|
|
| |
| Sun, May. 11, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
State Supreme Court reinstates Greenwood mayor's wrongful death suit Friday, Feb 8, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A Sebastian County circuit judge erred when he dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Greenwood Mayor Ken Edwards because of felony convictions that had been expunged from Edwards' record, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The court said the judge did not have the authority to make the ruling. It reinstated Edwards' suit over the death of his father, Kenneth Edwards Sr., and ordered a new hearing. Edwards filed the suit after being appointed administrator of his father's estate in 2003. He alleged that dyes used in an arteriogram/angiogram procedure led to the death of his father, who was already known to have kidney impairment, in April 2003. The defendants in the suit are Drs. Richard Nelson and Thomas Kelly; Radiologists, P.A.; St. Edward Mercy Medical Center; and Cooper Clinic. The defendants claimed that because Edwards pleaded guilty to second-degree forgery and theft of property in Washington County in 1996, he was not qualified to serve as administrator of his father's estate. Edwards' convictions were expunged in 2005, after he filed the suit. Circuit Judge Michael Fitzhugh granted a motion by the defendants to dismiss the suit in September 2006, ruling that Edwards' appointment as administrator of his father's estate was void because of the felony convictions. Fitzhugh also ruled that the statute of limitations had expired for Edwards' negligence claims. In its opinion reversing Fitzhugh's ruling, the state Supreme Court said Fitzhugh usurped the authority of the probate court that appointed Edwards to administer his father's estate. The court noted that in previous cases it has adhered to the principal that a court with original jurisdiction in a case retains its authority until the case is disposed of, subject only to the appellate authority of higher courts. "Without such a principle, courts with concurrent jurisdiction could bog in the mire of endlessly overruling each other," Justice Jim Gunter wrote in the Supreme Court's opinion. Edwards is also the defendant in a lawsuit filed in January 2007 by former Greenwood Mayor Garry Campbell, alleging that Edwards is ineligible to hold public office because of the felony convictions. Edwards contends he is eligible to hold office because the convictions were expunged before he was elected in 2006. |
