Opinion ID: 2283054
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Writ of Mandamus Standard

Text: As is usually the case when dealing with one of the extraordinary writs, the best place to begin is with the test for availability of a writ. The writs of prohibition and mandamus are extraordinary in nature, and the courts of this Commonwealth have always been cautious and conservative both in entertaining petitions for and in granting such relief. Bender v. Eaton, 343 S.W.2d 799, 800 (Ky.1961). Because of these concerns, this Court allows such writs only in limited and extreme circumstances. To this end, the Court has articulated a strict standard to determine whether the remedy of a writ is even available to a petitioner, before examining the merits of the underlying claim. That standard, which essentially breaks writs down into two distinct classes, is as follows: A writ of prohibition may be granted upon a showing that (1) the lower court is proceeding or is about to proceed outside of its jurisdiction and there is no remedy through an application to an intermediate court; or (2) that the lower court is acting or is about to act erroneously, although within its jurisdiction, and there exists no adequate remedy by appeal or otherwise and great injustice and irreparable injury will result if the petition is not granted. Hoskins v. Maricle, 150 S.W.3d 1, 10 (Ky. 2004). In Hoskins, the Court returned to the more stringent writ standard applied in older cases, specifically Bender v. Eaton and Chamblee v. Rose, 249 S.W.2d 775 (Ky.1952), from which it had departed in the preceding two decades. Hoskins was an express attempt to reset the law of writs by removing the inconsistencies that had crept into various cases. The Hoskins test applies both to writs of prohibition and mandamus. See Cox v. Braden, 266 S.W.3d 792, 795 (Ky.2008); Hodge v. Coleman, 244 S.W.3d 102, 109 (Ky.2008); Sowders v. Lewis, 241 S.W.3d 319, 322 (Ky. 2007).