{
  "id": 6138349,
  "name": "Frankie HALL v. KINGSLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT",
  "name_abbreviation": "Hall v. Kingsland School District",
  "decision_date": "1997-02-26",
  "docket_number": "CA 96-499",
  "first_page": "110",
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T17:15:45.176093+00:00",
  "provenance": {
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [
      "Robbins, C.J., and Neal, J., agree."
    ],
    "parties": [
      "Frankie HALL v. KINGSLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Andree Layton Roaf, Justice.\nThis is an Arkansas Teacher Fair Dismissal Act (\u201cTFDA\u201d) case. The appellant, Frankie Hall, was informed by the appellee, Kingsland School District (\u201cSchool District\u201d), that her contract as an elementary principal would not be renewed for the 1993-94 school year. Pursuant to the TFDA, Hall requested a hearing before the school board, in which the board upheld the decision not to renew her contract. Because the hearing was not scheduled within the time required by the TFDA, the trial court granted Hall\u2019s appeal and petition for writ of mandamus, and ordered reinstatement plus back pay and benefits. Hall appeals only from the trial court\u2019s failure to award attorneys\u2019 fees. We reverse and remand.\nBecause the School District does not appeal from the trial court\u2019s ruling in favor of Hall, we need not further recite the facts leading up to the nonrenewal of Hall\u2019s contract. In the notice of appeal and petition for writ of mandamus filed by Hall in the circuit court of Cleveland County, she asked that the trial court order the School District to issue her a contract for the 1993-94 school year, because the untimely scheduling of the review hearing violated the TFDA and the School District\u2019s personnel policies. Hall also asked for back pay, matching social security and teacher retirement benefits, and requested attorneys\u2019 fees pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. \u00a7 16-22-308 (Repl. 1994). Hall\u2019s motion for summary judgment was granted by the circuit judge, who ordered reinstatement, back pay, and benefits. Hall then filed a motion seeking attorneys\u2019 fees pursuant to \u00a7 16-22-308. The trial court found that because the proceeding was brought pursuant to the TFDA, which made no provision for attorneys\u2019 fees, the motion should be denied. Hall\u2019s sole point on appeal is that the trial court erred in finding that the TFDA\u2019s failure to mention attorneys\u2019 fees prohibits consideration of an award of fees to the prevailing party.\nHall concedes that the TFDA does not expressly provide for the award of attorneys\u2019 fees; however, she contends that such an award is permissible under Ark. Code Ann. \u00a7 16-22-308, which provides in pertinent part:\nIn any civil action to recover on . . . [a] contract. . . for labor or services, or for breach of contract. . . the prevailing party may be allowed a reasonable attorney\u2019s fee to be assessed by the court and collected as costs.\nThis court has recently decided this issue in Hall\u2019s favor, in Junction City School Dist. v. Alphin 56 Ark. App. 61, 938 S.W.2d 239 (1997). In Alphin, we reversed the trial court\u2019s disallowance of attorneys\u2019 fees to a teacher who prevailed in an action brought pursuant to the TFDA, where the disallowance was based on the same reason articulated by the trial court in Hall\u2019s case. In so holding, we applied two cases decided by our supreme court, and stated that:\n[a]n action brought pursuant to the Fair Dismissal Act is both a civil action and \u201ca claim for \u2018labor or services\u2019 \u201d within the meaning of Ark. Code Ann. \u00a7 16-22-308, the general statute authorizing attorney\u2019s fees. Sosebee v. County Line Sch. Dist., 320 Ark. 412, 897 S.W.2d 556 (1995); City of Ft. Smith v. Driggers, 305 Ark. 409, 808 S.W.2d 748 (1991). The supreme court held in Driggers that the subject matter of the underlying litigation is solely dispositive of whether Ark. Code Ann. \u00a7 16-22-308 may be invoked.\nId.\nAlthough Hall concedes that the award of attorneys\u2019 fees is discretionary, see, e.g., Chrisco v. Sun Indus. Inc., 304 Ark. 227, 800 S.W.2d 717 (1990), here, the trial court did not exercise its discretion when it declined to award Hall attorneys\u2019 fees. A clearly erroneous application of the law is a manifest abuse of discretion. Little Rock Waste Water Util. v. Larry Moyer Trucking, 321 Ark. 303, 902 S.W.2d 760 (1995). Because this court has determined that attorneys\u2019 fees are recoverable in a TFDA action, pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. \u00a7 16-22-308, we reverse and remand this case to the trial court to determine if an award of fees is warranted.\nReversed and remanded.\nRobbins, C.J., and Neal, J., agree.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Andree Layton Roaf, Justice."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Mitchell, Blackstock & Barnes, by: Marcia Barnes and L. Randolph Mano, for appellant.",
      "Laser, Wilson, Bufford & Watts, P.A., by: Alfred Angulo, Jr., for appellee."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "Frankie HALL v. KINGSLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT\nCA 96-499\n938 S.W.2d 571\nCourt of Appeals of Arkansas Division IV\nOpinion delivered February 26, 1997\nMitchell, Blackstock & Barnes, by: Marcia Barnes and L. Randolph Mano, for appellant.\nLaser, Wilson, Bufford & Watts, P.A., by: Alfred Angulo, Jr., for appellee."
  },
  "file_name": "0110-01",
  "first_page_order": 132,
  "last_page_order": 134
}