…

Apr 18, 2012 8:07 PM CDT

Lawyer Forced to Represent Himself at Jury Trial in Tax Evasion Case Wins a Reversal on Appeal

The Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed the conviction of a suspended Louisville attorney in a tax evasion case Friday and granted him a new trial because he had been forced to represent himself in his first trial. William Otto Ayers had handled his own defense in the Jefferson Circuit Court…

Mar 30, 2012 6:11 PM CDT

Judge Tosses Suit by Associate Claiming He Was Fired for Rejecting PI Firm’s Unethical Demand

A federal judge has dismissed a suit by an associate who claims he was fired from his personal injury law firm for refusing to participate in an unethical referral scheme. An illegal discharge claim can’t be premised on a violation of legal ethics rules, according to the Dec. 29 opinion…

Jan 23, 2012 11:30 AM CST

Indy’s Bingham McHale to Wed Ky.-Based Firm; Merged Bingham Greenebaum Will Have 250 Lawyers

A marriage of equals is to take place in January between Indiana’s Bingham McHale and Kentucky-based Greenebaum Doll & McDonald, the two law firms announced today. The combined law firm, which will have almost 250 lawyers, will be known as Bingham Greenbaum Doll, the Indianapolis Business Journal reports. “Each firm…

Dec 21, 2011 8:11 PM CST