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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Report: Ky. governor picks former state appeals court judge to fill SC seat

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FRANKFORT, Ky. (Legal Newsline) - Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear reportedly has named a former state Court of Appeals judge to the state’s highest court.




 




The Lexington Herald-Leader reported late Wednesday that Beshear has appointed David Allen Barber to fill the vacancy left by Justice Will T. Scott, who served on the court for 10 years.




 




Scott stepped down in January to run for governor. He is seeking the Republican nomination in the May primary.




Barber was a state Court of Appeals judge from 2000 to 2007. He is a policy and legal adviser in House Speaker Greg Stumbo’s legislative office. He also is a partner in the law firm of Richardson Barber & Williamson in Owingsville.




 




He will take over Scott’s seat for the 7th Appellate Court District, which is comprised of 22 counties in eastern Kentucky.




 




Last week, Barber was one of three names sent to Beshear by the state’s Judicial Nominating Commission, a seven-member committee that helps fill judicial vacancies by appointment when a vacancy occurs outside of the election cycle.




 




The other two nominees included attorneys Roger Donald Riggs of Mount Sterling and Janet L. Stumbo of Van Lear.




 




Riggs is an attorney with the law firm of Morgan Collins & Yeast. He previously served as a Kentucky administrative law judge in the Kentucky Department of Workers’ Claims, where he presided over workers’ compensation claims throughout the state.




 




Stumbo is serving her seventh consecutive year as a state Court of Appeals judge for the 7th Appellate Court District. She was a Supreme Court justice from 1993 to 2004.




 




Beshear, who had 60 days to appoint a replacement, moved quickly to appoint Barber, of Prestonsburg.




 




From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.


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