§ 41-805 — Nuisances; places and properties operated or used in violation of act; lien for fines and costs; leases void; procedure for seizure and sale of vehicles and airplanes; appeals; stay of proceedings

(1) Any room, house, building, boat, vehicle, airplane, structure or place of any kind where alcoholic liquors are sold, manufactured, bartered or given away, in violation of this act, or any building, structure or boat where persons are permitted to resort for the purpose of drinking alcoholic liquors, in violation of this act, or any place where such liquors are kept for sale, barter or gift, in violation of this act, and all such liquors, and all property kept in and used in maintaining such a place, are each and all of them hereby declared to be a common nuisance. Any person who maintains or assists in maintaining such common nuisance is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than one year or by a fine not exceeding $25,000, or by both. If the court finds that the owner of real property knew or should have known under the circumstances of the maintenance of a common nuisance on such property, contrary to the liquor laws of this state, and did not make a bona fide attempt to abate such nuisance under the circumstances, such property shall be subject to a lien for, and may be sold to pay all fines and costs assessed against the occupant of such building or premises for any violation of this act; and such lien shall be immediately enforced by civil action, in any court having jurisdiction, by the county or district attorney of the county wherein such building or premises may be located, or by the attorney for the director, when ordered by the director. For purposes of this section, evidence of a bona fide attempt to abate such nuisance by the owner of the property shall include, but not be limited to, the filing of a written report, by such owner or at such owner's direction, to the local law enforcement agency that the property is suspected by the owner of the property of being used in maintaining a common nuisance as set forth in K.S.A. 22-3901, and amendments thereto, contrary to the liquor laws of this state. If a tenant of any building or premises uses the building or premises, or any part thereof, in maintaining a common nuisance as hereinbefore defined, or knowingly permits such use by another, such use shall render void the lease under which the tenant holds, and shall cause the right of possession to revert to the owner or lessor, who may make immediate entry upon the premises, or may invoke the remedy provided for the forcible detention thereof.
(2) Upon the filing of a complaint or information charging that a vehicle or airplane is a common nuisance as above declared, a warrant shall be issued authorizing and directing the officer to whom it is directed to arrest the person or persons described in the complaint or information or the person or persons using the vehicle or airplane in violation of this act and to seize and take into the officer's custody all such vehicles and airplanes so used which the officer finds, and safely keep them subject to the order of the court. In the complaint or information it shall not be necessary to accurately describe the vehicle or airplane so used, but only such description shall be necessary as will enable the officer executing the warrant to identify it properly.
Whenever any vehicles or airplanes shall be seized under any such warrant, whether an arrest has been made or not, a notice shall issue within 48 hours after the return of the warrant in the same manner as a summons, directed to the defendant in such action and to all persons claiming any interest in such vehicles or airplanes, fixing a time, to be not less than 60 days, and place at which all persons claiming any interest therein may appear and answer the complaint made against such vehicles or airplanes and show cause why they should not be adjudged forfeited and sold as hereinafter provided. Such notice shall be served upon the defendant in the action in the same manner as a summons if the defendant be found within the jurisdiction of the court, and a copy thereof shall also be posted in one or more public places in the county in which the cause is pending. If at the time for filing answer the notice has not been duly served or sufficient cause appear, the time for answering shall be extended by the court and such other notice issued as will supply any defect in the previous notice and give reasonable time and opportunity for all persons interested to appear and answer. At or before the time fixed by notice, any person claiming an interest in the vehicles or airplanes seized, may file an answer in writing, setting up a claim thereto, and shall thereupon be admitted as a party defendant to the proceedings against such vehicles or airplanes. The complaint or information and answer or answers that may be filed shall be the only pleadings required. At the time fixed for answer, or at any other time to be fixed by the court, a trial shall be held in a summary manner before the court on the allegation of the complaint or information against the property seized. Whether any answer shall be filed or not, it shall be the duty of the county or district attorney to appear and adduce evidence in support of such allegation.
(3) If the court finds that such vehicles or airplanes were at the time a common nuisance, as defined in this section, the court shall adjudge forfeited so much thereof as the court finds to be a common nuisance, and shall order the officer in whose custody they are to sell them publicly. The officer shall cause notice to be given by publication for at least one week in the official county paper of the time and place of the sale of the property and shall file in the court a return showing the sale of the property and the amount received therefor and shall pay the same into court to await the order of the court. The court, if it approves such sale, shall declare forfeited the proceeds of the sale and, after paying out of the proceeds of the sale the costs of the action, including costs of sale and the keeping and maintenance of the property, shall out of the balance of the money received from the property at the sale, pay all liens, according to their priorities, which are established by intervention or otherwise at the hearing or another proceeding brought for that purpose as being bona fide and for value and as having been created without the lienor having any notice that the vehicle or airplane was being used in so violating the provisions of this act and without the lienor having any notice at any time subsequent to the creation of the lien and prior to the seizure in time to have protected the lien that the vehicle was so being used. The balance remaining shall be paid to the state treasurer pursuant to K.S.A. 20-2801, and amendments thereto, except that, if upon proper proof, a lien as herein provided is established in excess of the value of the vehicle as found by the court, the court may order, without sale, the surrender of such vehicle to such lienor upon the payment of all costs as is herein provided.
(4) Either the state or any defendant or other person claiming the vehicle or airplane seized, or an interest therein, may appeal from the judgment of the court in any such proceedings against the property seized in the manner provided for taking appeals in criminal cases. Any claimant of such property who appeals, in order to stay proceedings, must enter into an undertaking with a sufficient surety to the state of Kansas, to be approved by the judge of the district court, in the sum of not less than $100 nor less than double the amount of the value of the property as fixed by the court and the costs adjudged against the property, conditioned that the claimant will prosecute the appeal without unnecessary delay, and if judgment is entered against the claimant on appeal, the claimant will satisfy the judgment and costs, and no bond shall be required for an appeal by the state, and such appeal shall stay the execution of the judgment.

Legislative History

L. 1949, ch. 242, § 94; L. 1973, ch. 106, § 7; L. 1978, ch. 105, § 12; L. 1990, ch. 114, § 4; L. 1992, ch. 314, § 7; L. 2006, ch. 124, § 4; July 1.