Request By:
Stephen L. Frank
General Counsel
Kentucky Real Estate Commission
222 South First Street, Suite 300
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Martin Glazer, Assistant Attorney General
You ask our interpretation of the following sentence of KRS 324.410, which provides:
The Commission is authorized to pay to the aggrieved person or persons an aggregate amount not to exceed $20,000 against any one licensee. [Emphasis supplied. ]
You specifically ask:
Does that section authorize the Commission to pay a maximum amount of $20,000 regarding all claims against one licensee or does that section authorize the Commission to pay up to $20,000 per licensee for each claim?
This office has not previously interpreted this section, nor can we find cases so interpreting, so we are left with the bare actual language of the section itself.
The term "aggregate" is defined in Webster's New World Dictionary [Second College Edition) in part, as "taken all together, on the whole" or "a group or mass of distinct things gathered into or considered as a total or whole."
Since the General Assembly specifically used the term "person or persons" [emphasis supplied] , it apparently intended to include more than one person, if necessary in "divying" up a $20,000 maximum payment. Thus, we conclude that where a single occurrence results in damages to one or more persons, which damage resulted from the fraud of a single licensee, that maximum payment of $20,000 is divided among those injured.
Example: Licensee A commits fraud on two persons. The $20,000 is divided between the two persons defrauded in an amount equal to the extent each person is defrauded.
But, if two licensees commit fraud on two persons from a single incident, each person defrauded could get as much as $20,000 because there is more than one licensee committing the fraud.
Example: Two licensees, together, commit fraud on three persons. Each licensee could authorize a maximum payment of $40,000 divided among the three persons defrauded, but no licensee would be charged with more than $20,000 of the aggregate fraud.
And, if one licensee commits two separate acts of unrelated fraud on two separate people, the Fund could pay out a maximum of $20,000 for each separate occurrence concerning said licensee.