AAC
RESEARCH CORNER
Examining publication requirements
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By Shelby Morrow and Dylan Lofton AAC Law Clerks
any functions of government require notice to be published in a legal newspaper of general circulation. Actions ranging from property foreclosure to new county ordinances require publication of notice. The purpose of this requirement is to ensure public notices are “given wide and general publicity.” Continental Life Ins. Co. v. Mahoney, 49 S.W.2d 371, 373, 185 Ark. 748, 748 (1932). According to the Pew Research Center, over the past 20 years, total annual Sunday newspaper circulation has dropped from around 59.5 million to 30.8 million nationally. Several Arkansas counties may no longer have a newspaper of general circulation. The Arkansas Democrat Gazette has previously reported that their daily print circulation fell 21 percent from 2000 to 2014, with around 139,600 daily print copies circulating in 2014. Now, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette’s focus has shifted to Sunday circulation, with the total Sunday press run falling to about 51,000 copies. The Arkansas Democrat Gazette has noted that most of their actual circulation is digital. Additionally, circulation of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette’s Sunday print edition varies, from urban areas receiving heavier circulation, and rural areas receiving limited copies. Attorneys for banks in foreclosures and other clients before the Circuit Court in Arkansas must determine whether there actually is a legal newspaper providing “wide and general publicity” within the various counties and jurisdictions. Per A.C.A. § 16-13-101, in the absence of a legal newspaper, publication is required to be made by “posting five (5) written or printed notices in five (5) of the most public places in the county.” Likewise, government officials must determine the existence or lack of existence of a legal newspaper throughout Arkansas and within the various counties and jurisdictions. Per A.C.A. § 14-14-104, in the absence of a legal newspaper, publication is to be accomplished by posting notice in three public places designated by ordinance.
What is a Legal Newspaper?
A.C.A. § 16-3-105 defines a legal newspaper eligible to publish legal notices as: “... a publication bearing a fixed title or name, published at a fixed place of business, regularly issued at fixed intervals as frequently as one (1) time each week and having a second-class mailing privilege, and being not less than four (4) pages of five (5) columns each.” Further, the newspaper must have been published at regu14
lar intervals for at least one year and at least 50 percent of its subscribers must pay for the publication for six months. This statute also requires the newspaper’s primary function to be: “... to inform, instruct, enlighten, and entertain, and to be an intangible service to which the general public as a whole resorts for intelligence of passing events of a political, religious, commercial, or social nature, for local and general current happenings, editorial comments, announcements, miscellaneous reading matter, advertisements, and other notices.” A newspaper’s primary function has been considered in Arkansas Attorney General Opinions considering whether particular newspapers or publications are legal newspapers. One opinion is specific on this requirement. It was asked whether a specific newspaper qualified to carry legal notices. The Attorney General interpreted A.C.A. § 16-3-105 as a list of requirements, not a balancing test. AG Opinion No. 90-134 (June 8, 1990) used the test for general circulation adopted in Continental Life Insurance Company v. Mahoney, which focuses “not necessarily [on] the number of subscribers a publication has in a certain geographic region, but rather, whether that publication regularly carries the record of events occurring of general interest to the public as a whole.”
What is a Newspaper of General Circulation?
General circulation does not apply to the number and county-wide distribution of subscribers; rather, “the primary consideration is whether the newspaper contains information of general interest.” A newspaper without subscribers is not one of general circulation. However, a newspaper with limited subscribers can be of general circulation if it is “not of special or limited character but circulated among all classes and . . . not confined to a particular class or calling in the community.”
Solutions Adopted by the General Assembly
Act 592 of 2015, Arkansas Treasure Hunt: The Arkansas Auditor of State is entrusted with the duty to return unclaimed property to the owner or legal heir. The Arkansas Treasure Hunt Service allows one to search the Auditor’s website for unclaimed property. The Unclaimed Property Act governs the disposition and return of unclaimed property. Notice and the publication of lists for abandoned or unclaimed property is addressed under A.C.A § 18-28-209. In 2015, the law was amended. Under Act 592 of 2015, which originated as HB1665, the Auditor of State is required to publish only a brief notice for abandoned property in a newsCOUNTY LINES, SPRING 2021
