Request By:
Det. Lt. Doran N. Burgin
Jefferson County Sheriff Office
Sixth and Court Place
Louisville, Kentucky
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Your question: Does a special bailiff have a conflict if he serves at the same time as a policeman or marshal?
KRS 24.265 reads:
"The judges of circuit courts of continuous session may appoint a bailiff, who shall be classified as a deputy sheriff. The compensation of the bailiff shall be fixed by an order of the circuit court and signed by a majority of the judges thereof, Provided, however, said compensation shall not exceed seven dollars ($7.00) per day. His salary shall be paid monthly out of the fund of the sheriff of the county of which the judicial circuit is composed."
The special bailiff would be a county officer, since he is classified as a deputy sheriff and paid out of the sheriff's funds.
Barnes v. Barnes, Ky., 241 S.W.2d 993 (1951). As a county officer he is prohibited from being a county officer and city officer (city policeman or marshal) at the same time. KRS 61.080(3). Thus the two offices are statutorily incompatible. Of course this special bailiff can serve process.
KRS 454.145 provides for another process server. It reads:
"The court, for good cause, may appoint a person to serve a particular process or order, and he shall have the same power to execute it which a sheriff has. His return must be verified by his affidavit. He shall be entitled to the fees allowed to sheriffs for similar services."
You told us by phone that the process servers are appointed by the Jefferson Circuit Court for an indefinite appointment. Actually KRS 454.145 is designed for the circuit court in particular or individual cases. It is not actually designed for indefinite appointments, as is the case under KRS 24.265. However, you say the circuit court is appointing persons special bailiffs as process servers in civil cases. The civil case load in Jefferson County Circuit Court is so heavy as to necessitate the use of special bailiffs under KRS 24.265 and 454.145, since the sheriff's office cannot take care of all the process serving because of other statutory duties.
If the special bailiffs are appointed under KRS 24.265, the office of special bailiff [a county office] and the office of city policeman or marshal are statutorily incompatible. KRS 61. 080(3).
If the special bailiffs are appointed under KRS 454. 145, the special bailiffs are not county or state officers. They are agents of the court appointing them. They serve at the court's will.