The lawsuit filed by Bob Baffert and Zedan Racing in the Kentucky Court of Appeals for a 90-day extension of his trainer’s license took an unforeseen turn.
The day after their urgent petition was filed in the court of appeals, Judge Allison Jones signed an order directing the parties to decide whether the underlying appeal to the Franklin Circuit Court was filed by Baffert and Zedan. properly in the first place or not.
On March 24, attorneys Craig Robertson and Clark Brewster applied to the Court of Appeals for emergency relief and dialogue from a series of rulings denying Baffert’s request for a moratorium. Most recently, Franklin Circuit judge Thomas Wingate denied Baffert’s request on March 21.
Baffert’s case stems from a manager’s ruling to suspend Baffert’s coach license for 90 days and disqualify Medina Spirit from his win in the 2021 Kentucky Derby due to Woodford Reserve. (G1) presented. After Baffert’s request to uphold the ruling was denied by KHRC chief executive Marc Guilfoil and KHRC itself, Baffert’s attorneys filed an appeal with the Franklin Circuit Court.
The Court of Appeals order wanted summaries to discuss whether the appropriate court should be selected for appeal, alluding to a provision of the Kentucky Amendment Statute (KRS 230.320(2)(f) ) states that a person denied residency by the KHRC can file an appeal “in the circuit court of the county where the cause of action arose.”
The issue at stake at Jones’s order was whether the underlying appeal was filed in the correct location. There can be arguments about the three places.
The case started when Churchill Downs managers discovered that Baffert had violated the Kentucky Administrative Regulations because Medina Spirit had betamethasone in his system during the Kentucky Derby. Kentucky managers rotate their duties from track to track as race meetings take place. In this case, they ruled on a race in Jefferson County (Louisville). The offices of Guilfoil and KHRC, who initially denied Baffert’s request to stay, are in Fayette County (Lexington). KHRC is an independent agency of the Kentucky Cabinet of Public Defenders, located in Franklin County (Frankfort).
In his sequence, Jones cited a 2017 Kentucky Supreme Court case that said that when an appeal is filed in the wrong county, the remedy is to refer the case to a court of law. itinerant in the appropriate county, not refutation.
One possible problem is that, even if Baffert’s appeal should have been filed in another county, the KHRC did not object to the case being heard in Franklin Circuit court. That may lead to discussion as to whether the site defect, if any, is waived; and whether the Court of Appeal has jurisdiction to raise such a matter for the first time.
There may be answers to these questions soon. The Court of Appeals Order requires the parties to submit summaries simultaneously no more than 10 pages before the closing date of the work on March 29.
Jones’ order said the KHRC could also respond to Baffert and Zedan’s emergency request for relief by March 29. In a separate order, Chief Justice Denise Clayton warned Zedan and Brewster not to submit any further paperwork. to the clerk of the court unless Brewster promptly applied for a license to practice before the Court of Appeal. Brewster is not licensed in Kentucky, and standard practice for out-of-state attorneys is to file so.
