Lawsuit

The widow of former Lincoln County Magistrate Dexter Todd has filed a lawsuit against Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center and others, claiming that the anesthesia he received at the hospital was a “substantial factor” in his death. Brenda Todd of Crab Orchard filed the complaint last week in Boyle Circuit Court naming the medical center, Danville Anesthesia Associates, Dr. Bill E. Barnett and nurse Crystal Carpenter as defendants. It seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages.

When good men stand by and do nothing, evil can and will triumph. That is exactly what the Boyle County Fiscal Court did by voting to cease having prayer prior to its meeting. It appears the threat of a lawsuit by a nameless, self-avowed atheist was all it took for good people to begin the erosion of our country's Judeo-Christian heritage. This nameless individual believed there would be backlash from their threat of a lawsuit. However, concern of backlash is not an excuse for anonymity.   My previous letter to the editor supporting Dan Cathy's Christian-based opinion regarding homosexuality created some backlash.

Former George Rogers Clark High School football coach Paul Columbia claims he was terminated because Superintendent Elaine Farris' grandson wasn't receiving enough playing time, according to the answer Columbia and his wife Patricia filed Monday in a libel and slander lawsuit brought by Farris. Along with the Columbias, Joan Graves also is named in the lawsuit. The Columbias are countersuing Farris, alleging defamation. In his answer, Paul Columbia said Farris told him she was not satisfied with her grandson's playing time on the football team.

LIBERTY - The widow of the man gunned down in September as he worked at Tarter Gate Co. has filed a lawsuit against three of the men charged in the killing along with the gate manufacturer and 11 other Tarter-owned enterprises. Tina Pyles filed the complaint Tuesday in Casey Circuit Court alleging that William Rigdon of Lebanon, David Salyers of Campbellsville and Anthony Byrd of Dunnville acted intentionally, wantonly and recklessly in causing the death of Wendell Gleason Pyles on Sept.

A lawsuit against the city of Danville and one of its police officers has been moved to federal court at the request of the defendants. John Kinley of 120 Bold Venture filed a complaint last month in Boyle Circuit Court alleging Officer Pedro Lemos harassed and falsely arrested him during a dispute in the parking lot of an apartment complex in 2011, in violation of his constitutional and civil rights. The lawsuit also claims the city failed to properly train Lemos. The defendants have not yet responded to allegations made in the complaint, but have transferred the case successfully from Boyle Circuit Court to U.S. District Court in Lexington, arguing the lawsuit raises issues involving the U.S. Constitution and Civil Rights Act of 1964, which are matters of federal jurisdiction.

LANCASTER - A Lancaster police officer who was briefly suspended from his job has sued city officials for allegedly violating his civil rights. Shaun Seger filed a lawsuit Monday in Garrard Circuit Court. In the lawsuit, Seger names former police chief Allen Weston, Mayor Brenda Powers, City Council members Bret Baierlein, Chris Davis and Jesse Wagoner and former council members Brandon McGlone, Maggie Mick and Mike Sutton as defendants.  According to the suit, Seger called Sgt. Rick Shearer on Dec.

LANCASTER - Plans continue to move forward to fund 911 service in Lincoln and Garrard counties with monthly water-meter fees, most recently with the filing of a "friendly lawsuit" by the city of Lancaster that will test whether the new fees stand up to constitutional muster. In the lawsuit filed Nov. 9, the city of Lancaster argues an ordinance passed by Garrard County Fiscal Court implementing a new water-meter fee violates citizens' rights. It asks for the fee to be declared unconstitutional.

Constable Chauncey Tudor has hotly disputed the allegations made in former Jessamine County Sheriff Sgt. David Mudd's lawsuit, which was filed last month. Mudd alleges Tudor maliciously filed a criminal complaint about an altercation between the two law-enforcement agents that occurred the night of Oct. 29, 2011. Mudd claims the complaint created a stigma around him that lead to him being ostracized and forced him to seek law-enforcement work outside of Jessamine County. In Tudor's complaint, he alleged that Mudd, then a Jessamine County sheriff's sergeant, “attempted and threatened physical confrontation.” The complaint alleges Mudd “made offensive course of utterance” directed at Tudor and that he restrained the constable from leaving an area by parking his patrol car in front of him, two other officers and a civilian that were trying to leave.

A Danville man has filed a lawsuit against the city and one of its police officers, claiming he was wrongfully arrested and falsely charged during an incident last year. John Kinley of 120 Bold Venture names Officer Pedro Lemos and the city as defendants in the complaint he filed last week in Boyle Circuit Court. Kinley alleges that on the night of Nov. 11, 2011, he and Regina Cavanaugh were parked outside her apartment in Kinley's Hummer 2 talking when Lemos pulled in and went to his apartment at the other end of the complex.

HARRODSBURG - A Harrodsburg man has filed a lawsuit against the Mercer County Fair and Horse Show alleging that excavation work done at the fairgrounds to fix problems related to an earlier lawsuit have damaged his property. Joe M. Roby, who lives on Fairview Court adjacent to the fairgrounds, filed the complaint Tuesday in Mercer Circuit Court, naming the fairgrounds and contractor Claunch Construction as defendants. According to the lawsuit, the fairgrounds, employing Claunch, used coal ash and other coal byproducts for backfill during excavation and grading work in 2008.