News & Information

 

Visit us at the new www.wklawbusiness.com for all legal, business and health care products and services from Wolters Kluwer Law & Business

CCH® UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE — 10/04/17

Kentucky High Court finds complaint that was not notarized failed to satisfy verification requirement

After the claimant lost his job and was denied benefits, he received an unfavorable ruling from the Commission and exercised his right of judicial review by filing a complaint in a lower state court. Under state law, such a complaint must be verified by the claimant or his attorney. In this instance, the claimant's attorney signed the complaint and the claimant signed an attached verification page pledging that, to the best of his knowledge, the information in it was truthful and accurate. However, neither the claimant's nor his attorney's signature was notarized or otherwise subscribed under oath. The court overruled an earlier case in which substantial compliance with the verification requirement was sufficient and ruled that a complaint subscribed with an unsworn signature lacking attestation before a notary or other officer authorized to administer oaths is merely a signed pleading and fails to satisfy the verification requirement needed for judicial review. Thus, the lower court decision, which concluded that the claimant substantially complied with the verification requirement, was reversed (KUIC v. Norman Wilson, Ky. Sup. Ct., No. 2016-SC-000411-DG, August 24, 2017).