Jeff S. Taylor

This case arose from injuries and deaths at a Kentucky candle factory during an EF4 tornado in December 2021, where employee plaintiffs alleged that supervisors prevented them from leaving despite advance warning by blocking exits and threatening termination, leading to claims of false imprisonment, statutory unlawful imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress against the employer and two supervisors. The circuit court dismissed all claims under the exclusive remedy provision of the Kentucky Workers’ Compensation Act. On appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of the intentional infliction of emotional distress claims as well as certain false imprisonment claims against one supervisor and one plaintiff, but reversed dismissal of the false imprisonment and statutory claims against the employer and the remaining supervisor, holding that the Act’s exception for intentional torts permitted those claims to proceed while remanding for further proceedings.

labor & employmenttorts & liabilitycriminal law

The case involved Aubrey Ellis Franklin, a convicted felon on diversion, who was charged under KRS 527.040 after police found a handgun in his backpack during a traffic stop; he pleaded guilty but reserved the right to challenge the statute's constitutionality. Franklin moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that the felon-in-possession law violated the Second Amendment and Section 1 of the Kentucky Constitution, both facially and as applied to nonviolent felons, citing Bruen's historical-tradition test. The circuit court denied the motion, and Franklin appealed the final judgment imposing a five-year sentence. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that KRS 527.040 is facially constitutional under binding Kentucky precedent in Frazier, which had conducted the required historical analysis and found the prohibition consistent with the nation's tradition of disarming dangerous persons.

gunscriminal law

This case involved Tristian Long's appeal from a Ballard Circuit Court judgment convicting him of unlawful transaction with a minor in the first degree, distribution of obscene matter, and being a second-degree persistent felony offender, resulting in a 17-year prison sentence. The charges arose from Long sending sexually explicit text messages and images to his 13-year-old relative C.H. and her 12-year-old sister A.H. The Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions and sentence, finding sufficient evidence and no reversible errors in the trial proceedings. However, it vacated the portion of the judgment imposing jail fees because the circuit court incorrectly calculated the daily rate based on the assumption that Long was held in Ballard County jail rather than McCracken County, where he was actually incarcerated, and remanded for recalculation of the fees under the proper rate schedule.

criminal lawprocedure

The case involves multiple consolidated appeals by A.O. from Jefferson Circuit Court orders regarding his involuntary commitment under KRS Chapter 202C after being found incompetent to stand trial on criminal charges including attempted murder. The circuit court had upheld the constitutionality of the commitment statute except for the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard at the initial hearing under KRS 202C.030(3), which it replaced with a beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard, and then ordered A.O.'s ongoing commitment following jury findings. The Court of Appeals, following the Kentucky Supreme Court's decision in R.L.P. v. Commonwealth, reversed the lower court's ruling on the burden of proof, held that the statute is constitutional as written, and affirmed the commitment orders and subsequent periodic review orders continuing A.O.'s commitment.

criminal lawcivil rightsprocedure

The case concerned A.O., who faced criminal charges including attempted murder but was found incompetent to stand trial and unlikely to regain competence, prompting the Commonwealth to seek involuntary commitment under KRS Chapter 202C. The Jefferson Circuit Court upheld the constitutionality of most provisions of the chapter but declared the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard in KRS 202C.030(3) for the initial hearing unconstitutional and substituted a beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard, then ordered A.O.'s commitment; it later continued the commitment after periodic review hearings. The Court of Appeals consolidated the appeals and, relying on the Kentucky Supreme Court's intervening decision in R.L.P. v. Commonwealth that the statute is constitutional as written, reversed the circuit court's invalidation of the preponderance standard while affirming the remainder of the orders and the ongoing commitments.

criminal lawprocedure

This case involved Dwayne Conken appealing the Nicholas Circuit Court's orders that upheld the Nicholas County Fiscal Court's approval of a 2023 subdivision plat submitted by DGS Development while invalidating an earlier 2022 plat approval for the same property. Conken, a neighboring landowner, had challenged both approvals on grounds that the plats violated the county's subdivision regulations adopted under KRS 100.273. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the Fiscal Court's 2023 approval complied with statutory requirements for recording minutes of public meetings and that the circuit court properly determined the 2022 regulations were arbitrary. The court reviewed the administrative decisions for arbitrariness under the standard applicable to local planning actions and found no error in affirming the later approval.

propertybusiness & regulatoryprocedure