DAVID M. GLOVER, Judge. The principal issue in this case is whether the tax sale of a severed mineral interest, not subjoined to the surface assessment, is valid. The circuit court found that the mineral interest had been assessed and forfeited improperly and quieted title in the appellees. We are thus confronted with the same situation in which we found ourselves when we decided Blackburn v. Cline, 8 Ark.App. 108 , 650 S.W.2d 588 (1983). As in Blackburn, we affirm the circuit court....
LARRY D. VAUGHT, Chief Judge. Appellants Linda and Cliff Price argue two main points on appeal in this land-sale case. First they claim that the trial court erred in its decision to admit the testimony of an expert witness for appellees Jerrie and Walter Willbanks who was not identified during the discovery; second they argue that the trial court erred in its conclusion that the writing was an enforceable land contract. We see no reversible error and affirm the decision of the trial court....
JOHN B. ROBBINS, Judge. Appellant James Poole appeals from the Ashley County Circuit Court's divorce decree. On June 16, 2008, the circuit court awarded a divorce to appellee Anna (Shelly) Poole, and gave her custody of the parties' daughters, B.P., born in 1992, and A.P., born in 1997. Appellant has a son, J.P., with Nicki Morgan, and has had custody of J.P. since he was a toddler. Appellant challenges the division of property, the award of attorney's fees to appellee, certain evidentiary...
RITA W. GRUBER, Judge. Greg Hays appeals the order of the Washington County Circuit Court, Juvenile Division, that adjudicated his son dependent-neglected. The adjudication was based upon the court's finding that the child was at substantial risk of serious harm as a result of neglect and appellant's unfitness as a parent. Appellant raises four points on appeal: (1) there was insufficient evidence to support the court's finding of dependency-neglect; (2) the court abused its discretion in...
JOSEPHINE LINKER HART, Judge. In this family land dispute, appellant Bethel Acuff appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of her brother, appellee Donald Bumgarner. 1 The summary judgment effectively granted Donald approximately 478 acres of land in Madison County that had once been owned by his and Bethel's parents, Frank and Mary Bumgarner. Bethel appeals and argues that (1) the circuit court failed to give effect to a Kansas probate court's disposition of the property, which she...
JOHN MAUZY PITTMAN, Judge. Ronald Tadlock appeals from an order terminating his parental rights in C.T. (born December 4, 2008). In a related appeal decided today, we affirmed two prior orders from the Garland County Circuit Court, one of which adjudicated C.T. dependent-neglected and the other of which terminated appellant's parental rights in another child, T.T. See Tadlock v. Arkansas Dep't of Human Servs., 2009 Ark.App. 841 , 372 S.W.3d 403 . For the following reasons, we also...
RITA W. GRUBER, Judge. Appellant Robbi Miller Hatfield appeals from the Pulaski County Circuit Court's orders finding, first, that the circuit court had jurisdiction to decide appellee Joseph Miller's motion for change of custody and, second, granting the motion and changing primary physical custody of the parties' son to appellee. Appellant brings two points on appeal: (1) the circuit court erred in finding that it had jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter of this case under...
KAREN R. BAKER, Judge. Appellant Jerry Turley appeals from an order requiring him to relinquish forty-five acres of land after making more than eleven years of installment payments to appellees Gerald Staley, Billie Staley, and Randy Rice. For the reasons explained below, we reverse and remand. On July 7, 1995, Gerald and Billie Staley contracted to sell forty-five acres of wooded, undeveloped property to Jerry Turley for $65,250. Turley made a $6525 down payment and promised to pay the...
M. MICHAEL KINARD, Judge. Appellant, Rhonda Russell, acting individually and as the representative of the estate of Larry Wayne Russell Sr., appeals from the order of the circuit court granting summary judgment in favor of appellees, Northeast Texas Land and Timber (NTLT) and Perry Steitler. We affirm the order of the circuit court. Larry Wayne Russell Sr. was killed on August 18, 2006, while working at the Domtar Paper Mill in Ashdown. Mr. Russell was killed when he was caught between a...
ROBERT J. GLADWIN, Judge. Tiffany Benedetto appeals from the Faulkner County Circuit Court's orders denying her motion for default judgment against appellee Justin Wooten Construction, LLC, and granting appellee's motion to dismiss. We affirm the circuit court's orders. In March 2008, appellant sued appellee for malicious prosecution and abuse of process. She alleged that she and her former husband entered into a contract to buy a house from appellee and took possession of it before closing;...
