352 results for 'court:"Arkansas Court Of Appeals"'.
J. Hixson finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for the first-degree murder of his 3-year-old son. Defendant's girlfriend testified defendant punished the child by whipping him on his back with a belt and wooden spoon for peeing on himself and cussing, also saying this instance was more violent than previous punishments. After leaving the room, the girlfriend returned when things got quiet to see the child lying motionless on the floor. The child died later that day after receiving medical attention. Sufficient evidence, including forensic/medical photographs, the belt, an extension cord and the broken wooden spoon demonstrate defendant knew his conduct of repeated blunt-force trauma to the child's head and torso was deadly. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hixson , Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: CR-23-196, Categories: Evidence, Murder, Child Victims
J. Thyer finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for sexual assault. Defendant's charge of rape against his 9-year-old daughter was reduced to second-degree sexual assault on the victim's testimony that she was petting her dog after a bad dream when defendant entered the room, pulled her off the bed and put his penis between her "butt cheeks." The mother witnessed the assault, and friends and other family were told about it before police were called. The testimony does not need to be corroborated and sufficient evidence supports the conviction. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Thyer , Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: CR-23-410, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender, Child Victims
J. Abramson finds the county court properly quieted title to the property in favor of the residents. The property owner filed an unlawful-detainer complaint against the mobile home residents, alleging they had detained possession after he had attempted to gain possession by civil notice. The owner argues the residents failed to establish their curtilage is contiguous to their own property, conceding the contested property and the residents' property are contiguous. This satisfies for adverse possession. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abramson , Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: CV-22-585, Categories: Evidence, Property
J. Virden finds the county court improperly denied the estate’s petition for a writ to revive a deficiency judgment obtained during foreclosure proceedings against debtors to the estate. The 10-year period for revival did not begin to run from the date of the initial foreclosure decree, but from that of the deficiency judgment. The decree did not dismiss the parties from the case or put the judgment into execution. Reversed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Virden , Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: CV-23-200, Categories: Debt Collection, Due Process, Banking / Lending
J. Wood finds the county court improperly dismissed the school football coach's Teacher Fair Dismissal Act claims. The court dismissed the claims with prejudice, finding they were precluded by the coach's failure to “administratively appeal” the district's decision to terminate. A cited case involved a teacher’s contract being changed for a subsequent school year. In this case, the district terminated the contract midway through the year, resulting in financial consequences during that same year. The court erroneously found the coach's signing of the subsequent year's contract precluded his recovery for the midyear termination under the act. Reversed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wood , Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: CV-22-592, Categories: Education, Employment, Contract
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J. Gruber finds the county court properly granted the business owner's motion for summary judgment. The owner asserted he did not own the accident-involved vehicle but had sold it to the driver through his auto salvage business on an installment agreement, with the state having issued the title to the driver. Though the driver was previously employed by the owner, at the time of the accident he was no longer employed, and the owner had no duty to confirm he was licensed or insured. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gruber , Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: CV-23-258, Categories: Vehicle, Negligence
J. Klappenbach finds the circuit court properly terminated the mother's parental rights to her two children. The 18- and 6-month-old children were taken into custody when the children’s putative father was arrested on drugs and weapons charges during the mother's period of incarceration on a different conviction. All evidence supports the best interest finding and the court committed no reversible error in denying the mother's motion to have witnesses testify remotely. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Klappenbach , Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: CV-23-837, Categories: Family Law, Due Process, Guardianship
J. Brown, in this interlocutory appeal, finds the circuit court properly denied the nursing center's motion to compel arbitration in this wrongful death suit. The estate alleges that due to insufficient staffing, the decedent was not turned often enough to prevent the stage 2 wound to her left coccyx, a boil to her left buttock and an unstageable wound to her right heel. The patient was also dehydrated and malnourished, which prevented healing. There is insufficient evidence the decedent authorized her daughter to bind her to arbitration, and the daughter did not have actual authority to enter into the agreement on her mother's behalf. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Brown, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: CV-23-182, Categories: Arbitration, Health Care, Wrongful Death
