Little Rock on Thursday paid a $10,000 penalty issued by a judge two weeks ago, and asked that a Monday hearing to determine whether to cite the city for contempt of court be canceled in light of the payment.
Circuit Judge Tim Fox levied the hefty fine in an April 25 order after expressing frustration that only one city attorney was assigned to a case before him and that the attorney had repeatedly asked for continuances, the most recent request coming the week before the trial was to take place.
That attorney, Latonya Austin, resigned from city employment after the judge's order.
Fox ordered Little Rock to pay the $10,000 fine within 10 days.
Instead, City Attorney Tom Carpenter petitioned Fox to reconsider the penalty and asked that the deadline for payment be postponed until Fox ruled on the request to reconsider. The May 5 deadline to pay came and went without the city making a payment.
Fox denied Carpenter's motions Monday without explanation and ordered City Manager Bruce Moore to appear in court at 10:15 a.m. next Monday to show cause for why the city didn't pay. Fox said the hearing was to determine whether to cite the city for contempt of court for failure to obey the April 25 order.
Little Rock submitted the $10,000 payment at 11:17 a.m. Thursday -- a week late. Carpenter filed a motion shortly afterward asking Fox to cancel Monday's hearing.
"This is a civil contempt; the city did not willfully disobey the order of the court, but instead pointed out that the order was not entered in accordance with Arkansas law and sought appropriate relief. ... Civil contempt can be cured by the alleged contemnor by performing the necessary action, i.e., the payment of the sanction," Carpenter wrote in Thursday's motion.
"Since this is a motion to show cause on a matter of civil contempt that can be purged by the payment of the sanction, the city moves that the hearing for Monday, May 16, 2016, be cancelled since the payment of the sanction has been made."
Fox had not responded to the motion seeking to cancel Monday's hearing by the end of business hours Thursday.
In Carpenter's previous motions asking Fox to reconsider the penalty, Carpenter pointed out several legal arguments as to why he believes the penalty was improper under law.
He said Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure limit the instances in which a sanction can be issued against a party that is represented by counsel, and that both instances require notice and an opportunity for the party to respond within 14 days.
"The city has not had notice or an opportunity to respond to the charges levied against it," Carpenter wrote.
He also argued that Rule 11 of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure, which Fox cited in his order issuing the fine, requires an explanation as to how a monetary sanction is determined.
Fox didn't say in his April 25 order how he came up with the $10,000 fine.
In that order, the judge chastised the city and Austin, who was representing the city in a lawsuit filed by Tiffany Malone, a former police officer.
Malone is alleging sex discrimination and retaliation in her discipline and termination from the Police Department.
Fox said the city should have put more than one attorney on the case, which he called "complex."
"Even though the Little Rock City Attorney's Office has a number of attorneys who regularly engage in trial work in both the state and federal courts, the defendants have elected to only have a single attorney make an entry of appearance as attorney of record for purposes of trying this matter," Fox wrote in his fining order.
"[Austin] made numerous statements on the record indicating she had not properly or professionally prepared the case for trial and that she had failed and refused to comply with the court's scheduling order," Fox said.
His penalty came after Austin had filed for the third time a motion seeking to delay the trial, which was set for the next week.
A day after Fox's order, the city replaced Austin on the case with two deputy city attorneys, Amy Beckman Fields and Alexander Betton.
Austin has since resigned. A request for her resignation letter was not fulfilled by the end of the day Thursday.
In Carpenter's motion for reconsideration, he said Austin had two "significant medical scares" that were unforeseen, and that was the reason for at least one of her requests for continuance.
He also justified assigning Austin to the case.
"At the time the case was assigned, it appeared to be a straightforward appeal from a decision of the Civil Service Commission. However, the complaint added additional allegations that attempted to expand this appeal into a cause of action for wrongful discharge and discrimination.
"When this case was assigned, Ms. Austin believed that she had the time and resources necessary to handle the litigation," Carpenter said.
Reached by email Thursday, Carpenter said the city still plans to appeal the penalty. The sanction process must be followed through before an appeal can be filed, however.
"As soon as I hear that the hearing is cancelled, and some document to that effect is entered, I will file the appropriate notice of appeal and ask the Arkansas Supreme Court to review this action by Judge Fox," Carpenter said by email, adding that the city will rely on the arguments set forth in his previous motions.
A Section on 05/13/2016