(1) Any owner or keeper of a livery stable or other business providing for the care of animals, and a person feeding, grazing, or caring for any animal for compensation, shall, except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, have a lien for one (1) year upon the animal placed in the stable, kennel, or similar facility, or put out to be fed or grazed by the owner, for his or her reasonable charges for keeping, caring for, feeding, and grazing the animal. The lien shall attach whether the animal is merely temporarily lodged, fed, grazed, and cared for, or is placed at the stable or other place or pasture for regular board. The lien shall take priority over a lien created pursuant to KRS § 376.420(1).
(2) Any person who has agreed to provide feed or care for an animal for compensation may, in lieu of the lien provided for in subsection (1) of this section, cause the animal to be sold if:

Terms Used In Kentucky Statutes 376.400

  • Animal: includes every warm-blooded living creature except a human being. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Certified mail: means any method of governmental, commercial, or electronic delivery that allows a document or package to have proof of:
    (a) Sending the document or package. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Owner: when applied to any animal, means any person having a property interest in such animal. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Registered mail: means any governmental, commercial, or electronic method of delivery that allows a document or package to have:
    (a) Its chain of custody recorded in a register to enable its location to be tracked. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes territories, outlying possessions, and the District of Columbia. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Year: means calendar year. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010

(a) The owner of the animal is at least forty-five (45) days in arrears on his or her payment for the care and feeding of the animal, and the animal is in the possession of the person or business providing for the care of the animal;
(b) The proposed sale is published in one (1) or more newspapers and qualified pursuant to KRS Chapter 424, with a publication area in the locale where the person providing care for the animal is located and the locale where the owner of the animal was last known to reside; and
(c) Written notice of the sale is sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, or registered mail, to the owner of the animal, addressed to such person at his or her last known address, and to all lien holders of record with the Kentucky Secretary of State and the local county clerk’s office, at least ten (10) days before the sale is conducted. The written notice shall include:
1. The amount due the person or business providing care for the animal;
2. The date, time, and location of the sale; and
3. A statement that the sale proceeds shall be disbursed as provided in subsection (3) of this section.
(3) If a sale is conducted as provided in subsection (2) of this section, the proceeds of the sale shall be disbursed in the following order:
(a) Payment for costs associated with the sale;
(b) Payment of amounts due to the person or business providing for the care and feeding of the animal;
(c) Payment to lien holders and creditors pursuant to a court order; and
(d) The remainder, if any, held for the owner for a period of twelve (12) months and, if not claimed at that time, then paid into the district school fund.
Effective: June 25, 2009
History: Amended 2009 Ky. Acts ch. 91, sec. 1, effective June 25, 2009. — Amended
1996 Ky. Acts ch. 28, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1996. — Amended 1984 Ky. Acts ch.
231, sec. 1, effective July 13, 1984. — Recodified 1942 Ky. Acts ch. 208, sec. 1, effective October 1, 1942, from Ky. Stat. sec. 2500.
Legislative Research Commission Note (6/25/2009). The Reviser of Statutes has corrected a manifest clerical or typographical error in subsection (1) of this statute under the authority of KRS § 7.136(1)(h).