Opinion ID: 1369804
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Certain Special Cases

Text: The usual requirement that a petitioner show great and irreparable injury, however, is not an absolute prerequisite to the issuance of a writ. Bender, 343 S.W.2d at 801. As noted above, we have carved out a limited exception to this requirement for certain special cases. But the exception is very limited: [I]n certain special cases this Court will entertain a petition for prohibition in the absence of a showing of specific great and irreparable injury to the petitioner, provided a substantial miscarriage of justice will result if the lower court is proceeding erroneously, and correction of the error is necessary and appropriate in the interest of orderly judicial administration. Bender, 343 S.W.2d at 801. We have tended to apply this exception only in those limited situations where the action for which the writ is sought would blatantly violate the law, for example, by breaching a tightly guarded privilege or by contradicting the clear requirements of a civil rule. See Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dickinson, 29 S.W.3d 796, 803 (Ky.2000) (noting that deposing an attorney or paralegal involved in the case would normally fall under the certain special cases exception because of the attorney-client privilege); id. at 801-02 (noting that a judge's failure to include findings of fact as required by CR 34.01 in a premises inspection order met the exception); Bender, 343 S.W.2d at 803 (holding that a judge's order for production of a doctor's report was a violation of the then recently enacted Civil Rules and thus fell under the exception). Fortunately, we need not wade into the quagmire of determining whether Foresters's claim meets the unique requirements of the certain special cases' exception. This is because the exception allows a petitioner to avoid only the requirement of great and irreparable injury, not the requirement of lack of an adequate remedy by appeal. Bender, 343 S.W.2d at 801. As discussed above, Foresters has an adequate remedy by appeal, thus it cannot claim the protection of the certain special cases exception.