Walther v. Wilson

by
The Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court's award of attorney's fees to Plaintiff in his illegal-exaction lawsuit successfully challenging the constitutionality of certain legislative acts but remanded for further proceedings, holding that attorney's fees were permitted and that the matter should be remanded to the circuit court with instructions to consider the factors set forth in Chrisco v. Sun Industries, Inc., 800 S.W.2d 717 (Ark. 1990), in determining whether the amount of fees requested by Plaintiff was reasonable under the circumstances.The circuit court awarded attorney's fees to Plaintiff in the amount of $323,266 based on Plaintiff's illegal-exaction suit alleging that certain legislative acts of 2015 appropriating funds from the Arkansas General Improvement Fund (GIF) to eight regional planning and developmental districts were unconstitutional. The amount was one-third of the remaining GIF funds involved. The Supreme Court held (1) sovereign immunity was not an issue in this case; (2) attorney's fees were permitted in this case; and (3) because the circuit court did not make any findings with respect to what a reasonable attorney's fee would be in this case, the case must be remanded for reconsideration of the amount of attorney's fees. View "Walther v. Wilson" on Justia Law