Request By:
Cattie Lou Miller
Executive Director
Board of Claims
113 East Third Street
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; Martin Glazer, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion of this office as to whether a county can bring a claim against the State in the Board of Claims.
You have a claim from Knott County in which state highway vehicle struck a senior citizens' bus (owned by the county) in the rear.
KRS 44.070 provides, in part:
"(1) A board of claims, composed of the members of the crime victims compensation board . . . is created and vested with full power and authority to investigate, hear proof, and to compensate persons for damages sustained to either person or property as a proximate result of negligence on the part of the Commonwealth, any of its departments or agencies, or any of its officers, agents or employes while acting within the scope of their employment by the Commonwealth or any of its departments, or agencies. . . ." (Emphasis supplied.)
KRS 446.010(26) provides:
"As used in the statute laws of this state, unless the context requires otherwise:
"Person' may extend and be applied to bodies-politic and corporate, sociaties, communities, the public generally, individuals, partnerships and joint stock companies. . . ."
In
Dalzell v. Bourbon County Board of Education, 193 Ky. 171, 235 S.W. 360 (1921), it was held that the board of education was a "person" within certain statutes.
We find nothing in the Board of Claims Act nor in court cases that would preclude a county as a "person" from bringing such an action.
A county is a subdivision of the state, but it is a separate entity for taxing and other purposes. While it is doubtful that another state agency could bring an action in the board of claims because it would be suing itself, a county is a sufficiently separate governmental entity to qualify as a separate "person" from that of the Commonwealth.
Thus, it is the opinion of this office that Knott County can file a claim for property damage to one of its vehicles caused by the driver of a state vehicle.