COM., TRANSP. CABINET, DEPT. HWYS v. Sexton

Opinion of the Court by

Justice MINTON.

I. INTRODUCTION.

We granted discretionary review of a decision of the Court of Appeals that (1) created a new duty on the state’s urban landowners owed to adjoining landowners to exercise ordinary care to prevent an unreasonable risk of harm arising from defective or unsound trees on the urban landowners’ property and (2) held that administration of this new duty was ministerial in nature, meaning that the Commonwealth of Kentucky had waived sovereign immunity and could be held liable for damages allegedly caused by defective or unsound trees located on…