Benjamin L. Riddle

Benjamin L. Riddle is an associate in the Louisville, Kentucky office. Ben is a member of the firm’s Litigation and Criminal Defense Departments, where he focuses his practice on employment law, commercial disputes and personal injury matters. He has been with the firm since 2006 after leaving the law firm of Wiedner & McAuliffe, Ltd. in Chicago Illinois.

Ben has successfully defended his clients in state and federal courts, the Kentucky Court of Appeals and in the Kentucky Supreme Court. Most recently, Ben obtained summary judgment on behalf of his clients in the matter of Bobbie Gibson-Riggs, et al. v. Grant County Detention Center, et al., No. 05-148-DB in the United States District Court in the Eastern District of Kentucky (March 18, 2010). He also recently convinced the Kentucky Court of Appeals to uphold a summary judgment in favor of his client in Estes, et al. v. Thompson, et al., NO. 2008-CA-000982-MR (September 25, 2009) based upon the exclusive remedy provisions Kentucky’s Workers’ Compensation Statute. In addition to his law practice, Ben is on the Legislative Committee for the Saint Mathews Area Business Association and had participated in Michael Quinlan Brain Tumor Foundation Annual Journey of Hope walk for the last three years.

Ben graduated from Indiana University Kelley School of Business in 2000 and obtained his J.D. from Indiana University in 2003. He is a member of the Illinois and Kentucky State Bars and is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Courts in the Northern District of Illinois and the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky. Ben is also a member of the Illinois, Louisville, and Kentucky Bar Associations.

Recent Accomplishments:

• DRI members Stephen G. Amato and Benjamin L. Riddle of McBrayer, McGinnis, Leslie & Kirkland, PLLC in Lexington, Kentucky, successfully secured a summary judgment in favor of the Grant County Detention Center and its elected jailer in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky on March 18, 2010. Three plaintiffs brought an action under Title 42 U.S.C. §1983, alleging that the treatment at the detention center violated the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution by denying inmates access to lawfully prescribed psychotropic drugs and narcotic pain medication during incarceration.
• After a recent five day jury trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Lexington Division, Jon A. Woodall and Benjamin L. Riddle obtained a verdict on behalf of our client, a former subcontractor on a renovation project at the Veterans Administration facilities located in Lexington, Kentucky. Our client had been named as a defendant in a breach of contract case filed by the general contractor who claimed that our client's breach of the subcontract caused it over a half-million dollars in damages. Not only did our client prevail on the general contractor's claims, the jury determined that our client was wrongfully terminated from the project. The jury then entered a verdict in favor of our client to compensate it for the damages it suffered due to the general contractor's wrongful termination and the general contractor took nothing.