113 Ky. 288 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1902
Reversing.
In March, 1880, Joseph Schroer was committed to the Central Kentucky Asylum as a pauper patient, and lias" remained there since that date without any payment being made for his board and care. In January, 1800, his mother died intestate, leaving' a lot in Louisville, valued at from $3,000 to $4,000, in which appellant inherited a one-third interest subject to an estate by the curtesy iii J. B. Schroer, his father. J. B. Schroer died in September, 1897, leaving an estate of some $8,000 to $10,000, which he devised equally to his three children. The will was probated in October,-1897, and in April, 1900, the asylum brought this action, under section 257 of the Kentucky Statutes, to subject this after-acquired property of Joseph Schroer to the payment of his board for 11 years. The defenses presented by the committee of the lunatic are: First., That by the judgment committing him he was adjudged a pauper; that that judgment is in full force, and the asylum and the State are bound thereby, and can not collect board from his estate. Second. That, if his estate is liable, it is at the rate of $150 per year, and not at the rate of $200, as claimed in the petition. Third. That all claim for the years prior to 1895 is barred by the statute of limitations.
The finding of the jury before whom the inquest was tried was that the lunatic owned no estate of any kind. Section 2158, Kentucky Statutes, requires the jury to find what estate, and the value thereof, the lunatic owns in possession, reversion, or remainder; whether his parents are alive, and whether they have estate sufficient to support the person under trial. By section 2101 the judge who presides at the inquest is required to endeavor to ascertain and draw up a brief history of the patient’s case, which is sent to the asylum to which the lunatic is committed. The superintendent
It seems conceded that the statute of limitations (section 2515, Kentucky Statutes), applies to suits brought 'under section 257, before quoted. The limitation statute provides that “an action upon a liability created by statute, when no other time is fixed by the statute creating the liability, . .
. shall be commenced within five years next after the cause of action accrued.” The question to be considered is, when did the cause of action accrue to the commissioners? Such proceedings under section 257, in Central Asylum v. Penick, 102 Ky., 533, (19 R., 1583), (44 S. W., 92), were held to be essentially proceedings in rem to reach the estate of the lunatic, and subject so much of it as might be sufficient to pay the board account. This being so, the cause of action did not accrue until the patient acquired property which could be subjected to debt under the statutes relating to the •support of insane patients, and the board of commissioners
For the reasons given, the judgment is reversed and cause remanded with directions to enter a judgment in accordance with this opinion.