Category: Arkansas Appellate Court News

Arkansas’s Administrative Office of the Courts Seeks Proposals for New Statewide Electronic Filing System

~ Tasha C. Taylor ~ 1 Comment

The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), pursuant to its authority under Administrative Order 21, took a step toward implementing electronic filing statewide when it recently announced its request for proposals “for systems and services for the implementation of a comprehensive statewide electronic filing system for the Arkansas Judiciary.”  According to the AOC, the filing system must meet the following requirements:

The system must have the proven capability of handling all types of cases including small claims, traffic, criminal, civil, probate, juvenile, and domestic relations. The system must also have been successfully implemented at limited, general, and appellate levels of a multi-jurisdictional court system.

Arkansas appellate attorneys and Arkansas general practitoners would benefit from the type of uniform statewide filing system, as described by the AOC.

Arkansas Appellate Courts Update–Court of Appeals Motions Conference; Fall Term 2010

~ Tasha C. Taylor

The Arkansas Court of Appeals met this week for its end of summer motions conference.  The results are included in the Court’s August 25, 2010 Syllabus. 

The summer recess for Arkansas’s appellate courts will soon be over, as both courts begin their fall terms within the next couple of weeks.  The courts will hear their first oral arguments of the fall term on September 15, 2010 (Court of Appeals), and September 16, 2010 (Supreme Court).

Coming Soon: Judiciary Website Overhaul

~ Tasha C. Taylor

Stephanie Harris, Arkansas Supreme Court Communications Counsel, is seeking suggestions from attorneys for the Arkansas Judiciary’s new website.  If you have ideas for how the website could be more user-friendly or helpful please submit your comments and suggestions to Ms. Harris.  Her e-mail is Stephanie.M.Harris@arkansas.gov, and her telephone number is (501) 371-2004.  All comments and suggestions will remain confidential.

The End of an Era: Final Bound Volume of Arkansas Reports Issued

~ Tasha C. Taylor

In a press release dated June 28, 2010, the Administrative Office of the Courts announces that the final bound volume of the Arkansas Reports and Arkansas Appellate Reports has been issued.

The final issue of the Arkansas Reports comes one hundred and seventy-three years after its first publication.  Arkansas is the first state in the country to eliminate the use of bound volumes of the appellate courts’ opinions. See Act 221 of 2009.  The final bound volume of the Arkansas Reports includes decisions from November 5, 2008 to February 12, 2009.  All opinions of the Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals handed down on or after February 14, 2009 are officially published as electronic versions, which can be found on the judiciary’s web site.

 

Chief Justice Hannah Confirmed by U.S. Senate To Serve on State Justice Institute Board of Directors

~ Tasha C. Taylor

Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Hannah’s nomination to serve on the State Justice Institute (SJI) Board of Directors was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 22, 2010.  The SJI is has the authority to assist all state courts with innovations, resources, and solutions to improve access to justice and the effective, efficient administration of the courts.  Hannah is the only person from Arkansas to have ever been appointed to the SJI.  His peers at the Conference of Chief Justices submitted Hannah’s name to President Obama for consideration.  The President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, has authority under federal law to appoint the eleven members of the Board.

Governor Beebe Appoints Raymond Abramson to Arkansas Court of Appeals

~ Tasha C. Taylor ~ 2 Comments

Governor Mike Beebe recently appointed Raymond Abramson of Holly Grove as the Associate Judge for District 1, Position 2 on the Arkansas Court of Appeals, filling the vacancy left by the resignation of Judge Price Marshall, who was recently confirmed as a federal judge.  Abramson will serve in this position through 2012.  The voters of the 12 east-Arkansas counties that make up District 1 will elect a judge to fill the remaining two years of Marshall’s term.

Arkansas Supreme Court To Permit Cameras In Appellate Proceedings

~ Tasha C. Taylor ~ 2 Comments

Today’s per curiam from the Arkansas Supreme Court–In Re Amendment to Administrative Order No. 6–permits broadcasting, recording, and photography in appellate proceedings in the Arkansas Supreme Court and the Arkansas Court of Appeals.

This big change in the way Arkansas’s appellate courts do business comes with a lengthy set of rules governing the use of cameras in the courtrooms–the following is a summary of some of the highlights from the amendments to Administrative Order Number 6 that govern the use of cameras and electronic devices in all courtrooms across the state:

