City of Marianna v. Arkansas Mun. League, 86-131
| Decision Date | 26 January 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-131,86-131 |
| Parties | CITY OF MARIANNA, Martin Chaffin, Don Cahoon, Ed Brown, Robert "Bub" Davis, Donnie Edwards, and Wilson Kell, Appellants, v. ARKANSAS MUNICIPAL LEAGUE, Administrator, Municipal League Defense Program, Appellee. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Daggett, Van Dover, Donovan & Cahoon by Robert J. Donovan, Marianna, for appellants.
Winston Bryant & William G. Fleming, North Little Rock, for appellee.
At issue in this appeal is whether the Arkansas Municipal League, as administrator of the Municipal League Defense Program, was wrong when it refused to defend a lawsuit brought by third parties against the appellants, the mayor and aldermen of the City of Marianna. The trial court held the refusal to defend was justified and we affirm.
The Municipal League Defense Program was developed by the Arkansas Municipal League to provide funds to member cities for the defense of certain types of lawsuits filed against municipal officials and employees. The mayor and aldermen were sued in 1983 in federal district court by third parties who alleged that they violated the Voting Rights Act. The Arkansas Municipal League declined to defend the mayor and aldermen in the lawsuit. The City of Marianna was also covered by an insurance policy provided by Home Indemnity Company. The mayor and aldermen filed this lawsuit against the Arkansas Municipal League and Home Indemnity Co., seeking an order requiring the insurance company and the defense program to pay their costs associated with defending the lawsuit; to pay for any liability incurred as a result of the lawsuit; and seeking a declaratory judgment determining which of the defendant's coverage is primary and which is secondary. Each of the parties filed a motion for summary judgment. The trial court granted the Municipal League's motion for summary judgment and dismissed them from this lawsuit. It is from that order that this appeal is brought.
This is the second time the mayor and aldermen have attempted to appeal the trial court's order of summary judgment. We dismissed their first appeal without prejudice because of the failure of the trial judge to comply with Ark.R.Civ.P. 54(b) which provides that when judgment is directed against one but not all of the parties involved, the order must specify that it is final and that there is a danger of injustice that will be alleviated by an immediate appeal. City of Marianna, et al v. Arkansas Municipal League, 289 Ark. 473, 712 S.W.2d 305 (1986).
Subsequently, the mayor and aldermen obtained an order from the trial judge to that effect and filed a supplemental transcript containing that order with this court. The mayor and aldermen failed, however, to abstract that order as required by Sup.Ct.R. 9. Since the Municipal League did not raise the issue of failure to comply with Rule 9 and since this is a second appeal, we will dispose of the case on its merits. Nevertheless, all relevant orders entered by the trial judge are to be abstracted.
The pertinent terms and conditions of the defense program, as amended in 1983, provide as follows:
During the term of this Program and to the extent of funds available, the Program shall, in the sole discretion of the Program administrators, provide extraordinary legal defense and extraordinary expenses in "suits against municipal officials and employees" of a participating municipality and pay extraordinary judgments (for actual damages not punitive damages) imposed on "municipal officials" or the estate of such "municipal officials."
The words suits against municipal officials and employees shall not include the following:
....
(iii) any claim which is insured by a valid insurance policy;
The program was amended again in 1985 to expand coverage to include suits against municipal governments (member cities). This coverage, however, did not apply at the time the federal court lawsuit was brought.
The trial judge stated in his findings of fact that the Municipal League refused to defend the mayor and aldermen because the federal court lawsuit was a suit against the city officials in their official capacity and thus, a lawsuit against the City of Marianna; and because there was other valid insurance in force. In his conclusions of law, the judge held that such refusal was justified. We agree.
The mayor and aldermen first contend on appeal that the federal court case is not a lawsuit against the City of Marianna. In support, the mayor and aldermen cite insurance law to the effect that the duty of an insurer to defend arises where there is a possibility that the injury or damage may fall within the policy coverage. Commercial Union Ins. Co. of America v. Henshall, 262 Ark. 117, 553 S.W.2d 274 (1977). Insurance law is inapplicable to the facts presented...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Crawford County v. Jones
...represent but another way of pleading an action against the entity of which the officer is an agent. See City of Marianna v. Arkansas Mun. League, 291 Ark. 74, 722 S.W.2d 578 (1987) (holding that a suit against the mayor and city alderman was a suit against the city) (citing Hughes v. Blank......
-
Home Indem. Co. v. City of Marianna, 86-194
...appeals. We recently sustained the summary judgment granted to the League, see City of Marianna v. Arkansas Municipal League, Administrator, Municipal Legal Defense Program, 291 Ark. 74, 722 S.W.2d 578 (1987), and by this opinion we affirm the summary judgment on behalf of Marianna against ......
-
Stromwall v. Van Hoose
...welfare, including the purchase of services such as those provided here by the MLDP. As we stated in City of Marianna v. Arkansas Municipal League, 291 Ark. 74, 722 S.W.2d 578 (1987), municipalities have the option of joining the program and it is not required. There, we held that the MLDP ......
-
Crawford County, Arkansas v. Jones
...See Monell v. New York City Dep't of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978); City of Marianna v. Arkansas Mun. League, 291 Ark. 74, 722 S.W.2d 578 (1987). The jury was instructed that one of the elements Jones was required to prove was that the County failed to foll......