April 30, 2008

Feb. 29, 2008 - KENTUCKY COURT OF APPEALS DECISIONS (2008:11)

April 29, 2008

Feb. 22, 2008 - KENTUCKY COURT OF APPEALS DECISIONS (2008:10)

April 08, 2008

Justice Takes a Hit as Chief Justice "Spike" Maynard recuses himself in case in West Virginia as life imitates fiction from "The Appeal"

The public's perception of justice took a hit in this story from Nightline regarding the West Virginia Supreme Court and Massey Energy. 

7_maynard_blankenship_champpagne_08A picture of your Supreme Court Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard having drinks with the CEO of the nation's largest coal company while vacationing with their girlfriends on the French Riviera with cases pending before that same court looks bad, real bad.

Nightline did a story on this which had previously made the rounds in national papers. Below is a link to a video from WV Public Broadcasting available at You Tube.

I apologive for some of the poor formatting, but the content is here.  For a list of links "googled" on this topic, then click HERE.  For a Wikipedia link on Spike Maynard, click here which contains links to some of the pleadings, opinions, motions, etc. 

After the disclosure, Maynard recused himself, as well as Justice Starcher, leaving Justice Benjamin as one of the remaining justices to hear the case.  "Shortly after the initial verdict against Massey, Blankenship helped to raise $3.5 million for an advertising campaign that led to the defeat of one of the Supreme Court justices. The winning candidate who benefited from Blankenship's money, Justice Brent Benjamin, has refused to recuse himself from the Massey appeals. Benjamin turned down a request from ABC News to be interviewed. Despite numerous requests for his recusal, Benjamin writes in court documents that there is no evidence to suggest that he cannot be fair and impartial." [for a link to stories on this election, see Justice for sale(American Radio Works)].

John Grisham's novel, "The Appeal", is it life imitating fiction, or the other way around?

Meanwhile, here is the recent Nightline story. 

Another Legal Victory for Tough Coal Boss
Questions Have Emerged About Blankenship's Relationships With State Supreme Court Justices Hearing Multi-Million-Dollar Appeals by His Company
By BRIAN ROSS and MADDY SAUER
April 7, 2008

April 07, 2008

FEB 21, 2008 SUPREME COURT OF KENTUCKY DECISIONS (Vol. 2008:09)

FEB 21, 2008 SUPREME COURT OF KENTUCKY DECISIONS (Vol. 2008:09)

March 23, 2008

Feb. 15, 2008 - KENTUCKY COURT OF APPEALS DECISIONS (2008:08)(COA)

March 22, 2008

Feb. 8, 2008 - KENTUCKY COURT OF APPEALS DECISIONS (2008:07)

March 19, 2008

Feb. 1, 2008 - KENTUCKY COURT OF APPEALS DECISIONS (2008:06)

February 25, 2008

JAN. 25, 2008 - KENTUCKY COURT OF APPEALS DECISIONS (2008:05)

February 20, 2008

JAN. 24, 2008 SUPREME COURT OF KENTUCKY DECISIONS (Vol. 2008:04)

JAN. 24, 2008 SUPREME COURT OF KENTUCKY DECISIONS (Vol. 2008:04)

February 03, 2008

JAN. 18, 2008 - KENTUCKY COURT OF APPEALS DECISIONS (2008:03)

  • HTML Version of the LawWire - Published and Nonpublished decisions
  • PDF Version of the LawWire
  • COA Argument Calendars
  • SCOKY Argument Calendars
  • Published decisions are digested below with links to full text, but the "not to be published" can be found in the minutes (by name, court, judges, decision, number, county, and LINK to full text)
  • MINUTES from AOC for this week saved at our site and click here for the AOC's Official Minutes [which is provided for backup purposes]
  • 36 rendered decisions
    • Nos. 45-80
    • 6 published decisions:  47; 50; 51; 53; 55; 67.

    UPDATE:  Effective 2008, the weekly lawwire compilation of appellate decisions will only be digesting the published SCOKY & COAKY decisions.  The non-published decisions will no longer be listed by name, keyword, and link to full text.  You can find the non-published decisions in the minutes, and the names and lower courts should give you an "idea" of the general nature of each case.  A list of the nonpublished SCOKY decisions will continue to be provided as before with names, case no., topic, and link to full text.