  • Judges may authorize broadcasting, recording, or photographing in the courtroom and the areas adjacent to the courtroom throughout the proceedings, recesses, etc., as long as the participants will not be distracted and the dignity of the proceedings will not be impaired.With a timely objection, parties or attorneys can preclude broadcasting, recording, or photographing of the proceeding.
  • Witnesses have a right to refuse to be broadcast, recorded, or photographed.
  • Jurors, minors without parental or guardian consent, victims in cases involving sexual offenses, and undercover police agents or informants shall not be broadcast, recorded, or photographed.
  • Juvenile matters, probate matters, and domestic relations matters shall not be subject to broadcasting, recording, or photographing.
  • Judges will retain ultimate control of the application of the rules and their decisions will be final and not subject to appeal.  At any time, the court may determine in its discretion to terminate the broadcast, recording, or photography. 
  • Only two cameras will be permitted in the courtroom during a trial: one camera for still photography and one for video/television photography.  The media will have a pooling arrangement whereby representatives of the news media will share the photography and video footage.  If the court has its own broadcasting, recording, or photography system, the court’s system shall be used, unless the court determines otherwise.
  • Electronic devices cannot be used in courtrooms to broadcast, record, photograph, e-mail, blog, tweet, text, post, or transmit information by any other means except as may be allowed by the court.
  • Oral arguments at the Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals may be recorded, broadcasted, or webcasted through a live or tape-delayed format as the Supreme Court shall direct.  The Supreme Court’s courtroom is being equipped with a system to record and broadcast oral arguments that the Court plans to implement in the 2010 Fall Term of the Court.  Those recordings will be retained at the Clerk’s office and may be purchased for a cost to be set by the Court to cover the cost of the copies.  Objections to the recording of oral arguments and other appellate proceedings may be made to the Court.

Arkansas Supreme Court Rule 4-2 Requires Appellant’s Addendum To Be “Just Right”

~ Tasha C. Taylor ~ 2 Comments

Attention appellate attorneys: recognizing that you might already feel a bit like Goldilocks–somewhat lost while meandering through a forest of rules and requirements to attempt to create the perfect brief–you will probably not feel as comforted as she was to hear the characterization “just right” with respect to creating the perfect appellant’s addendum.  That was the message at the conclusion of yesterday’s decision  in West Memphis Adolescent Residential, LLC v. J.T. Compton, et al., 2010 Ark. App. 450, — S.W.3d — (2010), which includes a notice “[f]or the benefit of the appellate bar” calling appellate attorneys to create addenda that are neither too big nor too small.

The Arkansas Court of Appeals explained that Rule 4-2(a)(8) requires that the documents contained in the appellant’s addendum not be too many or too few.  Rather, an addendum must contain only those documents necessary to an understanding of the issues on appeal or the appellate court’s jurisdiction:

For the benefit of the appellate bar, we note that WMAR has included many unnecessary documents in its addendum, such as multiple copies of the various contracts and leases; motions to dismiss and orders denying the motions; motions and orders on discovery disputes; motions in limine; scheduling orders; orders extending the time to respond to summary judgment motions; and protective orders. None of these documents were necessary to the arguments made on appeal. They total more than 150 pages of an addendum that contains 742 pages. Under Supreme Court Rule 4-2(a)(8), the contents of the addendum are to be limited to only those items necessary to an understanding of the issues on appeal or our jurisdiction. We have pointed out that an abstract and addendum can be deficient for containing too much material, as well as too little. See American Transp. Corp. v. Exchange Capital Corp., 84 Ark. App. 28, 129 S.W.3d 312 (2003); Miller v. Hometown Propane Gas, Inc., 82 Ark. App. 82, 110 S.W.3d 304 (2003).

West Memphis Adolescent Residential, LLC, 2010 Ark. App. 450, at 12, — S.W.3d —, — (emphasis added).

Arkansas Supreme Court Rule 4-2(a)(8) specifically requires that the addendum “shall not merely reproduce the entire record of trial court filings” but that it should contain those documents “that are essential for the appellate court to confirm its jurisdiction, to understand the case, and to decide the issues on appeal.” 

Arkansas Supreme Court Rule 4-2 was amended in 2009 to provide more guidance to appellate attorneys concerning, among other things, the contents of the appellant’s addendum. See previous blog post, Arkansas Supreme Court Proposes Rule Changes as Possible Solution to Brief Deficiencies.  The amended version of Rule 4-2 went into effect on January 1, 2010.  Yesterday’s announcement to the appellate bar by the Arkansas Court of Appeals echos previous warnings from the Arkansas Supreme Court concerning deficiencies in briefs that led to the 2009 rule changes, which brought significant amendments to Rule 4-2, governing the contents of briefs on appeal. See, e.g., In re Appellate Practice Concerning Defective Briefs, 369 Ark. App’x 553 (2007); In Re: Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Rules 4-1 and 4-2.

For those who are still wondering how to create an addendum that is “just right,” the first place to start is by reviewing Arkansas Supreme Court Rule 4-2(a)(8), which provides much more advice to attorneys than the rule previously did.  For example, Rule 4-2(a)(8) now contains a bulleted list of the documents that the addendum absolutely must contain, which provides a great starting point for determining which documents to include in an addendum.  Of course, each case is unique so there will most likely be other documents, outside of that list, that also must be included in order to create an addendum that includes all the documents in your case “that are essential for the appellate court to confirm its jurisdiction, to understand the case, and to decide the issues on appeal.” See Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2(a)(8).