6 results for 'judge:"Kauger"'.
J. Kauger, on certiorari, finds the court of appeals improperly affirmed the trial court's award of attorney fees. The homeowner had $51,000 in attorney fees awarded against him from his loss of a contract dispute over roofing work required by his bank. The order awarding attorney fees did not specifically set forth the facts and computation to support the award. Vacated.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Kauger, Filed On: April 8, 2024, Case #: 119432, Categories: Construction, Property, Attorney Fees
J. Kauger grants the medical service district's application for a writ of prohibition. The worker who was injured when an ambulance collided with the tollbooth filed suit against the district after receiving worker's compensation benefits. The Governmental Tort Claims Act precludes liability because benefits have previously been awarded.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Kauger, Filed On: February 13, 2024, Case #: 121510, Categories: Tort, Immunity, Workers' Compensation
J. Kauger finds the trial court properly determined that proceeds from a wrongful death suit were not property of the probate estate but belonged to the family trust. The mother, who died before receiving wrongful death proceeds from the suit involving her son’s death in police custody, allocated proceeds of over $1 million to be distributed to her trust. The personal representative of the deceased father’s estate says the proceeds belong in probate. Proceeds from a wrongful death lawsuit can be transferred into a trust before they are obtained by the trust settlor. Nothing in the will and trust statutes prohibits the transfer of expected proceeds into a trust. Affirmed.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Kauger, Filed On: October 24, 2023, Case #: 119694, Categories: Trusts, Wills / Probate, Wrongful Death
J. Kauger finds the trial court improperly dismissed this suit arising from injuries sustained by citizens in a collision with an Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper. A letter asking the highway patrol to preserve evidence was determined by the Office of Management & Enterprise Services to be statutory notice of a governmental tort claim, triggering Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act limits. The trial court then determined that time limit had expired when the suit was filed. The letter did not include language and information complying with the Act as constituting notice. Reversed and remanded.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Kauger, Filed On: October 17, 2023, Case #: 121422, Categories: Government, Tort, Vehicle
J. Kauger suspends attorney James Reedy’s license to practice law in Oklahoma after his guilty plea to a felony drunk driving accident in Alabama that killed a bicyclist. The attorney did not alert the Oklahoma or Alabama Bars of his criminal charges, resulting in a six-year lapse in resolution. The better practice involving concerns of a lawyer’s potential fitness to practice law would have been to self-report. Because another person was killed, and the cause was no routine misdemeanor, a suspension for two years and one day and the payment of costs is appropriate.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Kauger, Filed On: October 17, 2023, Case #: SCBD-7268, Categories: Vehicle, Wrongful Death, Attorney Discipline
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J. Kauger finds the trial court properly found in favor of the event venue in a lawsuit accusing it of allowing an intoxicated patron to leave the event, resulting in an accident that killed the family's daughter. Oklahoma law does not recognize a duty on the part of a private venue extending to third parties killed by a voluntarily intoxicated adult who attended but was not "over-served." The parents have not alleged that the patron was over-served. Affirmed.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Kauger , Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: 120915, Categories: Vehicle, Damages, Wrongful Death