KRS § 278.990 — KY Code / Title XXIV / Chapter 278 / Section 278.990
278.990 Penalties
Status: in_force

278.990 Penalties.

(1) Any officer, agent, or employee of a utility, as defined in KRS 278.010, and any

other person who willfully violates any of the provisions of this chapter or any

regulation promulgated pursuant to this chapter, or fails to obey any order of the

commission from which all rights of appeal have been exhausted, or who procures,

aids, or abets a violation by any utility, shall be subject to either a civil penalty to be

assessed by the commission not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars

($2,500) for each offense or a criminal penalty of imprisonment for not more than

six (6) months, or both. If any utility willfully violates any of the provisions of this

chapter or any regulation promulgated pursuant to this chapter, or does any act

therein prohibited, or fails to perform any duty imposed upon it under those sections

for which no penalty has been provided by law, or fails to obey any order of the

commission from which all rights of appeal have been exhausted, the utility shall be

subject to a civil penalty to be assessed by the commission for each offense not less

than twenty-five dollars ($25) nor more than two thousand five hundred dollars

($2,500). Each act, omission, or failure by an officer, agent, or other person acting

for or employed by a utility and acting within the scope of his employment shall be

deemed to be the act, omission, or failure of the utility.

(2) Actions to recover the principal amount due and penalties under this chapter shall

be brought in the name of the Commonwealth in the Franklin Circuit Court.

Whenever any utility is subject to a penalty under this chapter, the commission shall

certify the facts to its counsel, who shall bring an action for recovery of the

principal amount due and the penalty. The commission may compromise and

dismiss the action on terms approved by the court. The principal amount due shall

be paid into the State Treasury and credited to the account of the commission, and

all penalties recovered in such actions shall be paid into the State Treasury and

credited to the general fund.

(3) Any utility that fails to pay an assessment as provided for by KRS 278.130 to

278.150 shall forfeit and pay to the state one thousand dollars ($1,000), and twenty-

five dollars ($25) for each day it fails to pay the assessment, and shall not be

released thereby from its liability for the assessment.

(4) Any utility that issues any securities or evidences of indebtedness, or assumes any

obligation or liability in respect to the securities or evidences of indebtedness of any

other person, or makes any sale or other disposition of securities or evidences of

indebtedness, or the proceeds thereof, for purposes other than the purposes specified

in the order of the commission made with respect thereto under KRS 278.300, shall

be fined not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

(5) Any utility that violates any of the provisions of KRS 278.460 shall be fined not

less than one hundred dollars ($100) for each offense.

(6) Any company that willfully fails to receive, transport, and deliver oil or gas as

required by KRS 278.490 shall, in addition to being liable in damages to the injured

person, be fined not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than five

hundred dollars ($500), and each day of willful failure shall constitute a separate

offense.

(7) Any telephone company that refuses to make a connection with the exchange or

lines of another company for a period of thirty (30) days after being ordered to do so

by the commission under subsection (2) of KRS 278.530 shall be fined not less than

one thousand dollars ($1,000) nor more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), to be

recovered by indictment in the Franklin Circuit Court or in the Circuit Court of the

county where the company requesting the connection resides or has its chief office

in this state. If the company desiring the connection proceeds to make the

connection, as permitted by subsection (2) of KRS 278.530, and the company so

connected with refuses to receive and transmit the toll messages offered to it by the

company making the connection, or refuses to deliver messages from its own lines

or exchanges to the lines or exchanges of the company making the connection, the

company so refusing shall be fined one hundred dollars ($100) for each day it

refuses, to be recovered by indictment in the courts mentioned in the first sentence

of this subsection; if it continues so to refuse for a period of six (6) months it shall

forfeit its right to do business in this state, and any of its officers, agents, or

employees who does or attempts to do any business in this state for it after the

expiration of the six (6) months' period shall be fined fifty dollars ($50) for each day

he does or attempts to do such business.