Gay plaintiffs suing to force Arkansas officials to recognize the validity of their state-issued marriage licenses want Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza to preside over the proceedings, according to a petition filed Friday by the group's lawyer.
Piazza's May ruling that Arkansas' constitutional and statutory bans on same-sex unions are illegal led clerks in three counties to issue marriage licenses to gay couples for six days in May before the Arkansas Supreme Court stayed the ruling while justices took up the appeal. The decision has now been before the high court for 11 months.
Five plaintiffs -- two couples and a widower -- sued in February to force the state Department of Finance and Administration and the Health Department to recognize the validity of their licenses for purposes of filing joint tax returns, acquiring health insurance and receiving spousal Social Security benefits. Circuit Judge Alice Gray has been assigned to decide the lawsuit.
State lawyers responded to the litigation by asking that Gray either dismiss the lawsuit because the courts don't have the authority to do what the plaintiffs are asking or put the matter on hold until a higher court can decide the legality of same-sex marriage.
The state maintains that the licenses were illegally issued, making the marriages null and void.
On Friday, plaintiffs attorney Cheryl Maples petitioned Gray to deny the state's request to dismiss the lawsuit or put it on hold.
Maples asked that the lawsuit be transferred to Piazza. The move is necessary because the the new lawsuit and the original marriage litigation are so related, Maples wrote.
Such a move would save the court's time and eliminate the plaintiffs' need to call Piazza as a witness, the filing states.
In the pleading, Maples argues that the dismissal motion by the state "totally" misrepresents Piazza's ruling in the original lawsuit.
Maples also argues against freezing the litigation until higher courts decide the gay-marriage question. None of the cases pending before the state and federal Supreme Courts will address the retroactive application of Piazza's ruling that this lawsuit raises, she stated in the filing.
Metro on 04/19/2015