Request By:
Honorable Randall T. Bentley
District Judge
Letcher District Court
Courthouse
Whitesburg, Kentucky 41858
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You request our opinion as to who can prepare the warrant/summons in actions for forcible entry or detainer under KRS Chapter 383. This is a civil action.
Under KRS 383.210, as amended by the 1976 Acts (Ex. Sess.) Ch. 14, § 312, the warrant of forcible entry or detainer is issued by the district court. Since it is a court process, it is our opinion that the district court clerk should prepare the warrant. KRS 30A.010. KRS 30A.140 provides that every clerk (circuit clerk, who is also district court clerk) shall perform such additional duties as may be prescribed by statute or court rule. Under CR 77.03, the district clerk could issue such warrant as a mesne process.
The trial commissioner shall perform such duties as may be directed by the Supreme Court of Kentucky. KRS 24A.100. We are not aware of any Supreme Court directions as to the trial commissioner in this specific area.