Kentucky Injury Law News
For at least the third time in recent years, John Oliver’s HBO show This Week Tonight has tackled an issue litigated by Garmer & Prather. In 2019, attorneys at our firm convinced the Kentucky Supreme Court to overturn a seven-decades-old law that gave police officers total immunity when an innocent bystander was killed by a police chase, regardless of whether it was reasonable to conduct a high-speed pursuit given the crime or the conditions, as long as the officer did not directly hit the victim. Now, Kentucky juries can determine whether law enforcement shares in the fault based on all of the circumstances involved. The opinion was Gonzalez v. Johnson, 581 S.W.3d 529 (Ky. 2019).
Police pursuits are incredibly dangerous, killing thousands of Americans every year, and more than 10 deaths each week are innocent bystanders who were not involved in the pursuit. Oftentimes these pursuits are initiated for things as trivial as minor traffic violations or, as in our Gonzalez case, nonviolent drug offenses when the suspect would be easy to find later. John Oliver shone a light on these practices and the failure to fairly weigh risks versus benefits when law enforcement initiates or continues the pursuit.
We recommend everybody watch this important segment. Mr. Oliver even includes footage of criminologist Geoff Alpert, a leading expert on police pursuits and one of our consultants in putting together the Gonzalez case.
This isn’t the first time Last Week Tonight has delved into an issue litigated by Garmer & Prather. On June 18, 2021, Mr. Oliver exposed the dark world of Health Care Sharing Ministries, which have been marketed, largely to faithful Christians, as a legitimate alternative to health insurance. Much of the episode focused on a company called Aliera and the sham “ministry” it started. Watch the segment here.
After that episode aired, Garmer & Prather and its team of cocounsel secured a class action judgment on behalf of our Kentucky clients. With the judgment we were able to force Aliera to cease its fraudulent operations through an involuntary Bankruptcy proceeding. We continue to litigate those claims in Bankruptcy Court in the Northern District of Georgia as counsel for the liquidating trustees of both Aliera and Sharity Ministries (previously known as Trinity HealthShare), where the trustees have already recovered millions of dollars that will ultimately benefit Aliera’s defrauded customers. We also helped secure a class action settlement in a claim against Unity HealthShare, LLC, to compensate victims of Aliera’s first wave of fraud.
And on October 2, 2023, Last Week Tonight examined prison health care, which has largely been privatized, often leading to dangerously inadequate health care as private contractors cut corners to save costs. One of the subjects of its episode was Advanced Correctional Healthcare, which had been a defendant in a county jail wrongful death suit Garmer & Prather previously resolved confidentially for our client. In the episode, Mr. Oliver highlighted documentary evidence that we had previously uncovered in our lawsuit. He even showed video footage of ACH attorney Jessica Young, who we had deposed as a key witness in our case before it was settled. Watch the episode here.
At Garmer & Prather, it is our goal to help clients who have been injured, cheated, or defrauded by others. We are happy when we see outlets like Last Week Tonight take on these important issues as well. If you believe you or a loved one has been mistreated by a third party, please contact us for a free consultation.