ROBERT L. BROWN, Justice. PH, LLC (PH), a land developer, appeals a decision by the circuit judge finding that the Conway City Council's denial of PH's petition to rezone its land was legislative and not arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable. We affirm that decision. PH owns a narrow, rectangularly shaped piece of real property in Conway. The land is presently zoned as A-1 (Agricultural). On August 29, 2007, PH applied to the Conway City Council to rezone the property as R-1 (Residential)....
ELANA CUNNINGHAM WILLS, Justice. This is an interlocutory appeal from an order of the Phillips County Circuit Court denying appellant Don Gentry's motion for summary judgment on immunity grounds. Because we conclude that the summary-judgment motion made a prima facie case and was not met with proof sufficient to raise a disputed question of material fact, we reverse and remand. Gentry is the elected County Judge of Phillips County. On January 30, 2003, appellee Christine Robinson filed a...
PAUL E. DANIELSON, Justice. Appellant State Farm Automobile Insurance Company appeals the order of the Sebastian County Circuit Court awarding a statutory penalty and attorney's fees to appellee Eda Stamps. 1 State Farm argues that the circuit court erred by awarding a statutory penalty and attorney's fees to Stamps because the amount she recovered at trial was not within twenty percent of the amount she demanded or that was sought in her suit as required by Arkansas Code Annotated 23-79-...
PAUL E. DANIELSON, Justice. Appellant Gregory Decay appeals from the judgment and commitment order of the Washington County Circuit Court, convicting him of two counts of capital murder and sentencing him twice to death. Decay argues fourteen points on appeal: (1) the circuit court erred in failing to suppress Decay's statements to law enforcement; (2) the circuit court erred in failing to suppress telephone calls made by Decay from the Washington County Detention Center; (3) the circuit court...
ROBERT L. BROWN, Justice. The Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission ("the Commission") recommends that this court permanently remove Judge L.T. Simes from the bench without the possibility of returning to that position by election or appointment. The Commission bases this recommendation on its findings that Judge Simes violated (1) Canon 4(G) of the Code of Judicial Conduct by engaging in the practice of law while he was a circuit judge; (2) Canon 4(E) by serving as a fiduciary of an...
ANNABELLE CLINTON IMBER, Justice. Appellant Gordon Randall Gwathney was convicted of three counts of murder in the deaths of his estranged wife's mother and grandparents and two counts of attempted murder for the shooting of his estranged wife's brother and an officer. He was sentenced to an aggregate term of life imprisonment without parole plus 40 years. On appeal, Gwathney contends that the circuit court erred (a) in refusing to quash the entire jury panel and (b) in refusing to remove two...
ELANA CUNNINGHAM WILLS, Justice. This appeal arises from a lawsuit filed by nine named plaintiffs (hereinafter "Appellants") against drug manufacturer AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, L.P., alleging that AstraZeneca fraudulently marketed its drug Nexium. The Searcy County Circuit Court granted AstraZeneca's motion to dismiss the Appellants' complaint on August 7, 2008. We find no error and affirm. AstraZeneca's drug Nexium (esomeprazole) and its predecessor medication, Prilosec (omeprazole),...
DONALD L. CORBIN, Justice. Appellants, Joy Danielle Dachs, individually and as special representative of the estate of Elizabeth Anne Dachs, deceased, and Joshua Allen Dachs, individually, appeal the order of the Greene County Circuit Court granting summary judgment to Appellees, Barry D. Hendrix, MD; Family Practice Clinic; Hendrix Medical Services, PLLC; Paragould Physicians Management, LLC (collectively, "the physician defendants"); and Rebecca Fisher, LPN; Cynthia A. Bartholomew, RN;...
JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice. Appellant, Ronald Jay Campbell appeals his jury conviction for engaging in a Continuing Criminal Enterprise ("CCE") and his convictions for additional multiple crimes allegedly committed through the CCE. We hold that the circuit court erred in failing to grant appellant's motion for a directed verdict based on the State's failure to present substantial evidence to prove the CCE. We further hold that the circuit court erred in failing to grant appellant's motion to...
PAUL E. DANIELSON, Justice. Appellant Virginia Kowalski, individually and as special administratrix of the Estate of Kevin Allen Curry, Deceased, and on behalf of the statutory beneficiaries of the Estate of Kevin Allen Curry ("the Estate"), appeals from the circuit court's order granting summary judgment to appellee Rose Drugs of Dardanelle, Inc. Its sole point on appeal is that the circuit court erred in concluding that Rose Drugs, as a pharmacy, had no general duty to warn, not to fill...
JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice. This appeal requires us to consider whether, pursuant to Arkansas's landlord-lien statute, Arkansas Code Annotated section 18-41-101 (Repl.2003), a purchaser of crops has a duty to make a reasonable investigation or inquiry as to whether the seller of crops is a tenant or owner of the farmland on which the crops were produced. The cross-appeal concerns attorneys' fees and the application of a setoff. Appellant Riceland Foods, Inc., appeals the circuit court's order...
ELANA CUNNINGHAM WILLS, Justice. Appellant Vance Rollins was charged with two counts of manslaughter after he caused a head-on car collision that killed Lawrence and Nina Humphrey. He was tried by a Perry County jury on October 24, 2007, and was sentenced to two consecutive four-year terms of imprisonment. Rollins appealed to the court of appeals, contending that there was insufficient evidence to support his manslaughter convictions. The court of appeals agreed, affirming his convictions...
ROBERT L. BROWN, Justice. This is an interlocutory appeal from the circuit judge's order granting class certification for one subclass (Subclass A) and denying class certification for another subclass (Subclass C). Appellants have appealed the order relating to Subclass A, and appellees have cross-appealed the order concerning Subclass C. Some of the cross-appellees have also moved to dismiss the cross-appeal. We affirm the order of the circuit judge and deny the motions to dismiss. The...
ANNABELLE CLINTON IMBER, Justice. This case involves the interpretation of exculpatory clauses in a construction contract and the determination of when the statute of limitations begins to run on a contractor's professional malpractice claim against an engineering firm. Jurisdiction is in this court pursuant to Ark. Sup.Ct. R. 1-2(b)(5). In 2002, the City of Cotter and the City of Gassville (the Cities) retained the services of Garver, Inc. (Garver), to act as the design and supervision...
DONALD L. CORBIN, Justice. Appellant John H. Bayird, as administrator for the estate of his deceased mother, Mamie Elliott, appeals the order of the Drew County Circuit Court granting the motion of Appellee William Floyd to dismiss the complaint against him for failure to state facts upon which relief could be granted. Because the circuit court considered "other pleadings and exhibits" that Appellant had not included in his addendum and brief, we determined that the motion to dismiss had been...
ROBERT L. BROWN, Justice. Appellant Diana Nichole Robertson appeals from her convictions for capital murder, aggravated robbery, and arson and her sentences to life imprisonment without parole, twenty-five years imprisonment, and ten years imprisonment, respectively. She asserts three points on appeal. We find no reversible error, and we affirm. The facts are garnered from Robertson's statements to West Memphis detectives. Robertson and her boyfriend, Maurice Leflore, had a small-time...
PAUL E. DANIELSON, Associate Justice. Appellants Flow Doc, Inc., Brent McNeal, and Royce McNeal, Jr., (hereinafter collectively referred to as "Flow Doc") bring this interlocutory appeal from the order of the Pulaski County Circuit Court granting class certification. Flow Doc argues that the circuit court erred in granting class certification to appellee Thomas M. Horton on both the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act claim and the unjust-enrichment claim. We dismiss the appeal as moot in...
MOTION FOR RULE ON CLERK PER CURIAM. Appellant Stephen Jackson, by and through his attorney James L. Tripcony, has filed a motion for rule on clerk to file his record and have his appeal docketed. The record was tendered by Mr. Jackson on May 29, 2009. However, he was notified by the Arkansas Supreme Court Clerk that the order granting an extension of time did not comply with the language of Arkansas Rule of Appellate Procedure—Civil 5(b)(1)(C), which provides: (1) If any party has...
JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice. Paul Barre appeals the order of summary judgment entered against him in Pulaski County Circuit Court. Barre sued Charles "Chick" Hoffman; Boy Scouts of America Inc.; Boy Scouts of America Quapaw Council; Holy Souls Catholic Church, d/b/a Holy Souls School and the Roman Catholic Church, Diocese of Little Rock; James Peter Sartain, in his official capacity as agent for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock; The Hartford Insurance Company; and United States...
DONALD L. CORBIN, Justice. Appellants Brenda Bryant Osborn, Opal M. Garfi, Altha P. Hickman, Norma Sexton, Linda Bliss, Rita Gilliam, Gene Bryant, Billy Ray Bryant, and Beverly Beeman appeal the order of the Jackson County Circuit Court granting a declaratory judgment in favor of Appellees Billy Bryant, Betty Hamby, Norma Knight, Mabel Kimberling, and Dortha M. Whitener. Appellants argue that the circuit court erred in declaring that Lacy Bryant died intestate and that his will could not be...
