- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
MGM continues its successful representation of the Kentucky Kernel Press, Inc., in its joint effort with College Heights Herald to enforce the Kentucky Open Records Act against Western Kentucky University (“WKU”). Both student-run newspapers sought to require WKU to disclose Title IX investigations into sexual misconduct allegations made against university...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
ANDOVER GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB LITIGATION: A flurry of litigation commenced April 2017 involving the foreclosure by Whitaker Bank of the Andover Golf Course property which includes the clubhouse and pool. With the Andover entity apparently “handing over” the property to Whitaker in February 2017, Whitaker filed a foreclosure action...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
The Behr entities filed an action against seeking an immediate injunction to validate its trespass through another business property. The trial court denied the request and granted the property owner’s request by cross motion for injunction prohibiting the trespass. Behr appealed the temporary injunction to the Court of Appeals under...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
On August 24, 2017, in a case concerning a cohabiting, unmarried couple, the Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ conclusion that a cotenant of real property, including one who holds as joint tenant with right of survivorship, is entitled to contribution from other cotenants with respect to his...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
Update of the court’s rulings of June 27, 2017: In an action brought by the Lexington Herald-Leader, the Fayette Circuit Court held that the University of Kentucky violated the Kentucky Open Records Act by refusing to disclose documents received and discussed by the University’s Board of Trustees during an ostensibly...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
On June 23, 2017, the Court of Appeals affirmed the Fayette Circuit Court. On a matter of first impression, the COA agreed with the attorneys at MGM that an assignment of a right to receive royalties from a copyright is not testamentary in nature, rather is a transfer of a...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
On June 5, 2017, the trial court issued an opinion and order and granted summary judgment to the landlord over a lease dispute and amounts owed by the tenant. The ruling included recovery of attorneys’ fees under KRS 383.660 due to the willful breach of the lease. Read the ruling....
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
Former owner of real property sued to void the deed of conveyance from almost five (5) years earlier alleging that his and his wife’s signatures were forged. In deposition testimony both former owner and wife confirmed signatures were not forged on deed. Trial court granted summary judgment to current owner...
- Filed Under: Family Law, Litigation
Same-sex parents shared equal timesharing and joint custody of their autistic twins, and had entered an agreement that they would each remain in the same school district until the children graduated from high school. The twins’ biological mother filed a Motion to relocate with the minor children to another state,...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
The Court entered its Memorandum Opinion & Order May 5, 2017. In a contract dispute arising from the painting of plastic automotive parts, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky found that an issue of fact existed as to whether an “early termination fee” provided in...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
The Court of Appeals by Opinion issued March 24, 2017, held that the Garrard Circuit Court erred in holding that deed restrictions prohibited short-term rentals of residences. The circuit court’s had held that inhabitants of short-term rentals of residential property were not “residents” and therefore the use of the property...
In a March 3, 2017, opinion to-be-published issued by the Kentucky Court of Appeals, the Court held that the standard of review when addressing appeals involving the interpretation of trial court orders, the reviewing court is to give deference to the trial court’s interpretation of its own orders. The case...
- Filed Under: Insurance Defense, Litigation
On February 6, 2017, the insurance defense practice group, led by Don Pisacano, obtained a summary judgment for its client, Kentucky Growers Insurance Company, in Ortiz v. Kentucky Growers Insurance Company. The plaintiffs sought to recover under their homeowners’ policy for a fire loss. However, they misrepresented their ownership interest...
- Filed Under: Employment, Litigation
The Court of appeals agreed Columbia, the former principal and football coach in Clark County, that Farris’s, the former superintendent’s, appeal was interlocutory and subject to dismissal. Read the court’s February 3, 2017, Opinion.
...- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
Busch and his wife filed their lawsuit in the Fayette Circuit Court which was removed by the Defendant to federal court. Thereafter, the Defendant moved to dismissed the case. The court held that the Busches did state a cause of action under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681,...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Insurance Defense, Litigation
Don Pisacano successfully tried a Landlord Tenant case in Bourbon County Circuit Court and obtained a defense verdict for the farm owner/landlord in a premises liability personal injury claim arising from a trip and fall on an alleged defective cattle guard. Plaintiff was seeking damages for a fractured ankle and...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Employment, Litigation
December 2016: On December 1, 2016, the DOL appealed the nationwide injunction. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order on December 8, 2016, expediting the review of the nationwide injunction that prohibited the implementation of the DOL’s new regulations on overtime. It appears that briefing will be completed...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
MGM successfully defended an area car dealer. Webb sued the dealer over his trade in of a vehicle that was more than 10 years old when he traded it in, and he had originally purchased it used. Webb sued the car dealer alleging fraudulent misrepresentation based on statements during the...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Insurance Defense, Litigation
On behalf of Kentucky Growers Insurance, Don Pisacano obtained summary judgment against a national mortgage company’s claim for proceeds arising from a foreclosure action and subsequent fire loss. See the November 23, 2016 Order in Papastefanou v. Kentucky Growers, et al.
...- Filed Under: Litigation
The federal agency overseeing Medicare and Medicaid services has issued a rule barring any nursing home that receives federal funding from requiring residents to enter pre-dispute arbitration agreements. Such agreements have long been used by nursing homes to force patients and their families to pursue claims such as elder abuse...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Employment, Litigation
FEDERAL WAGE-AND-HOUR RULES CHANGES – An important change in the federal wage-and-hour rules becomes effective on December 1, 2016. The new rule recently promulgated by the Department of Labor will increase the salary level from $455 per week ($23,660 annually) to $913 per week (or $47,476 annually). Additional changes were...
HERALD LEADER ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OPINION AUGUST 2016: In the newest round of efforts to shed light on the activities of UK, the Attorney General issued an August 31, 2016 (16-ORD-193), opinion addressing the refusal of UK to provide documents in response to a Herald Leader Open Records request for matters...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Employment, Litigation
FEDERAL WAGE-AND-HOUR RULES CHANGES – An important change in the federal wage-and-hour rules becomes effective on December 1, 2016. The new rule recently promulgated by the Department of Labor will increase the salary level from $455 per week ($23,660 annually) to $913 per week (or $47,476 annually). Additional changes were...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Employment, Litigation
The Franklin Circuit Court again ruled in favor of John Veitch in his claims against the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission related to penalties imposed on him as Chief State Steward for his actions at the LIFE AT TEN race. In its August 23, 2016, Opinion and Order, the Court reverses...
- Filed Under: Litigation
Miller, Griffin & Marks, PSC filed an action in the Madison Circuit Court in July 2016 alleging the wrongful death of Donald Shelton. Named in the suit as defendant IS Madison Health and Rehabilitation Center in Richmond, Kentucky. Read more.
...Mike is scheduled to speak at the National Equine Law Conference in Lexington, Kentucky. Previously, in 2015 Mike spoke to the Commercial Breeders’ Association and at the Annual Convention of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) in Las Vegas on pre purchase examinations and auction sale radiograph reports. On...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
Car buyer demanded rescission of the purchase transaction but refused to return vehicle. Rather than returning the vehicle to implement the rescission request, buyer then filed suit in circuit court in her home county, not the county in which the dealership has its principal place of business, with a barebones...
- Filed Under: Litigation
An uphill neighbor focused and directed storm water runoff into his downhill neighbor’s yard, garage and house. In 2010 a jury found against the uphill neighbor and awarded $50,000 in compensatory damages and $75,000 in punitive damages to the downhill neighbor. The trial court also awarded recovery to downhill neighbor...
- Filed Under: Family Law, Litigation
Applying rules of proportionate reimbursement for payments made during the course of the (unmarried relationship) joint tenancy. Read more ›
...Read more on Graham’s recent work.
...- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Family Law, Litigation
A divorce action concluded over a decade earlier gave rise to an effort to hold ex-husband in contempt. The claimed contempt arose from his conveyance of marital real property during the divorce as part of the redistribution of marital assets ordered by the Divorce Decree. Ex-wife contended by motion practice...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
Landlord sued former tenants for failure to pay rent and related charges and for early termination of the written lease and physical damage to the property in excess of the security deposit. As part of the claim, Landlord also sought recovery of attorneys’ fees under KRS 383.660 for the tenants’...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
Former owner of real property sued to void the deed of conveyance from almost five (5) years earlier alleging that his and his wife’s signatures were forged. In deposition testimony both former owner and wife confirmed signatures were not forged on deed. Trial court granted summary judgment to current owner...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Family Law, Litigation
This case involved a conflict between the beneficiary listing on an IRA as compared to the Property Settlement Agreement terms entered into by the parties. In the divorce, Van Buskirk agreed that she would not receive an of the IRA funds upon the death of the IRA’s owner, her former...
