Court Opinion

ID: 9596502
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:50:38.387603+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:00.165588
License: Public Domain

KELLER, Justice,
concurring.
Although I agree with the majority’s resolution of the merits of this case, I write separately to clarify that I review decisions of the Court of Appeals in workers’ compensation matters solely because this Court has accepted appellate review of such matters under its Rules of Civil Procedure. I must emphasize that I do not believe the Kentucky Constitution requires an appeal as a matter of right from the Court of Appeals to the Kentucky Supreme Court in workers’ compensation matters. In my opinion, this Court, in Vessels v. Brown-Forman Distillers Corporation,1 misconstrued the relevant constitutional provisions when it found that Kentucky Constitution § 115 requires an appeal to this Court as a matter of right, and I believe the time has come to reconsider the Vessels holding and to reexamine the amended CR 76.25(12)2 which this Court enacted in the wake of Vessels.
*385I believe the language in Kentucky Constitution § 1153 that refers to a right of appeal to “another court” in “civil cases” contemplates only those civil suits initially commenced actually in a court within the Court of justice — hence, the reason for the reference to “another court” — and does not apply to administrative workers’ compensation matters.4 As I interpret Kentucky Constitution § 111(2),5 therefore, the Court of Appeals has appellate jurisdiction in workers’ compensation matters only because our Rules of Civil Procedure — specifically SCR 1.0306 and CR 76.257 — so provide.
By statute, the General Assembly has recognized this Court’s authority to permit review by the Court of Appeals of Workers’ Compensation Board decisions:
The decision of the board shall be subject to review by the Court of Appeals pursuant to Section 111 of the Kentucky Constitution and rules adopted by the Supreme Court. The scope of review by the Court of Appeals shall include all matters subject to review by the board and also errors of law arising before the board and made reviewable by the rules of the Supreme Court for review of decisions of an administrative agency.8
In Vessels, however, this Court incorrectly equated a matter brought under the statutory workers’ compensation scheme with a civil suit brought within the Court of Justice and found unconstitutional its own rule authorizing only discretionary appellate review in this Court of workers’ compensation matters previously reviewed by the Court of Appeals.
[Kentucky Constitution] Section 116 gives the Supreme Court “... the power to prescribe rules governing its appellate jurisdiction, rule for the appointment of commissioners and other court personnel, and rules of practice and procedure for the Court of Justice.” This section did not empower this Court to ignore the plain and unambiguous mandate of Section 115, which guarantees to all litigants the right of one appeal to another court, nor did it empower us to amend the constitution. CR 76.25(12) *386purports to do just that and we, therefore, declare that rule to be unconstitutional.
By declaring CR 76.25(12) unconstitutional, workers’ compensation claims that are first judicially reviewed in the Court of Appeals pursuant to KRS 342.290, and there ruled upon, may be appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court as a matter of right pursuant to Section 115 of the Kentucky Constitution.9
The Vessels majority appears to have ignored Kentucky Constitution § 110(2)(b), which creates original appellate jurisdiction in the Kentucky Supreme Court only for a narrowly defined set of criminal cases and allows this Court, by rule, to provide for other appellate jurisdiction:
Appeals from a judgment of the Circuit Court imposing a sentence of death or life imprisonment or imprisonment for twenty years or more shall be taken directly to the Supreme Court. In all other cases, criminal and civil, the Supreme Court shall exercise appellate jurisdiction as provided by its rules.10
It is axiomatic that, when interpreting rules, statutes, and constitutional provisions, this Court should seek to harmonize such provisions rather than adopting constructions which render portions of such provisions meaningless.11 The Vessels majority’s conclusions follow its characterization of a statutory workers’ compensation matter as a “civil case,” but create a novel type of “civil case” — apparently not contemplated by Kentucky Constitution § 110(2)(b) — for which the Supreme Court must accept appellate jurisdiction.
Similarly, the Vessels majority’s construction of Kentucky Constitution § 115 renders superfluous — if not moots — the language in Kentucky Constitution § 111(2) authorizing this Court to adopt rules creating appellate jurisdiction in the Court of Appeals for “decisions of administrative agencies of the Commonwealth.” If workers’ compensation actions are “civil cases” within the contemplation of § 115, the language in § 111(2) appears meaningless because our Constitution already requires appellate review. If, as I suggest, this Court interprets Kentucky Constitution § 115 to guarantee a right of appeal to another court only for those civil and criminal cases initially commenced within the Court of Justice, and not for administrative determinations, no such tension exists between these constitutional provisions.
Accordingly, I would overrule Vessels and amend CR 76.25(12) to read:
Discretionary review may be sought in the Supreme Court of a final decision or final order of the Court of Appeals in a Workers’ Compensation matter, and the request for such review shall be prosecuted in accordance with Civil Rule 76.20.12
*387To those who would argue that this Court should retain the Vessels majority’s construction of Kentucky Constitution § 115 to ensure stability in the law under the doctrine of stare decisis, I would submit that the equities supporting such a doctrine in the construction of statutory law are not present in a question of constitutional interpretation, and this Court has a duty to revisit its erroneous constitutional interpretation:
[S ] tare decisis has never been thought to stand as an absolute bar to reconsideration of a prior decision, especially with respect to matters of constitutional interpretation. Where the Court errs in its construction of a statute, correction may always be accomplished by legislative action. Revision of a constitutional interpretation, on the other hand, is often impossible as a practical matter, for it requires the cumbersome route of constitutional amendment. It is thus not only our prerogative but also our duty to re-examine a precedent where its reasoning or understanding of the Constitution is fairly called into question. And if the precedent or its rationale is of doubtful validity, then it should not stands.13
Because of a mistaken belief that our constitution required us to amend CR 76.25, however, this Court has adopted a rule of procedure that insulates these constitutional provisions from reinterpretation and leaves little space for critical reexamination. The constitution allows this Court to adopt a rule which permits an additional appeal of right to this Court as a matter of right. As long as that rule is in place, however, our ability to revisit our previous erroneous constitutional interpretation will be limited, and we will have bracketed away questions concerning whether this additional layer of mandatory review from an ALJ determination — a total of three (3) layers of review — is appropriate in light of Kentucky Constitution § 115’s mandate that “[procedural rules shall provide for expeditious and inexpensive appeals.”14
As I stated previously, I believe it is time for this Court to reconsider Vessels and to reexamine CR 76.25(12). Until that time, however, I emphasize that I review the merits of workers’ compensation matters brought before this Court by appeal not because I believe such review is constitutionally mandated, but solely because this Court has chosen, in my opinion improvidently, to accept appellate jurisdiction over such matters by adopting CR 76.25(12).
GRAVES, J., joins this concurring opinion.

