McMath Woods is extremely proud and excited to announce that John Coulter has been elected as a Fellow of The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers! Election as a Fellow is the highest recognition by one’s colleagues of sustained outstanding performance in the profession, exemplifying integrity, dedication, and excellence.

The mission of The College is to further establish our profession in all its aspects as one uniquely important to the world of labor and employment law, individual rights, collective bargaining, and dispute resolution. Please join us in congratulating John and celebrating this milestone in his career. Congratulations, John!

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.

States have vastly different law concerning wrongful death cases–cases where it is alleged that certain acts caused death. Arkansas wrongful death laws allow for the recovery of what is termed “loss of life” damages by the Estate of the person killed, commonly referred to as the decedent. Loss of Life damages have been defined by the Arkansas Supreme Court as the “value that the decedent would have placed on his or her own life.” Durham v. Mayberry, 356 Ark. 481, 156 S.W.3d 242 (2004). Other forms of damages are also allowed for the Estate, including any conscious pain and suffering experienced prior to death. Wrongful death beneficiaries of the decedent under Arkansas law can include any living children, spouse, siblings, mother and father. Each has a separate claim for mental anguish. Anyone who believes a loved one or family member has a wrongful death claim should consult an attorney. Folks with venue choices should at least consider Arkansas law before filing in other states.

A client of McMath Woods P.A. was awarded a 2.5 million dollar verdict by a jury in federal court in Arkansas on June 14, 2011 against Lase Med Inc. and Antonella Carpenter. Most importantly, the jury found that Antonella Carpenter and Lase Med Inc. committed fraud and deceptive trade practices. Antonella Carpenter and Lase Med, Inc. claim they can cure breast cancer in patients. Antonella Carpenter is not a medical doctor, and her claims of having a legitimate doctorate are questionable. An expert oncologist testified at trial that the Lase Med treatment given by Antonella Carpenter was of no value to breast cancer patients. The collectability of the judgment is in question, but the jury verdict lets women seeking breast cancer treatment know that Lase Med and Antonella Carpenter were found to have defrauded Therese Westphal and that their advertising and representations concerning the benefits of their treatment was deceptive. Will Bond was the lead attorney on the case for McMath Woods. David Horn was the initial attorney for Therese Westphal and he helped evaluate and prepare the case for litigation.