- Filed Under: Litigation
Owners of a lot purchased from the neighborhood’s developer filed a lawsuit alleging the developer negligently designed, constructed and developed the subdivision and its sanitary and storm sewage lines and treatment system in such a way that sewage backs up onto Plaintiffs’ property and into Plaintiffs’ home. The developer filed...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
In Higgins, et al. v. BAC Home Loans, et al., a case filed in the Fayette Circuit Court, Higgins and other property owners sought statutory damages under KRS 382.360 for the failure of their mortgage holders to file an assignment of them mortgages in the county clerk’s office. The promissory...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
A basic landlord/tenant dispute has become a decade-long litigation matter. Tenants who were college students entered into a lease for residential property for the upcoming school year. Upon there arrival the tenants determined the property was not in the condition promised. Though the tenants moved in to begin the school...
- Filed Under: Equine, Litigation
Kentucky Racing Commission suspended trainer Werre for a year because the horse tested positive for Levamisole. The Franklin Circuit Court reversed the Racing Commission’s suspension of the trainer because the Racing Commission did not sustain its burden of showing the propriety of the penalty imposed. The Racing Commission had misclassified...
- Filed Under: Employment, Litigation
In an unemployment claim case, the former employee was terminated for his refusal to follow orders of the employer so it was a termination for cause . The Unemployment Commission awarded unemployment benefits over the cause termination. The trial court, on appeal, affirmed the award of those benefit ruling that...
- Filed Under: Insurance Defense, Litigation
Successfully resolved a lawsuit brought against an engineering firm regarding premises liability and alleged claims of defective construction. Read more ›
...- Filed Under: Insurance Defense, Litigation
Successfully defended a claim against a Kentucky insurer under a homeowners’ policy exclusion related to foreclosure. Read more ›
...In April 2015 The American College of Equine Attorneys posthumously inducted Bob Miller into their “Hall of Fame”.
...- Filed Under: Litigation
The trial court disqualified the firm from continuing to represent certain shareholders because it had previously represented the Board of the entity of which they are shareholders. A writ of prohibition was requested from the Court of Appeals to prevent the enforcement of the trial court’s disqualification order which was...
- Filed Under: Employment, Equine, Litigation
Chief State Steward of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission was terminated. The termination was upheld by the Kentucky Personnel Board. On judicial appeal of agency action, the Franklin Circuit Court reversed the termination, reinstated the Chief Steward with recovery of back pay. Personnel board/chief state steward/racing commission Read more ›
...- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
A business in the mall was evicted based upon a repeated failure to timely pay rent. The district court in a forcible detainer proceeding noted that its jurisdiction was limited to nonpayment of rent (not other breach of contract claims) but proceeded with the eviction. The Circuit court sitting as...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Family Law, Litigation
Parents who never married presented an issue of whether a trial court’s order directing and authorizing one parent to obtain a passport for their minor child was an enforceable order. The mother argued that the order was a modification of the custody decree without proper findings of fact and conclusions...
- Filed Under: Litigation
Townhome owners sued for declaration by the Scott Circuit Court that the homeowners’ association governing the 77 townhome development did not have any right, responsibility or jurisdiction over their units or lots. The court held that there were no covenants, restrictions or conditions filed in the record with respect to...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Equine, Litigation
Fifth Third Bank sought to enforce banking agreements that included pledges of equine collateral. Gulf Coast attempted to prove that the terms of the agreement with the lender were different than contained within the documents executed by the parties. The trial court ruled in favor of Fifth Third by Opinion...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Litigation
Plumber installed new underground water supply to apartment buildings under renovation by new owner. After several years owner determined that the water line installation was defective as joints in the pipes burst from having been overtightened at installation. No visible evidence existed of the harm until a puddling of water...
- Filed Under: Corporate & Transactional, Employment, Litigation
In a case that traversed from trial court, to court of appeals, back to the trial court, back to the court of appeals and then to supreme court, Kentucky’s highest court changed the law on noncompetition agreements and the consideration required for an enforceable restrictive covenant. Company sued former employee...
