A Lexington judge has ordered sanctions against attorneys Mason Miller and William Rambicure, who despite dismissal of a civil claim earlier this year have continued to pursue claims against veterinarians who admitted falsification of radiograph dates at Keeneland sales, bloodhorse.com reports.
The order, which was signed by Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Muth Goodman, was entered Thursday and found on the court's online docket Friday.
Earlier this year, the Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's dismissal of a civil claim filed by Lexington attorney Miller and Rambicure on behalf of owner/trainer Tom Swearingen against Hagyard Equine Medical Institute and a handful of its partners regarding the misdating of radiographs.
Swearingen claimed in his original case that had he known he was potentially bidding on horses whose radiographs were not presented accurately that he would not have participated in the public auctions in question.
A Fayette Circuit Court judge dismissed the 2019 case, which was based on the practice of some veterinarians of forward-dating pre-sale radiographs to make them appear to fall in the required window in relation to a horse's sale date. A handful of veterinarians from Hagyard self-reported to the Kentucky Board of Veterinary Examiners for engaging in the misdating or for being aware of others using the practice and not reporting them. Those veterinarians indicated they misdated the records in order to help manage large caseloads ahead of major public auctions.
Bloodhorse.com reports that Miller and Rambicure violated what is known in Kentucky as Rule 11, Goodman found, writing that their conduct was “particularly egregious” when they continued to pursue claims after Swearingen admitted in a lower court proceeding he didn't use the digital repository at auction and did not send a veterinarian to do so on his behalf.
Sanctions to be imposed are to be “equal to defendants' reasonable attorney's fees and costs from the day following the tender of discovery responses until the date of this order” but will exclude expenses incurred during an appeal, citing a lack of jurisdiction.
To read the full story at bloodhorse.com, click here.
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