Proposed amendment to Arkansas Constitution sparks debate

A proposed amendment to the Arkansas Constitution has elicited strong opinions from both proponents and detractors.

Annabelle Imber Tuck, a retired Arkansas Supreme Court justice who is chairman of the Defending Your Day in Court, or D-Day, Legislative Question Committee, spoke to the Sebastian County Bar Association in Fort Smith on Monday about Issue 1.

Tuck said Issue 1, which will be on the ballot in the Nov. 6 general election, has several parts. The first part is limiting the percentage that attorneys can charge clients in contingency fee contracts. Tuck also discussed a provision that limits awards of non-economic damages in lawsuits for personal injury, property damage or wrongful death to $500,000 for each claimant, or $500,000 for all beneficiaries of an deceased person in a lawsuit for wrongful death.

The last part of the proposed amendment, Tuck said, is shifting the authority of court rule-making from the Arkansas Supreme Court exclusively to the Legislature. An official statement from the D-Day Legislative Question Committee provided by Tuck states the shift would allow special interests and politics to directly interfere with due process, access to justice and the fair and impartial administration of justice.

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