. Ky., 793 S.W.2d 795 (1990).

. "Further review may be sought in the Supreme Court of a final decision or final order of the Court of Appeals in a Workers’ Compensation matter, and shall be prosecuted in accordance with the rules generally applicable to other appeals pursuant to CR 76.12 and CR 76.36.” CR 76.25(12).

. "In all cases, civil and criminal, there shall be allowed as a matter of right at least one appeal to another court, except that the Commonwealth may not appeal from a judgment of acquittal in a criminal case, other than for the purpose of securing a certification of law, and the General Assembly may prescribe that there shall be no appeal from that portion of a judgment dissolving a marriage. Procedural rules shall provide for expeditious and inexpensive appeals. Appeals shall be upon the record and not by trial de novo.” Ky.Const. § 115.

. See 2 Am.Jur.2d Administrative Law § 641 ("Statutory proceedings for judicial review in controversies arising before administrative agencies are not civil actions for the purpose of construing constitutional limitations upon the jurisdiction of an appellate court in civil actions at law.” Id.).

. "The Court of Appeals shall have appellate jurisdiction only, except that it may be authorized by rules of the Supreme Court to review directly decisions of administrative agencies of the Commonwealth, and it may issue all writs necessary in aid of its appellate jurisdiction, or the complete termination of any cause within its appellate jurisdiction. In all other cases, it shall exercise appellate jurisdiction as provided by law.” Ky.Const. § 111(2) (emphasis added).

. “Final decisions of the Workers’ Compensation Board are subject to review by the Court of Appeals in accordance with procedures set out in the Rules of Civil Procedure.” SCR 1.030(3).

. "Pursuant to Section 111(2) of the Kentucky Constitution and SCR 1.030(3), decisions of the Workers’ Compensation Board shall be subject to direct review by the Court of Appeals in accordance with the procedures set out in this Rule.” CR 76.25(1).

. KRS 342.290 (emphasis added).

. Vessels v. Brown-Forman Distillers Corporation, supra note 1 at 798.

. Ky.Const. § 110(2)(b) (emphasis added).

. See Williams v. Commonwealth, Ky., 829 S.W.2d 942, 944 (1992); Ledford v. Faulkner, 661 S.W.2d 475 (1983); Commonwealth v. Mullins, 296 Ky. 190, 176 S.W.2d 403 (1943).

. This amended CR 76.25(12) was recently proposed and discussed at the Hearing on Proposed Amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure at the Kentucky Bar Association's Summer 2001 Convention. When the Court subsequently considered the proposed amendment during the October 2001 Court Conference, the Court voted against the rule change — hopefully largely because of the constraints of the Vessels precedent. I intend for my dissenting opinion today to represent a first step towards reexamining Vessels.

. Mitchell v. W.T. Grant Co., 416 U.S. 600, 627-8, 94 S.Ct. 1895, 40 L.Ed.2d 406 (1974) (Powell, J., concurring) (emphasis added). See also Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957, 965, 111 S.Ct. 2680, 115 L.Ed.2d 836 (1991); Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649, 665, 64 S.Ct. 757, and n. 10, 88 L.Ed. 987 (1944).

. Ky.Const. § 115.