KDC welcomes its newest member, Scott Guenther of Adams, Stepner, Woltermann & Dusing, PLLC, Covington.  Mr. Guenther is a University of Kentucky College of Law graduates and practices in the area of Workers' Compensation.  Mr. Guenther is sponsored by KDC Director, Jeff Mando.

KDC welcomes its two newest members:

Michael Joseph LaCourse of Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney, PLLC, Lexington is a graduate of the University of Kentucky School of Law.  Mr. LaCourse practices in the areas of Appellate, Auto, General Liability, Insurance, Premises and Torts.  He is a member of DRI and is sponsored by KDC Director, Andrew DeSimone.

Taylor Margaret Shepherd of Ward, Hocker & Thornton PLLC, Lexington is a graduate of Capital University Law School.  Ms. Shepard practices in the area of insurance coverage.  She is sponsored by KDC Member, Ashley Brown.

KDC welcomes the following attorneys to its membership:

Licha H. Farah of Ward, Hocker & Thornton, Lexington is a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law.  Mr. Farah practices in the areas of Auto, General Liability, Municipal and Premises.  He is a member of DRI and is sponsored by KDC member, Ashley Brown.

Brian Michael Gudalis of Ward, Hocker & Thornton, Lexington is a graduate of the Regent University.  He practices in the areas of Auto, Business Litigation, Commercial, Insurance, and Nursing Home.  He is sponsored by KDC member, Ashley Brown.

George Bowling Hocker of Ward, Hocker & Thornton, Lexington is a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law.  Mr. Hocker practices in the areas of Auto, General Liability, Insurance, Premises, Product Liability, Tort & Trucking.  He is a member of DRI and is sponsored by KDC member, Ashley Brown.

John O. Hollon of Ward, Hocker & Thornton, Lexington is a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law.  Mr.  Hollon practices in the areas of Auto, General Liability, Insurance, Medical Malpractice and Tort.  He is sponsored by KDC member, Ashley Brown.

Maxwell David Smith of Ward, Hocker & Thornton, Lexington is a graduate of Samford University.  Mr. Smith practices in the areas of Auto, General Liability, Municipal, Premises, Tort & Trucking.  He is sponsored by KDC member, Ashley Brown.

Donald Cameron Walton of Ward, Hocker & Thornton, Lexington is a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law.  Mr. Walton practices in the area of Workers' Compensation.  He is sponsored by KDC member, Ashley Brown.

KDC wishes to thank the authors of the most recent KDC amicus curiae brief, Joey Wright of Thompson Miller & Simpson PLC, and Andrew Yocum of Kriz, Jenkins, Prewitt & Jones, P.S.C. They co-authored the amicus brief to the Kentucky Supreme Court in the case of Waugh v. Parker, which deals with possible expansion of the Uniform Residential Landlord Tenant Act. In that case the tenant fell off her porch when a railing gave way, and then brought a negligence per se claim against her landlords for their alleged failure to comply with Louisville housing codes as required by URLTA. But does URLTA allow such a cause of action? The Court of Appeals said no.

KDC also wishes to thank the Amicus Committee Chair, David Kramer of Dressman Benzinger LaVelle psc, and Vice-Chairs, Aaron Silletto of Goldberg Simpson LLC, and Bill Orberson of Phillips Parker Orberson & Arnett, PLC, for their continuing work on behalf of the civil defense bar of Kentucky.

Congratulations to Todd Page, DRI Membership Chair, and Beth Lochmiller, DRI State Rep, for being recognized at the DRI Leadership meetings held in Chicago in early January. Todd was recognized for his extraordinary efforts in bringing in new members, and Beth was recognized for having met or exceeded the 2018 recruitment goals. Way to go Beth & Todd!  (See page 7 of the February 2019 issue of For the Defense)

The Kentucky Bar Association cordially invites you to participate in the third biennial Diversity and Inclusion Summit on Friday, March 22, 2019, at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center.

Thanks to the hard work of our Diversity and Inclusion Summit Chairs Roula Allouch and Ken Gish, and their planning committee, we are fortunate to have attracted an outstanding lineup of distinguished and learned professionals to address the summit. We encourage your participation in this significant event. We look forward to working with attorneys across the state, as we explore the full meaning of diversity and its relationship to the rule of law.

Diversity brings a wide range of viewpoints to any situation, and that’s good for the legal profession, for the pursuit of justice, and for communities throughout the Commonwealth and beyond. Through this summit, we hope to provide: 

• practical ideas for the creation of diversity and inclusion programs;
• assist management and other administrators with handling of diversity issues;
• and empower attorneys from diverse backgrounds to work through these same issues to become successful contributors in their place of employment.

The Summit will also seek to encourage young people from diverse backgrounds to become lawyers and practice law in Kentucky. In conjunction with the Summit, on Thursday, March 21, 2019, we are hosting a pipeline program that will bring high school students from diverse backgrounds to Covington to learn more about the legal profession.

To view the brochure:  https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.kybar.org/resource/resmgr/diversity_summit/2019/2019DiversityInclusionSummit.pdfTo

To register:  https://www.kybar.org/events/register.aspx?id=1188921&itemid=6f84e3af-7e40-4fdd-b137-91e426aaa0a4  

Join us as we explore the promise of increased diversity in the legal profession. 

DRI announces its annual Law Student Diversity Scholarship Program, open to rising (2019–20) 2nd & 3rd year African American, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, LGBT, and multi-racial students. All rising 2nd & 3rd year female law students are also eligible, regardless of race or ethnicity. Any other rising 2nd & 3rd year students who come from backgrounds that would add to the cause of diversity, regardless of race or gender, are eligible to apply. Students who are members of the American Association for Justice (AAJ), law school or law student members of AAJ, or students otherwise affiliated with or employed by AAJ are not eligible for DRI Law Student Diversity Scholarships.

Two scholarships in the amount of $10,000 each will be awarded to applicants who best meet the following criteria:

Applications and all other requested materials must be received by April 1, 2019.  To qualify for this scholarship, a candidate must be a full-time student. Evening students also qualify for consideration if they have completed one-third or more of the total credit hours required for a degree by the applicant’s law school. Visit dri.org for more information.

Please consider contacting individuals you may know at the various Kentucky law schools to advise them of this opportunity.  We would love a Kentucky law school student to be a recipient!

Kentucky Supreme Court aligns with KDC amicus brief position on supplementation of expert disclosures

In a decision issued on February 14, 2019, the Supreme Court of Kentucky held in Oliphant v. Ries, 2017-SC-208, that a litigant is not obligated to supplement a CR 26 expert witness disclosure with opinions previously provided by the litigant’s expert witness in a deposition. In reversing the Court of Appeals on that issue, the Supreme Court’s opinion aligned with the position urged on the Court by a KDC amicus curiae brief authored by KDC Amicus Committee Chair David Kramer and his colleague Michael Enzweiler of Dressman Benzinger LaVelle psc. Counsel for the successful appellants were Gerald Toner, Katherine, Vesely and Whitney Kramer of O’Bryan, Brown & Toner, PLLC.  The decision was designated for publication in the South Western Reporter.

BREAKING NEWS FOR KENTUCKY MED MAL ATTORNEYS -- SCOKY has DENIED the petition for rehearing in the MRP Act case. What this means: (1) The SCOKY opinion is now final and the MRP Act is officially dead; and (2) questions about the SOL, equitable tolling, and applicability of the Savings Statute will be decided by the circuit courts on a case-by-case basis.