The Oldham Circuit Court came to a decision on part of former Deputy Judge Executive Joe Ender’s lawsuit against the Oldham County Fiscal Court, dismissing Ender’s two claims of wrongful discharge due to the fiscal court’s sovereign immunity.
The court order, signed by Vice Chief Regional Circuit Judge Jerry D. Crosby II on Feb. 3, describes that Ender alleged three claims: “violation of the Kentucky Whistleblower Act,” “Public Policy Wrongful discharge for the refusal to Falsify Business Records,” and “Public Policy Wrongful Discharge for [reporting an alleged] violation of the Kentucky Open Meetings Act.”
As previously reported, legal representatives of the fiscal court claimed that sovereign immunity shields the fiscal court from Ender’s allegations of wrongful termination, but left Ender’s claim of a violation of the Kentucky Whistleblower Act to be addressed later “at the appropriate time.”
“Sovereign immunity is a common law concept recognized as an inherent attribute of the state ...” the Feb. 3 order reads. “The protection of sovereign immunity extends to county governments as held by the Kentucky Supreme Court in Ruplinger v. Louisville/Jefferson Cnty. Metro Gov’t [in 2020] …”
The order further cited the 2008 Kentucky Court of Appeals case, “Jewish Hosp. Healtcare Servs., Inc. v. Louisville/Jefferson Cnty. Metro Gov’t,” in stating that “sovereign immunity may only be waived by an enactment of the General Assembly …”
Further, “the Kentucky Supreme Court has...
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