Central Kentucky Asylum for the Insane v. Knighton

• Decision Date: 21 March 1902
• Citation: 113 Ky. 156,67 S.W. 366
• Parties: CENTRAL KENTUCKY ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE v. KNIGHTON. [1]
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

67 S.W. 366

113 Ky. 156

CENTRAL KENTUCKY ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE v. KNIGHTON. ^[1]

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

March 21, 1902

Appeal from circuit court, Jefferson county, chancery division.

"To be officially reported."

Action by the Central Kentucky Asylum for the Insane against Anna M Knighton to recover for board and maintenance of defendant's daughter. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Holt &amp Alexander, for appellant.

F Hagan, for appellee.

BURNAM J.

In August, 1880, Blanch Knighton, an unmarried woman, was adjudged to be a person of unsound mind by the Jefferson circuit court, and committed to the plaintiff asylum, where she has ever since remained at the expense of the state. This action was instituted on the 13th of November, 1900, by the appellant against the appellee, Anna M. Knighton, mother of Blanch Knighton, for $4,400,--21 years' board and maintenance of her insane daughter, Blanch, -- under section 257 of the Kentucky Statutes, which reads as follows "Where patients who have been or may be supported in either of said asylums, have or shall acquire estate which can be subjected to debt, the board of commissioners of such asylum, when reliably informed of the fact, is authorized and directed, in every such case, to sue for, in the name of the asylum, and recover the amount of said patient's board at the rate of two hundred dollars per year, or so much thereof as such estate will suffice to pay for the time they shall have been respectively kept and maintained therein, and not otherwise paid for, and by proper proceedings to subject their estates, respectively, to the payment thereof; and when the husband, wife or parent of any such patient, who has been or may be supported in either asylum, shall have estate sufficient for the support of such patient, in addition to the support of any others who may be dependent on such husband or parent, in like manner to sue and recover from such husband the amount of his wife's board, and from such parent the amount of his or her child's board, at the rate aforesaid, for the time they shall have been respectively supported by such asylum. The net sum realized in such suits shall be paid over to the state auditor, who shall cover into the public treasury." The appellee interposed a general demurrer to the petition, which was sustained. It appears from the pleadings and agreed statement of facts filed in the record that...