DONALD L. CORBIN, Justice. This is an appeal from a jury verdict in favor of Appellees Pamela and Kenny Metheny, individually and as co-conservators of Cody Ryan Metheny, in a medical-negligence case. Appellant ProAssurance Indemnity Company, Inc., f/k/a The Medical Assurance Company, Inc., is the liability-insurance company for Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH), a not-for-profit corporation. On appeal, ProAssurance argues that the circuit court erred (1) in failing to instruct the jury in a...
COURTNEY HUDSON GOODSON, Justice. This case concerns the assessment of ad valorem taxes on the real and personal properties of appellants Falcon Cable Media LP, Falcon Telecable LP, and Interlink Communications Partners LLC, d/b/a Charter Communications (collectively "Charter") made by the Tax Division of appellee Arkansas Public Service Commission ("Commission"). Charter appeals the decision of the Pulaski County Circuit Court affirming the Commission's order upholding the Tax Division's...
JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice. Appellant Joey McCutchen appeals the Sebastian County Circuit Court's order dismissing his complaint against appellees, City of Fort Smith (the "City"), Dennis Kelly, Gary Campbell, Andre Good, and Ken Pyle, in this case involving provisions of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act (the "FOIA"), codified at Arkansas Code Annotated sections 25-19-101 to -110 (Repl.2002 & Supp.2011). Appellant contends that the circuit court erred in concluding that Kelly did not...
PER CURIAM. As ordered, the parties appeared before this court on November 29, 2012, for the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC) to confirm its compliance with this court's decision in Kelley v. Norris, 2012 Ark. 86. See Kelley v. Hobbs, 2012 Ark. 402, ___ S.W.3d___ (per curiam). The parties appeared, and the ADC confirmed its compliance. This matter is dismissed.
JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice. Frank B. Whitbeck appeals an order of the circuit court dismissing his complaint for declaratory judgment and an order denying his motion for relief from denial of objection to confirmation of sale. We affirm the decisions of the circuit court. Our jurisdiction is pursuant to Arkansas Supreme Court Rule 1-2(b)(1). This matter began in early 2004 when, during a scheduled financial examination of Signature Life Insurance Company of America, the State auditor...
PAUL E. DANIELSON, Justice. Appellants Thomas W. Kimbrell, Commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Education, in his official capacity only; the Arkansas Department of Education; and Martha Shoffner, the Treasurer of the State of Arkansas, in her official capacity only (hereinafter collectively, "ADE"), appeal from the circuit court's judgment enjoining ADE from seeking repayment of any portion of the twenty-five-mill uniform rate of tax (URT) revenues levied and assessed for purposes of...
PER CURIAM. Appellant Steven J. Russell, Jr., by and through his attorney, David O. Bowden, moves this court to file a belated brief. On July 18, 2012, Russell filed a motion for extension of brief time, and Russell was granted a forty-five day final extension until September 14, 2012. On September 12, 2012, Russell filed a second motion for extension of brief time. The second motion stated that due to unforeseen medical complications Mr. Bowden would be unable to finish Russell's brief in the...
PAUL E. DANIELSON, Justice. Appellants Zelda Walls and Richard Gawenis appeal from the decision of the Van Buren County Circuit Court, which upheld an order of appellee Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission granting certain relief to appellee SEECO in connection with a proposed drilling and production unit. The Arkansas Court of Appeals first heard this appeal and affirmed the Commission's interpretation of the statute and found that the Commission's decision was supported by substantial evidence;...
JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice. The motions to dismiss appeal in this case come to this court upon our acceptance of certification from the Arkansas Court of Appeals. Appellees Mike Lax; Tommy Vaughan; Lax, Vaughan, Fortson, McKenzie & Rowe, P.A.; Michael Johnson; Amy Sorrell; Walter Smiley; Smiley Investment Company; Johnelle Hunt; Phil Phillips; David Schumacher; Trey Trumbo; J.B. Hunt, LLC; Johnelle Hunt, LLC; Phil and Judy Phillips Family Limited Partnership, LLLP; TCH Investments, LLC; Big...
KAREN R. BAKER, Associate Justice. On June 18, 2011, appellant, Samuel Lee Conway, was convicted by a Garland County Circuit Court jury of five counts of capital murder, two counts of aggravated residential burglary, and four counts of theft of property. Conway was sentenced to five terms of life imprisonment without parole and two additional life sentences plus ninety years. Conway raises three points on appeal: (1) the circuit court erred in denying his motion to dismiss a juror; (2) the...
