Benjamin "Lee" Kessinger III - Lexington, KY

BENJAMIN LEE KESSINGER, III

Lee’s extensive legal experience is the culmination over 36 years of representing individuals,c families, and businesses in state and federal trial and appellate courts, with a concentration on cases involving complex personal injury and business litigation. He has represented companies and individuals in litigation involving complex personal injuries and wrongful deaths; business litigation; legal and professional malpractice, estate and probate disputes, transportation (motor carrier, air and rail) litigation, claims and accidents; commercial/business contractual negotiations; personal injury defense; insurance coverage disputes; misrepresentation and fraud claims; misappropriation of trade secrets; and claims involving sexual harassment and improper employment activities. In addition to his litigation experience, Lee also has significant experience in arbitration and mediation matters, serving as a Certified Arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association, as well as an Arbitrator for National Arbitration and Mediation.

A significant portion of Lee’s legal career has included representation of families on wrongful death claims and of individuals seriously injured in catastrophic accidents. Over the last seventeen years, Lee has been personally involved in over 48 million dollars of verdicts or settlements involving claims for personal injury loss, wrongful death, legal and medical malpractice, wrongful termination, insurance disputes and other claims for monetary damages. Such experience includes:

• Successful appeal to Kentucky Supreme Court on claims for wrongful death and loss of consortium asserted against highway engineers for design defect on Interstate 65 in HMB Pro. Eng’rs, Inc. et al. v. Ives, 733 S.W.3d 246 (Ky. 2026).
• In April of 2022, obtained a jury verdict and award of punitive damages on behalf of an elderly woman for fraud in the inducement pertaining to the wrongful transfer of her family farm in Hunter v. Garner et al., Woodford Circuit Court, Action No. 19-CI-00086. The Court also ordered a return of the family farm to the client.
• In March of 2010, obtained a Fayette County jury verdict of $2,482,191 in wrongful death case arising from medical malpractice in McChesney et. al. v. Center for Weight Loss Surgery et al., Fayette Circuit Court; Civil; Action No. 08-CI-872. This case was also the first jury trial in Kentucky to award loss of consortium damages to a surviving spouse in the amount of $750,000.
• Represented multiple families arising from In Re: Air Crash at Lexington, Kentucky, August 27, 2006 involving Comair Crash Flight 5191 in connection with wrongful death claims filed and served as a member of Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee.

Lee has also successfully represented companies and individuals in disputes involving business, employment and contracts. For example, Lee has:

• Represented physician/board members in Kentucky Supreme Court case on business judgment statute and alleged breach of fiduciary duties in Baptist Physicians Lexington, Inc. v. New Lexington, Clinic, P.S.C., 436 S.W.3d 189 (Ky. 2014).
• Represented medical care providers and physicians in cases involving wrongful death and personal injuries.
• Obtained a successful federal jury verdict as lead attorney in three-week trial and appeal to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Adam v. J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc., 13 F.3d 219 (6th Cir. 1997), for a motor carrier involving multiple deaths and injuries arising from a vehicle pile-up on Interstate 75.
• Represented publicly held transportation companies and smaller companies for claims involving catastrophic damages, property damage, wrongful deaths and injuries involving defense of motor carriers, rail carriers and air carriers.
• Represented individuals and business entities in drafting, enforcing, and disputing employment non-compete agreements, as well as handling related matters for injunctive relief.
• Represented large national food franchisers in federal and state courts in multiple cases regarding claims for breach of contract by franchisees; termination of franchises; and defense of claims for personal injuries and vehicle liability.

Additionally, Lee regularly represents clients in contract negotiations and employment matters. He has negotiated and prepared legal documents utilized by over 1,800 transportation providers (common carrier, rail and air) and 33 Fortune 1000 companies, involving over $1.4 billion in transportation contracts. As a result of his successful career, Lee has earned an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rating by Martindale-Hubbell®.

Lee is a proud graduate of Auburn University (B.A. 1986) and the University of Kentucky College of Law (J.D. 1989), where he served as a Staff Member of the Journal of Law and Mineral Policy. He was admitted to the Kentucky Bar in 1989 and is licensed to practice in all Kentucky courts, as well as U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Deeply committed to the community and legal profession, Lee has served as a Board Member of the Fayette County Pro Bono Program (1998-2004) and Chair of the Kentucky Bar Association Annual Convention in 2001. In 2010, Governor Steve Beshear appointed Lee to the Colon Cancer Screening Advisory Committee, where he served until 2018. Lee has also devoted significant time to Crestwood Christian Church as a Trustee, Deacon and Chair of Finance Committee. He is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel and the Transportation Lawyers Association.

In his free time, Lee enjoys fishing and hunting with family and friends and working on his golf game.

*AV® Preeminent™ is a certification mark of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the MartindaleHubbell certification procedures, standards and policies.