HOT SPRINGS -- A settlement approved last week in the class-action lawsuit filed against Hot Springs' false-alarm ordinance established a $110,000 fund for the 255 class members.
City Attorney Brian Albright said the city and Arkansas Municipal League, which represented the city in the class action filed by ABC Block & Brick in November, will each contribute $55,000 to the settlement approved by Circuit Judge Lynn Williams.
Claims had to be submitted by March 14, according to the claim notice mailed to class members last month. Unclaimed proceeds will be disbursed back to the city and Municipal League. Municipal League attorney Michael Mosley said his office has received about 30 claims, which, according to the settlement, have to be paid within 90 days of the final approval order.
The settlement allows up to $40,000 in fees for the class members' attorneys to be paid from the fund.
The class comprises those fined or who paid fines from Nov. 15, 2014, to Jan. 12 of this year as a result of the city's false-alarm ordinance, which imposes a fine after five false alarms. A $25 fine is assessed on the sixth false alarm, with the penalty increasing to $50 on the 11th false alarm and $100 on the 16th and every one after that.
Any outstanding balances are no longer valid, according to the claim notice, and the city has ceased enforcing the ordinance. Albright said the city and Municipal League will work with the class members' attorneys on drafting a new ordinance that will include a definition for a false alarm.
The complaint that class attorney Chris Corbitt filed in November argued the ordinance was vague, allowing the Police Department, in the absence of a clear standard enshrined in the city code, to determine whether an alarm was false. The complaint said the city imposed an undue burden on property owners, making them solely responsible for false alarms when installation and monitoring companies and "acts of God" can also be at fault.
Corbitt said the new ordinance should include verified response, which requires verification that a crime is taking place before police are dispatched. According to the complaint, false alarms account for 94 percent of all alarm signals nationwide.
"We're setting up a meeting with the Municipal League to come up with a better [ordinance] because the current one also puts a burden on police who have to respond to false alarms," Corbitt said.
He said Tractor Supply Co. at 2307 Albert Pike Road will be the class member that benefits the most from the settlement. City billing records obtained by The Sentinel-Record last year showed Tractor Supply was fined $9,525 for 125 false alarms from 2015 to July 2017.
"They're going to get $10,000 back,"Corbitt said.
ABC Block, the lead plaintiff that filed the lawsuit under its corporate designation, Newoods Inc., was fined $125 for 10 false alarms from April to August of last year. St. Mary's Catholic Church was fined $375 for 15 false alarms in 2015 and $575 for 17 in 2016.
The KFC at 114 Airport Road was fined $975 for 21 false alarms in 2015, and Las Americas Supermarket was fined $875 for 20 false alarms in 2016. The city assessed 264 businesses, churches and residences false alarm fines totaling $25,200 in 2014.
Corbitt said class actions that ABC Block filed against Little Rock and Fayetteville's false-alarm ordinances are pending.
Little Rock's False Alarm Reduction Program calls for a $25 civil penalty for the fourth false alarm within a calendar year, $50 for a fifth false alarm and from $200 to $500 for six or more false alarms, depending on the agency responding to the alarm.
Metro on 03/25/2018