The Daily Law Blog

The Arkansas Supreme Court made itself abundantly clear in a new opinion rendered this week. As stated in  Arkansas Community Correction v. Barnes , 2018 Ark. 122 , the Court clearly meant its prior holding in   Bd. of Trs. v. Andrews , 2018 Ark. 12, 535 S.W.3d 616 : you simply cannot sue the state of Arkansas.   So, I guess it really is good to be king.  This week's victim: The Arkansas Whistle-Blower Act. Here's some background: In  Andrews , the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas argued that it was immune from suits for claims filed against it under the Arkansas Minimum Wage Act based on the doctrine of sovereign immunity.   Andrews , 2018 Ark. 12, at 2-3.  In   Andrews , the Court held that the Arkansas General Assembly cannot waive the State's immunity, and any statute providing that the State could be made a defendant in a lawsuit goes beyond the scope of the legislature's power.   The Arkansas Supre...

C. Michael Daily  is a business law attorney with the long-established law firm of  Dail y & Woods, P.L.L.C . and is licensed to practice business law and real estate law in Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Wyoming. C. Michael Daily can be contacted by telephone at  479-242-3953 , by email at  mdaily@dailywoods.com , or by regular post at 58 South 6th Street, Fort Smith, Arkansas 72902.   Arkansas is the only state to criminalize the failure to pay rent.  I'll just leave that sentence here for you to re-read in a moment. If a tenant enters into a residential lease with his landlord, he is always contractually required to pay rent in exchange for a place to live. In simplest terms, the parties have a private rental agreement.  In most states, if the tenant breaches this agreement, the landlord has a right to initiate eviction proceedings, and can pursue civil remedies and collect damages in the form of back rent and actual damage to the...

Just twenty-five days into the 89th General Assembly's legislative session and there have been 265 House Bills and 256 Senate Bills introduced.  As of February 7, 65 Acts have been passed, most of which are appropriation Acts.  On a more substantive level, SB 12 ( Act 39 ) and SB 56 ( Act 42 ), related to sex offender registration and restrictions have become law.  Based on the legislation introduced thus far, I would expect the Governor to soon address whether to sign new gun carry and abortion restriction legislation in the couple of weeks.   Several bills have already piqued my interest at this early stage of the legislative session and for various reasons.  These potential laws-to-be are arranged by subject matter, with full-text hyperlinks, below.  In no way is this an exhaustive list, but I believe it hits the highlights of the last four weeks.  Of course, if you are particularly affected, or offended, by these new bills, or see value or an abs...