PER CURIAM . Nathaniel Smith, M.D., in his official capacity as Director of the Arkansas Department of Health, has petitioned this court for an emergency stay of an order entered by the Pulaski County Circuit Court, Sixth Division. Petitioner requests that the order be stayed pending an appeal to this court. We grant the petition in part and deny the petition in part. Respondents, who are the plaintiffs in the lower-court action, are three female same-sex married couples and their children....
ROBIN F. WYNNE , Associate Justice . Chad Steve Laymon appeals from his conditional plea of guilty to a charge of driving while intoxicated, sixth offense. He argues on appeal that his conviction violated the ex post facto clauses of the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Arkansas. This case was certified to us by our court of appeals pursuant to Arkansas Supreme Court Rules 1-2(b)(1) and 1-2(d) (2015), as presenting an issue of first impression regarding...
PAUL E. DANIELSON , Associate Justice . Appellant Shelter Mutual Insurance Company (Shelter) appeals from an order of the Miller County Circuit Court granting summary judgment in favor of Appellees Michael Goodner and Robbie Goodner and specifically finding that depreciation of labor in the calculation of actual cash value is against Arkansas public policy. On appeal, Shelter argues that the insurance policy at issue unambiguously provided for depreciation of labor and that the practice of...
PAUL E. DANIELSON , Associate Justice . Appellant Charles Philyaw appeals from the order of the Pulaski County Circuit Court denying his petition for writ of habeas corpus. He asserts that the circuit court erred in denying his petition based on his claims that (1) the trial court lacked jurisdiction to impose a sentence of life imprisonment based on a separate, uncharged offense of attempted capital murder; (2) the trial court lacked jurisdiction to sentence him to a term of life...
RHONDA K. WOOD , Associate Justice . This appeal arises from a dispute involving the restoration of a 1968 Pontiac Firebird. The car owner sued the body shop that did the repairs for, among other things, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, money had and received, and conversion. The circuit court ruled that the breach of warranty claims failed for lack of notice and ruled that the other claims failed for lack of proof. We affirm the circuit court's judgment. Facts and...
PER CURIAM . Appellees have filed a motion to dismiss the appeal by the City of Little Rock in this suit for just compensation for the taking of appellees' property in connection with the modification of the 1430/1630 Interchange. In the present motion, appellees challenge the circuit court's grant of an extension of time to file the record pursuant to Rule 5 of the Arkansas Rules of Appellate Procedure — Civil (2015). We find merit in their argument and dismiss the City's appeal. After a...
JOSEPHINE LINKER HART , Associate Justice Dereck Pelletier appeals from a Faulkner County Circuit Court order denying his petition for postconviction relief. He filed the petition seeking relief from the sentence that he had received pursuant to a negotiated-plea agreement. In the petition, he asserted various theories for relief, but at the circuit court hearing, he abandoned all of the claims except his request for a writ of error coram nobis. On appeal, he argues that the circuit court...
KAREN R. BAKER , Associate Justice . This appeal arises from an order of the Chicot County Circuit Court dismissing a complaint for injunctive relief and declaratory judgment filed by appellant, Floyd E. Gray. Gray sought to challenge the eligibility of appellee Mary F. Thomas-Barnes as a candidate in the mayoral election in Dermott, Arkansas. On appeal, Gray asserts that the circuit court erred in dismissing his complaint for lack of jurisdiction. Because this appeal pertains to elections...
KAREN R. BAKER , Associate Justice . Appellant, Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs d/b/a Arkansas Veterans Home and Fayetteville Veterans Home ("ADVA") appeals the Pulaski County Circuit Court's order granting class certification to appellees in their case alleging violations of the Arkansas Minimum Wage Act ("AMWA"), Arkansas Code Annotated sections 11-4-201 et seq. On appeal, ADVA argues that the circuit court abused its discretion in certifying the class. Appellees are hourly,...
ROBIN F. WYNNE , Associate Justice . Randi Silkman, as administrator of the estate of Vera Kolesar, deceased, and on behalf of the wrongful-death beneficiaries of Vera Kolesar, has appealed from a grant of summary judgment by the Saline County Circuit Court in favor of appellees, Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society; Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society d/b/a Good Samaritan Campus Hot Springs; Good Samaritan Society Insurance, Ltd.; Corrine White, in her capacity as...