J. Wood finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for murder, committing a terroristic act and tampering with evidence based on sufficient evidence. The 13-year-old witness testified a "splat-ball" game was happening in the neighborhood when he saw defendant fire a gun at a carload of teenagers. The witness ran when he heard a loud bang, returning later the find the 8-year-old victim dead from a gunshot wound to the head. The court's application of a firearm enhancement to the murder and terroristic-act convictions does not constitute a double-jeopardy violation. No error is found in the court's not accepting defendant's proffered jury instructions for second-degree murder and manslaughter. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wood , Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: CR-23-525, Categories: Murder, Child Victims, Terrorism
J. Barrett finds the circuit court improperly found the romantic partner would be unjustly enriched. The homeowner added her partner's name to the deed of the house under the assumption the parties would be married. After the sale of the house, the partner claimed he was allowed to keep half of the net proceeds from the sale as a joint tenant. The owner made a gift to her partner when she placed his name on the deed. Though the owner regrets the decision, this is not a valid basis for setting aside a deed. Reversed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Barrett , Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: CV-23-27, Categories: Civil Procedure, Property, Contract
J. Gladwin finds the circuit court properly granted the easement in favor of the industrial board. The property owner installed a gate across a roadway that had been used by the owner as well as the board to access its own aggregate materials property for more than 30 years. The board has no other means of access, with no adequate remedy of law, and will suffer irreparable harm as a result of the owner's installing the gate. The owner had been properly served and is not entitled to relief. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gladwin , Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: CV-23-356, Categories: Property, Tort
J. Klappenbach finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for aggravated robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault, theft and firearm possession by a felon based on sufficient evidence. The victim testified defendant hit her, shoved the barrel of a gun into her mouth, transferred her to a different location, stole her ring, cell phone and money, all in an attempt to force her to hand over a friend's cremated ashes. The court impliedly granted defendant's request to sever offenses and bifurcate the trials for each count, though the same jury convicted on the offenses. Defendant's argument regarding the alleged denial of his opportunity to interview jurors is not preserved for appeal. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Klappenbach , Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: CR-23-585, Categories: Jury, Assault, Kidnapping
J. Brown finds the circuit court properly terminated the parents' parental rights to their minor children. The department exercised a hold on the children, filing a petition for dependency-neglect after the incoherent and lethargic father was taken to the hospital for suspected drug use. The mother admitted to being on drugs, though she refused testing, also refusing to allow the department to investigate the state of the home. She admitted to being five months pregnant, though she refused treatment. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Brown , Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: CV-24-5, Categories: Evidence, Family Law, Guardianship
J. Murphy finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for robbery, theft of a firearm and firearm possession by a felon, sentencing him as a habitual offender to 40 years in prison. The high crime-area church pastor testified defendant, who he had cared for, allowing him use of a shower and providing him with clothes, pushed him to the ground and stole his gun. Though defendant says the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to enter sentences on robbery and theft because theft is a lesser-included offense of robbery, this double jeopardy argument is not preserved for appeal. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Murphy , Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: CR-23-285, Categories: Robbery, Theft, Double Jeopardy
J. Virden finds the circuit court properly granted the behavioral health facility's petition to involuntarily commit the psychiatric patient. The patient absconded after a supervisory petition was granted, then was admitted to the facility with exacerbated psychosis. The patient, diagnosed with bipolar mania, has not complied with medication requirements and has refused therapy. She has been uncooperative, irritable and paranoid, has demonstrated poor judgement, and lacks insight into her condition. She has also been arrested for assault and presents a danger to herself and others. The appeals court defers to the circuit court's superior position. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Virden , Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: CV-23-465, Categories: Administrative Law, Health Care, Commitment
