Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson and University of Arkansas System board of trustees Chairman John Goodson officially divorced Thursday, according to a decree filed in Texarkana Circuit Court.
The Goodsons were a high-profile couple in legal and political circles in Arkansas during their nearly eight-year marriage.
A justice since 2011, Courtney Goodson will revert to her maiden name, Courtney Rae Hudson.
John Goodson is a plaintiff's lawyer and member of a prominent Texarkana law firm.
The two were scheduled for a Sept. 26 final hearing on issues raised during their seven-month-long divorce proceeding, but they reached agreement on a property settlement and other issues to dissolve the marriage this month.
The property settlement won't be made public, according to the divorce decree.
Earlier public court filings showed arguments over spousal support, equal-versus-unequal division of property, mortgage payments and other mostly financial matters. The two have no children together.
John Goodson, 60, initially filed for divorce on Jan. 31 on grounds of "general indignities." Courtney Goodson, 47, filed a counterclaim in March saying she was entitled to a divorce and also cited "general indignities."
Special Judge David Laser, a retired judge appointed to hear the case, wrote in Thursday's decree that Courtney Goodson "was entitled to a decree of divorce" from plaintiff John Goodson, and that John Goodson had waived requiring her to detail evidence of her claim.
John Goodson also dismissed his complaint for divorce, according to the decree.
Courtney Goodson's attorney, Lisa Ballard of North Little Rock, said her client has started the process of changing her name.
Ballard couldn't comment further on the case because of a confidentiality agreement and protective order.
Attempts to reach an attorney for the Texarkana lawyer were unsuccessful Thursday.
Public records first connected the couple through campaign contributions from John Goodson, his law firm and firms he worked with that donated heavily to then-Courtney Henry's first campaign for Arkansas' highest court.
Goodson and his law firm, Keil & Goodson of Texarkana, and five out-of-state firms that worked with him, and family members, contributed about $142,500 to Henry's 2010 Supreme Court campaign.
That was about one of every four dollars her campaign raised, according to campaign-finance reporting records.
Goodson's law firm is known for winning multimillion-dollar settlements and lawyers' fees in class-action cases against the nation's largest technology and insurance companies. He also is known as a campaign contributor to state and national political races.
Federal court records unsealed July 30 show that he also has been a target of an FBI investigation into public corruption that began in 2013, in connection with more than $500,000 in payments from his law firm to former state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson.
John Goodson has not been charged with a crime. He denies wrongdoing and has said the payments were for case referrals.
In January 2011, the Courtney Henry-John Goodson relationship drew state and national attention after the Supreme Court justice filed a required Statement of Financial Interest that listed about $99,000 in gifts from Goodson, including jewelry, trips and handbags.
The gifts started in June 2010, according to her statement, the same month her first husband, Mark Henry, filed for divorce. The justice said she had recused herself from cases involving John Goodson.
After their marriage, the Goodsons generated controversy in 2013 when they accepted a $50,000 summer trip to Italy, which she listed as a gift from Fayetteville lawyer W.H. Taylor. Taylor has worked with John Goodson and represented the Tyson family that runs Tyson Foods, one of the state's largest businesses. The trip reportedly included time on the Tyson yacht in Italy.
The Supreme Court justice said then that she had recused herself from high-court cases involving Taylor or Tyson.
Courtney Goodson ran unsuccessfully for chief justice in 2016. She was re-elected to Arkansas Supreme Court Position 3 in 2018.
Metro on 08/30/2019