Attorney General Tim Griffin's Freedom of Information lawsuit against the state Board of Corrections came to an end on Monday -- at least temporarily -- with a judge's ruling that Griffin had failed to fulfill his duty to ensure the agency has legal representation.
"The plaintiff ... refused to communicate with the [board's] current special counsel," Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox wrote."The plaintiff failed to make material or good faith efforts ... for the defendants to obtain special counsel."
Fox's ruling allows Griffin to refile the suit, but the Republican attorney general said Monday night that he plans to appeal the dismissal to the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Griffin's lawsuit sought to sanction the board for hiring its own lawyer last month. The attorney general contended the hiring of attorney Abtin Mehdizadegan with the Hall Booth Smith law firm of Little Rock occurred during a board meeting that violated open-meeting provisions of the Freedom of Information Act and sought through the lawsuit to have the employment contract canceled.
The board, through Mehdizadegan, countered by challenging the legality of the attorney general essentially suing one of its own clients, arguing that Griffin was violating the Rules of Professional Conduct.
Fox agreed with that assessment, noting that the attorney general's duties under Arkansas Code 25-16-702 require that Griffin provide legal counsel for state agencies, either using his own assistants or by hiring counsel. Fox said Griffin could not simultaneously sue board members and bar them from having a lawyer.
"The case ... is that the attorney general has sued his own clients, in violation of his duties and responsibilities legislatively mandated to him by the Arkansas General Assembly," Fox wrote last month. "Not only has the attorney general acted in contravention of his statutory duties to represent the state defendants, by using his discretion to apparently not invoke the special counsel procedure, he is apparently attempting to deliberately deprive his clients of any legal representation of any kind."
After the hearing, Mehdizadegan said board members were happy with the ruling and hoped they could work out their differences with Griffin outside the courtroom.
"We once again invite the attorney general to meet with the board to work through these differences, none of which have any relationship with the [Freedom of Information Act], and look forward to concluding litigation," Mehdizadegan said. "In the meantime, the board remains laser-focused on advancing the needs of Arkansas's corrections system through its management and oversight."
Monday's ruling is the second loss the board has dealt to Griffin in the courts this month. Over the attorney general's objections, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Patricia James has temporarily blocked enforcement of two state laws the board contends weaken its authority in violation of Amendment 33 to the state Constitution. Ruling in response to a board lawsuit brought by Mehdizadegan, James said the laws cannot go into effect until their constitutionality is tested at trial.
One law would give the governor sole firing authority over the secretary of corrections while the second would give a significant portion of the board's power to oversee the Department of Corrections' Divisions of Correction and Community Correction to the corrections secretary.
The board fired Joe Profiri on Jan 10. He was appointed corrections secretary one year earlier by Republican Gov. Sarah Sanders, who has since taken him on as a special advisor earning $201,700 yearly, a decrease from the $210,000 he made as secretary.