The Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership

The newly formed Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership (ARORP) held its inaugural Advisory Board meeting on Nov. 4. Board members include Lafayette County Judge Danny Ormand; Attorney Tom Barron; Opioid Stewardship Committee-UAMS Chairman, Dr. Johnathan Goree; LiveRamp Chief Legal and Ethics Officer and Executive Vice President Jerry Jones; Strong-Huttig School Board President Cindy Smith; Grant Writer and Researcher Gloria Gordon; Blytheville Mayor James Sanders; Arkansas Municipal League General Counsel John Wilkerson; AAC Litigation Counsel Colin Jorgensen; Retired Director of the State Opioid Response Project, Dr. Virginia Stanick; Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder; and Retired North Little Rock Police Chief Danny Bradley. The Board meeting was followed by a news conference during which ARORP Director Kirk Lane announced grant opportunities and ARORP Deputy Director Tenesha Barnes unveiled the ARORP website.

In 2021, the federal courts in Arkansas saw more civil rights cases filed by prisoners than any other state in the Eighth Circuit. Although the courts are required to screen these complaints under the Prisoner Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), we still see hundreds of cases filed against county employees in Arkansas each year. With these sorts of numbers, the chances are good that you will be served with at least one lawsuit alleging a civil rights violation by law enforcement or detention officers in your county. It is always good practice to make sure you and your staff understand what to do when you are sued and some simple ways to help us provide the best defense for you in court.

You cannot wait until the day you are served to start preparing for litigation. The best defense is really created and established before the suit is filed. Here are some tips to help us help you.

Understand and Recognize Service

A lawsuit is officially served when a “SUMMONS” is delivered to a person or entity named in the attached “COMPLAINT.” This is often done via certified mail from the U.S. Marshals. If you receive mail from the Court and are not sure what you need to do, please call us and we will help you identify what it is. Delivery of a Summons and Complaint starts the clock on the limited time for the served defendant to file a timely Answer. Once service is accepted, whether by certified mail or in person, an Answer must be filed (within 21 days if suit is filed in Federal Court, or 30 days if suit is filed in State Court.) If an Answer is not timely filed, the plaintiff can ask the court to enter a Default Judgment.

If the person named in the suit no longer works for the county, refuse service. If you cannot identify the person to whom service is directed, (for instance, “Officer Roberts” is named, but you have more than one officer with the last name “Roberts,”) refuse service. If the person named in the suit still works for the county, accept service, notify the person, and give them a copy immediately. For claims of civil rights violations, it is critical that you notify us right away so we can confirm coverage and, if covered, make sure the attorney assigned to the case gets an Answer filed on time. The best way to notify us is by emailing a copy of the Summons and Complaint.

Document. Document. Document.

No one wants to add to the workload of already busy county employees, create more paperwork, or stay longer on a shift to create a record or report. However, those are the very things that will save you time and effort should the case move to litigation. Documents often allow your lawyers to present evidence to the Court on a pre-trial motion such as a Motion for Summary Judgment, that could result in a dismissal of the case. Make sure your officers are trained in report writing.

In addition, because the statute of limitations in civil rights cases is three years, chances are the memories of those involved will fade. Reports and memos will preserve a person’s testimony and provide details that will be important in providing a full and complete picture for the judge or jury. Especially in situations where litigation seems likely, whether due to the situation or due to a litigious plaintiff, the time it takes employees to write a report or memo may save the employee and the county months in litigation.

Preserve everything (Documents, video, and photographs)

Discarding or destroying evidence, or allowing it to be destroyed, in a pending or anticipated lawsuit is illegal and counterproductive to your case. Allowing evidence to spoil (be deleted or discarded) may subject the parties or lawyers to sanctions by the Court. Also, the law allows the Court to instruct the jury to presume that the “spoiled” evidence would have supported the allegations in the plaintiff’s Complaint. That presumption is very hard to overcome.

Modern judges and juries expect to see video or photographic evidence. When it is missing, there can be an unspoken suspicion that can hurt your defense. The irony is that, more often than not, video evidence usually supports your position. When an incident occurs that is likely to lead to litigation, promptly identify and preserve any photo or video evidence that is relevant. It may not show the entire incident, or it may show that the “incident” did not actually happen. Even photos or video that appear of limited value should be preserved. If more than one camera recorded the event or parts of it, save the video from each camera. Most counties do not have unlimited storage and may only be able to access video for a limited period after an alleged event. This is why it is critical to identify and preserve the video as soon as possible. Do not allow over-recording to occur. You are always welcome to go ahead and pull any available video evidence and send us an electronic copy or DVD — even before suit is filed — so we can duplicate your efforts to preserve this critical evidence.

Finally, make sure that you provide the lawyer handling your case with complete and legible copies of anything and everything that may be pertinent to your case. Make a full copy of what you provide so that you can be absolutely sure that you have given them every page. If in doubt, go ahead and provide the information so the lawyer can evaluate the relevance to the case. We would always rather get too much information than not enough.