PAUL E. DANIELSON , Associate Justice . Appellants Raymond Edwards and Patricia Edwards appeal from the circuit court's order denying their motion for custody of their granddaughter, M.A.E., and dismissing them from the dependency-neglect proceedings brought by appellee Arkansas Department of Human Services ("ADHS"). The Edwardses' appeal was originally dismissed by the court of appeals, see Edwards v. Arkansas Dep't of Human Servs., 2015 Ark.App. 267, 460 S.W.3d 802, and this court...
PAUL E. DANIELSON , Associate Justice . Appellants Raymond Edwards and Patricia Edwards appeal from the circuit court's order denying their motion for custody of their granddaughter, M.A.E., and dismissing them from the dependency-neglect proceedings brought by appellee Arkansas Department of Human Services ("ADHS"). The Edwardses' appeal was originally dismissed by the court of appeals, see Edwards v. Arkansas Dep't of Human Servs., 2015 Ark.App. 267 , 460 S.W.3d 802 , and this court...
RHONDA K. WOOD , Associate Justice . This is an appeal from the circuit court's modification of the parties' custody agreement. Appellant, Cheri Suzanne McCoy, challenges the circuit court's finding that there has been a material change of circumstances necessitating a modification in custody. McCoy argues that the circuit court primarily relied on the passage of time since the agreement, which standing alone is insufficient to support a material change in circumstances. We affirm the...
ROBIN F. WYNNE , Associate Justice Appellants have filed an interlocutory appeal pursuant to Arkansas Rule of Appellate Procedure-Civ. 2(a)(10) (2015) in which they challenge the Pulaski County Circuit Court's denial of their motion to dismiss, on grounds of sovereign immunity, appellees' complaint for declaratory judgment, writ of mandamus, writ of prohibition, and injunctive relief. Because this case involves the interpretation or construction of the Constitution of Arkansas, our...
COURTNEY HUDSON GOODSON , Associate Justice . This is an interlocutory appeal from the Pulaski County Circuit Court's denial of a motion to dismiss on sovereign-immunity grounds filed by appellants, Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department; its director Scott Bennett; Arkansas State Highway Commission; its chairman John Ed Regenold; and Dick Trammel, Tom Schueck, Robert Moore, Jr., and Frank Scott, Jr. in their capacities as members of the Arkansas State Highway Commission ("...
PAUL E. DANIELSON , Associate Justice . Appellant Deonte Edison appeals the sentencing order entered by the Pulaski County Circuit Court, reflecting his convictions and sentences for capital murder, attempted capital murder, and two counts of aggravated robbery. Each count was enhanced for employing a firearm, and Edison was sentenced to a total term of imprisonment of life without parole plus ten years. 1 On appeal, Edison asserts three points of error: that the circuit court erred in (1)...
RHONDA K. WOOD , Associate Justice . The question in this case is whether a designated trustee properly declined the trusteeship or accepted by exercising powers of the trustee. Bank of the Ozarks was designated as the successor trustee of the Hamilton Family Living Trust. The Bank sent correspondence to a trust beneficiary rejecting the trusteeship, but the Bank still reimbursed the beneficiary for certain expenses. Another trust beneficiary brought a petition for an accounting against the...
COURTNEY HUDSON GOODSON , Associate Justice . A jury in the Pulaski County Circuit Court found appellant Andrew M. Holland guilty of sexual assault in the first degree and sexual assault in the second degree. Respectively, he received concurrent terms of forty and thirty years in prison. For reversal, Holland contends that the circuit court erred by (1) permitting the introduction of evidence under the "pedophile exception"; (2) by not allowing evidence of the victims' motives to falsely...
ROBIN F. WYNNE , Associate Justice . Ivor Gordon appeals from his convictions for capital murder and criminal attempt to commit capital murder, for which he was sentenced as a habitual offender to life imprisonment without parole and life imprisonment, respectively, with enhancements for using a firearm and committing the offenses in the presence of a child. 1 His attorney has filed a no-merit brief pursuant to Rule 4-3(k) of the Rules of the Arkansas Supreme Court and Anders v....
JIM HANNAH , Chief Justice . Appellants, Gary Sanford, Linda Yeager, Wayne Lilley, Lilley Paint Co., Inc., and Airmotive, Inc., appeal an order of the Pulaski County Circuit Court dismissing their complaint brought against Richard Weiss, in his official capacity as Director, Arkansas Department of Finance & Administration ("DF&A"), 1 in which they alleged illegal-exaction claims and due-process violations. We affirm the circuit court's order. On November 1, 2013, appellants filed a "...
