CROWN POINT | The Lake County sheriff is suing the county clerk in a dispute over collecting a $13 processing fee from people needing court orders.

Sheriff Rogelio "Roy" Dominguez is asking a judge to order Clerk Thomas Philpot to collect "service of process" fees the sheriff claims are needed to fund county police pension benefits.

Neither Philpot nor his attorney, David Saks, could be reached Monday for comment.

Dominguez said he and Philpot have been at odds over a number of issues in recent years.

The sheriff alleges in petition for a temporary restraining order and injunction that the Indiana House passed a 2006 law authorizing the sheriff to collect a $13 fee from anyone who needs the sheriff to serve court papers on other parties in litigation.

The sheriff alleges it is more convenient for the clerk to collect this fee at the same time litigants are paying other court costs.

The suit alleges the clerk established a procedure requiring litigants to write a separate check to the sheriff in 2006, then the clerk posted a notice last month that his office will no longer accept service of process fees for the sheriff.

Dominguez said Circuit Court Judge Lorenzo Arredondo has set an emergency hearing this afternoon to consider the sheriff's petition.