DAVID M. GLOVER, Judge. This is a will contest. Appellants, Robert Wayne Baxter, Sr., Randy Baxter, Beverly Robertson, and Tona Coleman, are the grandchildren of Leathel Baxter, and appellee David Peters is the executor of Ms. Baxter's estate. Appellants appeal from the trial court's order that found their grandmother's will to be valid and admitted it to probate. They contend that the trial court erred in determining that the statutory formalities for executing a will were satisfied. In...
RITA W. GRUBER, Judge. Appellants Phillip Anderson and Mark A. Stephens were tried by a jury and were convicted of second-degree forgery. Anderson was sentenced to serve a term of sixty months' imprisonment in the Arkansas Department of Correction, and Stephens was sentenced to thirty-six months. Each appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction. Anderson raises two additional points, contending that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress...
KAREN R. BAKER, Judge. Appellant Debra Dick appeals the Workers' Compensation Commission's denial of benefits, asserting that the Commission erred in finding that she failed to prove that she is entitled to both medical treatment in the form of an MRI for her compensable injury and temporary total disability benefits from May 8, 2007, to a date yet to be determined. We find merit to her argument and reverse and remand for the Commission to enter a decision consistent with this opinion. A...
ROBERT J. GLADWIN, Judge. This appeal is one of three cases decided today that involve children who were taken into emergency custody by DHS from the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries compound in Fouke, Arkansas, in September 2008. Appellant Brian Broderick is the father of two girls, S.B. and A.B., taken into custody and challenges the circuit court's order adjudicating his daughters dependent-neglected. Judge Joe Griffin heard this case and the one concerning Alphonso Reid's daughters, A.R....
JOHN B. ROBBINS, Judge. Appellants A.C. Frein, et al., are owners individually, or through living trusts, of real property totaling about 7000 acres in Lee County. On November 4, 2005, the appellants entered into lease agreements with Windsor Weeping Mary, LLC. Appellee Windsor Weeping Mary, LP, is the successor in interest on the leases. Each of the agreements granted Windsor Weeping Mary a lease on the land for the purpose of exploring and drilling for oil and gas, and each lease was for a...
LARRY D. VAUGHT, Chief Judge. This is one of three appeals decided today that involve children who were removed from the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries compound in Fouke, Arkansas, in September 2008. The three appellants, fathers of girls placed in DHS's custody, challenge the two circuit courts' orders adjudicating their children dependent-neglected. See Brian Broderick v. Arkansas Dep't of Human Servs., 2009 Ark.App. 771 , 358 S.W.3d 909 , and Alphonso Reid v. Arkansas Dep't of Human...
COURTNEY HUDSON HENRY, Judge. Appellant Leonard McCracken brings this appeal from a decree entered by the Conway County Circuit Court divorcing him from appellee Tammy McCracken. For reversal, appellant contends that the trial court erred in determining that the parties' home and surrounding acreage are marital property. We find no error and affirm. Before the parties' marriage in 1999, appellant inherited the family farm in north Arkansas from his father. In 2005, appellant sold the farm and...
DAVID M. GLOVER, Judge. Appellant, Tim Johnson, suffered multiple admittedly compensable injuries on March 27, 2003, when a pendant line on a fifty-ton crane broke, causing a boom to fall on him. He was working for appellee Arkansas Steel Erectors, Inc. (ASE) at the time. He filed a workers' compensation claim against ASE, and is receiving benefits. In addition, he filed a third-party tort claim against appellees Erin, Inc., and Robert Harris, Jr., alleging in his complaint that it was their...
JOHN B. ROBBINS, Judge. Karen Hardy brings this appeal from the order of the Ashley County Circuit Court in a dependency-neglect matter that ordered no reunification services to Hardy and awarded temporary custody of Hardy's daughter to Hardy's parents. For reversal, Hardy argues that the circuit court erred in sua sponte ordering no reunification services and in awarding custody to her parents when there had been no material change in circumstances. The Arkansas Department of Human...
RITA W. GRUBER, Judge. This is a termination-of-parental-rights case. Joseph Bearden, Jr., appeals from the Washington County Circuit Court's termination of his parental rights to his son, T.W., born July 21, 2005. 1 The circuit court based its decision on the ground that T.W. had been out of appellant's home for twelve months and, despite a meaningful effort by DHS to rehabilitate appellant, the conditions that caused the child's removal had not been remedied by appellant. We affirm the...
