... and Justice for All

Report Finds Thousands Held In Federal Prison Beyond Release Date

Sometimes the lead says it all. The Justice Department's inspector general released a report yesterday concluding that over 4300 inmates were held in federal prison beyond their release date. At least 3 were kept in custody for more than a year after their release date.  The New York Times reports: Thousands Held In Federal Prison Too Long, Report Finds.

Read the report: Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Untimely Releases of Inmates.

And so it goes. 

Robert L. Abell
www.RobertAbellLaw.com

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Does an Employer's Ratification Require Explicit Affirmation or Endorsement?

St. Joseph Healthcare v. Thomas is a shocking and outrageous case: a hospital twice ejected a very sick and very poor man from its emergency room, threatening him with arrest if he returned and the man died.  A jury awarded the man's estate $25,000 in compensatory damages and $1,450,000 in punitive damages. 

The hospital corporation argued to the Kentucky Supreme Court that it had not "ratified the conduct of the emergency room personnel underlying the punitive damages award," since KRS 411.184(3) prohibits punitive damages against an employer based on an employee's conduct unless the employer (1) authorized the conduct, (2) anticipated the conduct, or (3) ratified the conduct.  The Court rejected the corporation's argument but gave an extended analysis of ratification law including the following:

• an employer cannot be regarded as having ratified the wrongful conduct of its employees and agents simply by denying that wrongful conduct occurred or by mounting a legal defense against actual or anticipated lawsuits arising from the conduct;
  
  
• "we reject the Hospital's argument that an employer's ratification ... can only be established by the employer's explicit affirmation or endorsement of the wrongful behavior."
  
  
• "In order that the ratification may be effective, there must be an intention to ratify, although the intention may be inferred from the facts and circumstances."
  
  
• ratification of the unauthorized acts of one assuming to act as agent may be either express or implied
  
  
• An employer's ratification of an employee's offensive conduct requires two elements: 1) an after-the-fact awareness of the conduct; and 2) an intent to ratify it.

This case is an important and impressive analysis of the role and purpose of punitive damages under Kentucky law. We've also discussed it on RobertAbellLaw.com: What is the purpose of punitive damages under Kentucky law?

Robert L. Abell
www.RobertAbellLaw.com

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Justice Delayed and Justice Denied; A Bronx Tale

Long ago as a public defender for the Legal Aid Society of New York City I sometimes wondered if a primary focus of the criminal justice system was to provide employment for those individuals that transported criminal defendants from jail, where they were held after not being able to post bond, and the courthouse. That thought came because too often nothing got done except the scheduling of the next court date at which nothing would get done.  Somethings perhaps never change as in this Bronx tale from the New York Times: A Nightmare Court, Worthy of Dickens. 

And so it goes.

Robert L. Abell
www.RobertAbellLaw.com

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