J. Klappenbach finds the board of review improperly found the unemployment benefits recipient was disqualified from receiving benefits because she refused to accept an offer of work. The recipient applied for benefits after being laid off from Family Dollar. She was the only witness, denying she was offered a job, saying she had gone to an interview to discover the job she interviewed for was not the for which she had applied. Substantial evidence does not support the board's decision. Reversed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Klappenbach , Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: E-23-135, Categories: Employment, Evidence, Insurance
J. Hixson finds the circuit court properly terminated the parents' rights to their children based on sufficient evidence. The department was granted a petition for emergency custody and dependency-neglect after the mother tested positive for multiple drugs when giving birth. It then found each parent to be in partial and minimal compliance with the original case plan for reunification. Though certain evidence shows the parents were bonded with the children, the bond is not sufficient to prevent termination. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hixson , Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: CV-23-785, Categories: Evidence, Family Law, Guardianship
J. Gruber finds the circuit court properly found for a brother, whose survivorship agreement with his mother transferred her interest in the property at issue to him upon her death. The other brothers challenged the mother's will, with the circuit court ruling it was the product of undue influence, setting it aside and imposing a constructive trust on the property in favor of the estate. The court then granted summary judgment, concluding relitigation was barred by the doctrines of law of the case and res judicata. The brother's cross-appeal for sanctions on the basis this appeal is frivolous is denied. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gruber , Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: CV-22-188, Categories: Sanctions, Trusts, Wills / Probate
J. Wood upholds defendant's guilty plea conviction for domestic battery and terroristic threatening. Defendant's suspended imposition of sentence was revoked for his failure to pay fines, costs and fees, and for his repeated rape of a minor child, which impregnated her. He was then sentenced to 22 years in prison. Witness and victim testimony, as well as DNA testing, support the conviction for rape. Defendant was originally sentenced to 120 months’ suspended imposition of sentence for the terroristic-threatening offense, which exceeded the six-year maximum sentence allowed for a Class D felony. This matter is remanded to correct the sentencing orders. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wood , Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: CR-23-496, Categories: Sex Offender, Threats, Battery
J. Harrison finds the circuit court properly entered the divorce decree and custody and support order, finding the ex-wife to be in contempt. The court correctly denied the mother's request to relocate, finding it in the child's best interest to remain where his support system is located. There is ample evidence the mother's failure to control her emotions caused the child's anxiety during visitation exchanges. At one exchange, the mother was crying so loudly she could not hear the visitation supervisor speaking. The child's counselor also testified that certain of the mother's actions could be considered intentional sabotage and that it is damaging for the child to be purposefully kept from his father. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harrison , Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: CV-23-240, Categories: Evidence, Family Law, Guardianship
J. Murphy finds the circuit court properly upheld the denial of the firefighter's claim for duty disability retirement based on substantial evidence. The firefighter sought treatment and therapy for PTSD, and was placed on medical leave before pursuing retirement benefits. A doctor reported the available information did not support total and permanent disability. The firefighter provides no convincing support for his claim the board of trustees disregarded facts. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Murphy , Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: CV-22-650, Categories: Employment, Health Care, Workers' Compensation
J. Gladwin dismisses the farm’s appeal of the circuit court’s denial of its petition to discharge the excavator’s lien. The excavator filed the lien for $671,000 for nonpayment after the farm sold its property during a construction project it contracted for with the excavator. The excavator gave proper notice and the court correctly denied discharge of the lien, retaining jurisdiction. The farm filed a notice of interlocutory appeal and a motion to reconsider on the same day. The circuit court did not issue a ruling on the motion to reconsider. The appeals court has no jurisdiction for lack of a final order.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gladwin , Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: CV-22-608, Categories: Construction, Jurisdiction, Contract
