Barnhart v. City of Fayetteville
| Decision Date | 02 May 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-336,93-336 |
| Citation | 875 S.W.2d 79,316 Ark. 742 |
| Parties | Katherine BARNHART, Appellant, v. CITY OF FAYETTEVILLE, et al., Appellees. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
E. Kent Hirsch, Springdale, Marshall Dale Evans, Fayetteville, George K. Cracraft, Little Rock, for appellant.
Katherine C. Gay, Walter R. Niblock, Fayetteville, for appellee City of Fayetteville.
John C. Everett, Fayetteville, for amicus curiae James N. McCord.
Herschel H. Friday, William H. Sutton, Larry W. Burks, Jeffrey H. Moore, Little Rock, for appellee Financial Guar. Ins HAYS, Justice.
This is a class action brought by appellant Katherine Barnhart on behalf of herself and other Fayetteville taxpayers and sanitation ratepayers against the Northwest Arkansas Resource Recovery Authority (Authority), Union National Bank of Little Rock, Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC), Washington County and the Cities of Fayetteville (City) and West Fork (appellees). A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., and the partners of the Rose Law Firm and of Wright, Lindsey and Jennings were joined as third party defendants.
Fayetteville, West Fork and Washington County had formed the Authority under the provisions of Act 699 of 1979. That act authorized municipalities and counties to organize authorities for the disposal of solid waste, including the power to later withdraw, without impairment of financial obligations incurred during participation. The project's purpose was to plan, construct and finance an incinerator to burn solid waste. The Authority's nine member board of directors consisted of seven Fayetteville directors and one each from West Fork and Washington County. The plan was for the incinerator to generate steam or heat for the production of electricity.
The Authority issued bonds totalling $22,405,000 to finance the development and construction of the facility. A site was selected and a construction contract entered into. The Authority also contracted with Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC) to insure the repayment of the bonds, obligating FGIC to pay any principal or interest due on the bonds but unpaid by the Authority. Union National Bank of Little Rock was named as trustee for the bondholders. In furtherance of the project the City entered into a Waste Disposal Agreement (WDA) with the Authority by which the City agreed to unconditionally guarantee the debts of the Authority, including debt service on the bonds. The revenue stream from which the bonds were to be repaid was provided by the WDA which stated that its members would deliver waste to the project and pay processing charges ("tipping fees") for the disposal of such waste. Tipping fees were payable solely from income received by the cities and county from sanitation fund revenues and such fees had to be sufficient to pay operating expenses of the facility and debt service on the bonds.
While construction was under way public opposition over site selection and environmental concerns rose to such a level that the Fayetteville board of directors submitted the question of continuing the project to a non-binding vote by the voters of Fayetteville. On March 8, 1988, a majority of those voting voted against continuing the project and on March 9 Fayetteville notified the Authority it was withdrawing. On March 11 the Authority terminated the project.
Some $8,000,000 in bond proceeds had by then been expended. In order to retire the bonds at the first nonpenalty call date, the City of Fayetteville enacted Ordinance No. 3444 which increased the sanitation fees by $2.02 per month for residential and commercial users. After the passage of Ord. No. 3444, appellant Katherine Barnhart filed this class action against the appellees, the Bank and FGIC, alleging that the collection of revenue under Ord. No. 3444 constituted an illegal exaction.
The case was tried as to the issues between the plaintiff and the defendants, with the cross-claim and third party claims specifically reserved for a later date "pursuant to Rule 42, Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure." The order recites the finding of the chancellor that Ord. No. 3444 is neither...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Stratton v. Arkansas State Highway Com'n
...held that, where no such determination is made, we will dismiss the appeal for noncompliance with Rule 54(b). Barnhart v. City of Fayetteville, 316 Ark. 742, 875 S.W.2d 79 (1994). We have repeatedly held that, where the abstracted order fails to set forth specific factual findings supportin......
-
Guebert v. Williams
...v. OSCA, Inc., supra. Davis v. Wausau Ins. Co., 315 Ark. 330, 332, 867 S.W.2d 444, 445-446 (1993); see also Barnhart v. City of Fayetteville, 316 Ark. 742, 875 S.W.2d 79 (1994); Wormald U.S., Inc. v. Cedar Chemical Corp., 316 Ark. 434, 873 S.W.2d 152 In sum, claims against seven parties rem......
-
Woods v. Peters
... ... 5:22-cv-05164United States District Court, W.D. Arkansas, Fayetteville" DivisionSeptember 7, 2022 ... ... OPINION AND ORDER ... \xC2" ... resulting in one final judgment. Id. at *5 (citing ... Barnhart v. City of Fayetteville, 875 S.W.2d 79 ... (Ark. 1994)). Severance, on the other hand, ... ...
-
Cortese v. Atlantic Richfield, 93-981
...an express determination, supported by specific factual findings, that there is no just reason for delay." Barnhart v. City of Fayetteville, 316 Ark. 742, 875 S.W.2d 79 (1994); Franklin v. Osca, 308 Ark. 409, 825 S.W.2d 812 (1992); Austin v. First Nat'l Bank, 305 Ark. 456, 808 S.W.2d 773 (1......