MidCon Gathering LLC, represented by McMath Woods PA’s John D. Coulter and Preston T. Kamin of Gray Reed & McGraw LLP, received a defense verdict in a suit after Stephen Carleson and his company, Producers Credit Protection Group, Inc., alleged he developed a credit facility for the company but wasn’t paid $1.6 million he was owed. U.S. District Judge Brian S. Miller, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Western Division ruled that he didn’t have the necessary insurance license to carry out the deal.

It was ruled that the “credit facility” Carleson and his company, helped develop acted as a “credit insurance policy” issued by a third party for MidCon’s benefit. However, Carleson does not have a license to sell insurance in Arkansas. This resulted in a fatal problem.

On Friday, June 15, 2018, approximately 200 children within the Little Rock community graduated from Safety Town, a fun five-day safety awareness program designed for rising kindergartners. Through the use of music, crafts, movies, books, community speakers and a child-sized town, the curriculum focuses on basic safety lessons that the children use for the rest of their lives.  McMath Woods P.A. was again a proud lead sponsor of this vital community program.  In addition to providing volunteers throughout the week, McMath Woods P.A. took an active role in adding a distracted driving component to the curriculum, and for each graduate, donated a CD of 22 safety songs written and produced by Brian Kinder.

“We are grateful to Mayor Wendy Saer for her dedication to this outstanding program and for creatively incorporating distracted driving into the week’s curriculum. Now with technology at everyone’s fingertips and the number of automobile catastrophes due to cell phone usage drastically increasing, it’s imperative that children understand the concept of distracted driving. Our hope is that if they are aware, then they can remind parents that a phone call or text isn’t more important than their safety. And, of course, one day when they are old enough to drive, we hope they remember the valuable lessons learned at Safety Town,” says Carter Stein, McMath Woods Managing Partner.

Safety Town has been an annual program in Central Arkansas and operated solely by volunteers since 1984.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette opinion columnist John Brummett spoke to McMath Woods partner and Arkansas Senator Will Bond.  To see what Will said, click on John Brummett’s column here.

Check out a recent Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article discussing the Walton Family Foundation grant and Mike Masterson’s column praising the partnership.

McMath Woods partner Sam Ledbetter proudly represents Friends of Little Sugar Creek.

The estate of Le Yang, who died at age 7 on January 19, 2015, from injuries suffered in a January 14, 2013, drowning incident following a delayed emergency response, has been awarded a judgment of $17,627,638.04 against Candance Middleton, the former City of Little Rock 911 call taker who mishandled the 911 call.
On January 14, 2013, Jinglei Yi, and her then five-year-old son Le Yang, were driving to Le’s preschool when her SUV hit a patch of black ice near the intersection of Capitol Hill Boulevard and Pennsylvania Avenue/Rushmore Avenue in Little Rock. Jinglei’s SUV left the roadway and ended up in a pond just south of Capitol Hill Boulevard. Jinglei called 911 and was told by Candace Middleton, a City of Little Rock 911 Call Taker, that help was on the way. Middleton dispatched MEMS to the scene. When MEMS arrived at the scene, it was discovered that Middleton had failed to dispatch police and fire department water rescue. Approximately 55 minutes passed from the time Jinglei called 911 until Le was pulled from the submerged SUV. Jinglei died later that morning. Le lived for two years before dying from his drowning related injuries.

McMath Woods is involved in Dicamba litigation.  Dicamba, a weedkiller manufactured by Monsanto, is close to being banned in Arkansas.

To learn more about Dicamba and its potential growing season ban in Arkansas, click here.

If your farm or crops have been damaged by Dicamba drift, please contact McMath Woods at (501) 224-7400.

On Tuesday, the Arkansas House of Representatives approved Arkansas Senate Bill 374 which increases fines for texting and driving.  The bill now moves to Governor Asa Hutchinson for his approval.

McMath Woods partner Senator Will Bond is the Senate sponsor of this proposal.

Researchers have concluded that sleep deprivation on the Monday following the shift to daylight savings time in the spring results in an increase in fatal car crashes.  Here’s a link to the researchers’ abstract.

McMath Woods encourages all motorists to remember the three D’s of deadly driving:  drunk, distracted, and drowsy.

Yesterday, the National Safety Council estimated that as many as 40,000 people died in car crashes in 2016.  This estimate represents a 6% increase over 2015 and a 14% increase over 2014.

What’s causing the significant increase in fatalities?  People are driving more miles and more people are driving distracted.

Arkansas State Police report a similar increase in car crash fatalities between 2014 and 2016.

Here’s a link to the National Safety Council press release.

Here’s a link to an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article discussing national and state fatality numbers.