COURTNEY HUDSON GOODSON, Justice. Appellant 40 Retail Corporation (40 Retail) appeals the order entered by the Johnson County Circuit Court granting appellee City of Clarksville's (Clarksville) amended motion for summary judgment. For reversal, 40 Retail contends that the circuit court erred in ruling that principles of waiver and estoppel preclude its challenges to the validity and constitutionality of Clarksville's ordinance regulating sexually oriented businesses. We agree and reverse and...
DONALD L. CORBIN, Justice. Appellant James Lee Brown appeals from orders of the Pulaski County Circuit Court finding that Appellee Janice Marie Lee was entitled to an offset or credit and allowing her to file a satisfaction of judgment. On appeal, Brown argues that (1) the circuit court erred in allowing Lee to file a satisfaction of judgment, (2) the circuit court erred in not sustaining his objection to the satisfaction of judgment, (3) the satisfaction of judgment that was filed was void...
PAUL E. DANIELSON, Justice. Appellant Benefit Bank appeals from the Sebastian County Circuit Court's order finding that the mortgage it held to certain property was second and subordinate to the interest of appellee Marilyn Rogers obtained in her divorce. 1 Benefit Bank originally appealed the circuit court's order to our court of appeals, which reversed and remanded the matter. See Benefit Bank v. Rogers, 2012 Ark.App. 134, 2012 WL 387864. Rogers petitioned for review, which this court...
JIM GUNTER, Justice. Appellant was convicted of driving while intoxicated (DWI) and following too close and now appeals his conviction for DWI, arguing that the circuit court erred in allowing testimony regarding the administration and results of his breathalyzer test because the person who calibrated the machine was not made available to testify, which violated appellant's Confrontation Clause rights. We have granted a petition for review in this case; therefore, we have jurisdiction pursuant...
JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice. Appellant Courtney Baylark appeals the circuit court's dismissal of his complaint against appellee Exigence, LLC, based on Baylark's failure to comply with Arkansas Code Annotated section 16-114-203(a) (Repl. 2006), the two-year statute of limitations of the Arkansas Medical Malpractice Act (AMMA). He also appeals the circuit court's denial of his motion for reconsideration of the motion to dismiss. On appeal, Baylark contends that the two-year statute of limitations...
PER CURIAM. Joe Louis Kelley, Jr., asserts that the Arkansas Department of Correction ("ADC") has failed to comply with this court's decision in Kelley v. Norris, 2012 Ark. 86, 2012 WL 664273. 1 In Kelley, the ADC was ordered to modify its records to show that Kelley began serving his sentence imposed by Pulaski County Circuit Court, Fourth Division (terroristic act), and his sentence imposed by Pulaski County Circuit Court, Second Division (forgery) concurrently on the same date. This...
JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice. Richard T. Gordon was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to a term of life imprisonment plus fifteen years. 1 On appeal, Gordon argues that the circuit court abused its discretion (1) in admitting evidence of a jailhouse fight in the State's rebuttal case, and (2) in limiting the testimony of an expert witness. We affirm. Jurisdiction lies in this court because a life sentence was imposed. See Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 1-2(a)(2)(2012). Gordon was first tried...
COURTNEY HUDSON GOODSON, Associate Justice. Appellant Christy S. Pepper appeals an order of the Union County Circuit Court purporting to permit an interlocutory appeal, pursuant to Rule 54(b) of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure, on the issue of whether the numerosity requirement of the Arkansas Civil Rights Act (ACRA) violates the United States Constitution and the Arkansas Constitution. For reversal, appellant argues that the ACRA's employee-numerosity requirement offends the Equal...
JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice. Appellants, City of Marion, Charles Eugene Miller III, Elizabeth VH Miller, and Christopher B. Miller, appeal the order of the Crittenden County Circuit Court granting declaratory judgment in favor of appellee, City of West Memphis (West Memphis), and finding valid West Memphis's land annexation. On appeal, appellants contend that the doctrine of res judicata barred West Memphis's petition for declaratory relief, that West Memphis's 1997 annexation election is void...
DONALD L. CORBIN, Justice. Appellant Harrill & Sutter, P.L.L.C. (Harrill) appeals the orders of the Garland County Circuit Court (1) denying its motion to set aside a judgment pursuant to Ark. R. Civ. P. 60(c)(4) (2012), and (2) awarding attorneys' fees to Appellee Cynthia Kosin on the basis that she was the prevailing party and that such fees were reasonable. As this is a second appeal, our jurisdiction is pursuant to Ark. Sup.Ct. R. 1-2(a)(7) (2012). We affirm in part and reverse and remand...
