TOPEKA — A three-judge panel of the Kansas Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments Tuesday, April 17, at the University of Kansas School of Law.
The panel will meet in Green Hall, Room 201, 1535 W. 15th St., Lawrence.
Judge G. Gordon Atcheson will be joined by Judges G. Joseph Pierron Jr. and Melissa Taylor Standridge to hear oral arguments in five cases.
Three cases will be heard starting at 9:30 a.m. with the remaining two starting at 1:30 p.m. After each docket session, the judges will be available to answer questions from the public about the court and court procedures.
Following the arguments Tuesday afternoon, the panel also will judge the finals of the intraschool moot court competition, in which teams of second-year law students brief and argue a hypothetical legal case. This year's case deals with questions about constitutional protections for free speech and against unreasonable government searches on which courts across the country have disagreed.
Atcheson, the presiding judge for the panel, said, "The Court of Appeals judges always welcome invitations to hear cases at either of the state's law schools."
"It is great opportunity for us to visit with the students and faculty, and students get to see lawyers in action arguing actual cases," he said. "I especially enjoy returning to Green Hall with the court of appeals, since I studied law in the building."
Oral Arguments
Attorneys for each side will have an opportunity to present arguments to the judges, and the judges will have a chance to ask questions. The court will then take each case under consideration and will issue a written decision at a later date, usually within 60 days.
There are 14 judges on the Court of Appeals, and they sit in panels of three to decide cases. In addition to the panel hearing cases this week in Lawrence, other panels will hear cases at Newman University, Wichita; Washburn University School of Law, Topeka; and Johnson County Community College, Overland Park. All hearings are open to the public.
In fiscal year 2017, the Court of Appeals resolved appeals in 1,833 cases, including 1,265 in which the court issued a formal written opinion.
The five cases to be heard at KU are summarized below. They originate from Brown, Douglas, Johnson, and Shawnee counties.
9:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 17
Appeal No. 117,973: Brian Russell, et al. v. Treanor Investments LLC and 8th & New Hampshire LLC
Douglas County: Russell and others own condominiums in downtown Lawrence. They contend an operating and easement agreement requires their approval for changes in certain commercial development on the block. Treanor Investments and 8th & New Hampshire wish to expand a commercial building over the plaintiffs' objections. The district court ruled the defendants may amend the operating and easement agreement to allow the development. Issue on appeal is whether the district court misconstrued the agreement.
Appeal No. 117,707: Philip L. Turner, dba Turner & Turner v. Rich Hayse
Shawnee County: Turner, a Topeka lawyer, hired Hayse, another Topeka lawyer, to represent him in an appeal arising from his unsuccessful effort to enforce a judgment lien of more than $600,000 against real property in Greeley County. The appeal was unsuccessful. Turner then sued Hayse for legal malpractice on the grounds he abandoned what would have been a winning legal argument on appeal. The district court ruled in Hayse's favor on summary judgment, finding his representation of Turner was legally adequate. Turner has appealed.
Appeal No. 117,499: John A. Moore and Joyce Moore Trust and Joyce E. Moore v. Jebidiah Moore and Steven L. Moore
Brown County: Defendant Steven L. Moore had his parents John A. and Joyce E. Moore sign real estate contracts selling farmland and their residence to his son (their grandson) Jebidiah Moore. The sale effectively disinherited Steven's siblings, who would have inherited some of the farmland. Joyce and the trust sued on the grounds Steven exercised undue influence over Joyce and John, in light of their ages and health problems, resulting in a sale at substantially below market value of the land and on commercially unreasonable terms. A jury in Brown County District Court returned a verdict in favor of Steven and Jebidiah. Issues on appeal are whether: 1) the district court improperly instructed jurors on the law; 2) jurors improperly considered a settlement with the lawyer who prepared the contracts; and 3) there were other trial errors.
1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 17
Appeal No. 118550: Wasse Zafer and Zafer Chiropractic & Sports Injuries Inc. v. Andy Hermann, Farmers Insurance Co., et al.
Johnson County: Zafer is a chiropractor who owned and operated Zafer Chiropractic & Sports Injuries. Zafer frequently treated persons injured in motor vehicle collisions and obtained assignments of their insurance benefits. Zafer believed Farmers Insurance Co. and Hermann deliberately refused to pay valid claims for care. Zafer originally sued the defendants in the Missouri Circuit Courts, first in Cole County and eventually in Lincoln County. Lincoln County Circuit Court dismissed the claims based in part on Zafer's failure to comply with the state's fact-pleading requirements. Zafer appealed the dismissal, and the Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling. Zafer then filed substantially the same claims in Johnson County District Court in Kansas. Defendants moved to dismiss, arguing the Missouri decision established a res judicata bar to the Kansas action. Issue on appeal is whether the Missouri judgment constitutes a decision on the merits of the claims triggering res judicata or a decision on the sufficiency of the pleadings that may not.
Appeal No. 117,128: Travelers Casualty Insurance v. Larry G. Karns, as director of Kansas Division of Workers Compensation, and OneBeacon American Insurance Co.
Shawnee County: This involves a large workers compensation award and how the award should be apportioned among two private insurance carriers and the Kansas workers compensation fund. The issues involve questions of the court's jurisdiction to hear the dispute and, if so, the interplay between language in the administrative law judge's decision in the workers compensation proceedings, which was not contested on the point, and statutory provisions governing apportionment in certain circumstances. Shawnee County District Court found it had jurisdiction and determined Travelers Casualty Insurance responsible for the disputed portion of the award. Travelers appealed.
Note: Reporters who want to cover the oral arguments using video, photo, or audio recording devices, as spelled out in Supreme Court Rule 1001, should contact Lisa Taylor at taylorl@kscourts.org no later than noon Monday, April 16.