J. Gladwin finds the circuit court improperly denied the assignee of the vehicle purchase contract's motion to compel arbitration. The purchaser defaulted on payment and the assignee repossessed the vehicle. The purchaser sought class certification for deceptive trade practices claims arising from the assignee's requiring her to pay repossession report fees to law enforcement agencies. The arbitration agreement is valid and enforceable under the Automotive Dealer's Anti-Coercion Act, satisfying the mutuality-of-obligations element of a binding contract. The assignee did not waive its right to demand arbitration in the purported class action by filing a separate action for a deficiency judgment. Reversed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gladwin , Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: CV-22-756, Categories: Arbitration, Debt Collection, Contract
J. Klappenbach finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for boating while intoxicated. A wildlife officer stopped defendant's boat after he observed his aggressive operation related to cutting off a jet ski. The unsafe speed and closeness of the vessels provided probable cause for the stop. Sobriety tests were administered after the officer smelled alcohol, with defendant failing them all. Sufficient evidence supports the court's ruling. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Klappenbach , Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: CR-23-573, Categories: Evidence, Dui
J. Murphy finds the circuit court properly denied the stepfather's petition to adopt his 13-year-old stepdaughter. The stepfather sought adoption after the child's biological father petitioned to establish paternity and visitation. Though the healthy, academically achieving daughter considers her stepfather her father, having no interest in visitations with her biological father, the record demonstrates the mother hindered the biological father/daughter relationship by not telling him about her for the first two years of her life. The mother also told the daughter she was conceived by rape. The biological father has regularly paid child support, also carrying insurance on the daughter. Adoption is in derogation of the natural parent's rights and the biological father has contested the adoption. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Murphy , Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: CV-23-311, Categories: Evidence, Family Law, Guardianship
J. Murphy finds the circuit court properly granted the prescriptive easement with limitations. Though the grantee says the court improperly limited use of the road subject to the easement, the limitations properly address only the historical use of dominant tenements. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Murphy , Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: CV-22-774, Categories: Evidence, Property
J. Gladwin finds the circuit court properly revoked defendant's probation, sentencing her to 120 months in prison. Defendant previously pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and theft of property, receiving 10 years of probation. Later, defendant, thinking her boyfriend was cheating on her, confronted him in the front yard of the other woman's home, attacking him with a knife. Detective interview video shows defendant admitting to having a knife, which supports the revocation. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gladwin , Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: CR-23-652, Categories: Probation, Assault, Weapons
J. Virden finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for sexual assault and rape committed against his minor grandchildren based on sufficient evidence. The children testified the abuse, including vaginal and oral penetration, seemed like normal life. Defendant told one of the children that if she told anyone she would be committed to a mental institution, also threatening to hurt her pets. Witness credibility was properly considered, and the court properly elected to run the sentences consecutively. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Virden , Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: CR-23-581, Categories: Sentencing, Sex Offender, Child Victims
J. Hixson finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for sexual assault and introducing benzodiazepine into the victim's body. Defendant's ex-wife testified that defendant was watching their children at her home while she worked. She returned home to find her 16-year-old niece, who was not expected to be there, asleep. She said defendant was acting erratically, and that she discovered a plastic bag containing drugs. After defendant left, the niece disclosed the assault, later testing positive for the drug. Substantial evidence supports the conviction. An exception cited by defendant is not applicable to prosecutorial errors involving closing discussion of evidence not presented at trial. No ineffective assistance or court error is found. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hixson , Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: CR-23-684, Categories: Drug Offender, Evidence, Sex Offender
J. Barrett finds the circuit court properly granted the hospital's motion to dismiss the medical malpractice suit. The patient argues her attorneys did not engage in unauthorized practice of law, saying the Michigan attorneys (not licensed in Arkansas) tolled the limitations period when they served the notice of intention to file. The notice was correctly found to be a nullity because the attorneys were engaged in unauthorized practice of law. The notice was also correctly found to be deficient. Furthermore, the action was filed beyond the two-year medical malpractice limitations period. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Barrett , Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: CV-23-143, Categories: Licensing, Due Process, Medical Malpractice