Request By:
Ms. Irene P. Long
Trimble County Attorney
Courthouse
Bedford, Kentucky 40006
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Apparently the county jailer has not filed suit for his fees for attending county and quarterly court [$6.00 per day] or for furnishing fuel, light, and water to the county and quarterly court [$2.00 per day]. KRS 64.150(1). You advised him that the five (5) year statute of limitation applies. You ask our opinion. We think you are right.
It is our opinion that, since no other time is fixed by the statute creating the liability [KRS 64.150], the five (5) year statute of limitation applies. We refer to KRS 413.120(2).
Aetna Casualty & Surety Company v. Snyder, Ky., 291 S.W.2d 14 (1956) 16.
Thus the jailer, as concerns his claim for payment by the county under KRS 64.150(1), was required to commence his legal action against the county within five years after the cause of action accrued [when the money became due and payable]. Your letter suggests that no such action was filed within that time limitation. That being true, the claim against the county is now barred.
The officer [jailer] claims he is entitled to interest on the money owed to him. A judgment in Kentucky bears eight per cent (8%) interest from its date. However, since the jailer cannot pursue this claim to judgment, the interest question is now moot. Cf. KRS 360.040.