Less than two weeks after a Little Rock man sued three city officials in federal court, alleging they trampled his civil rights after he was kicked out of a city board meeting, a judge has dismissed two of the officials from the suit.
In an order filed Thursday, U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. dismissed City Attorney Tom Carpenter and City Manager Bruce Moore as defendants, citing a requirement that the court screen complaints before ordering defendants to be served with them.
That leaves Mayor Mark Stodola as the sole defendant in Luke Skrable's Aug. 7 lawsuit, which Marshall allowed him to file without paying a filing fee. The lawsuit accuses Stodola of violating Skrable's free speech rights by denying him three minutes to address the mayor and the board during a Jan. 20 meeting of the city Board of Directors.
Skrable, a frequent critic of city officials, said Stodola adjourned a city board meeting before Skrable could address the board, knowing that Skrable had obtained a citizen communication card indicating he wanted to speak. Stodola has said he cut Skrable off because Skrable indicated during a break that he wanted to talk about an apology he thought Stodola owed him.
Despite being cut off, Skrable approached the podium anyway and talked without permission, pounding on the podium and becoming irate. Stodola responded by having Skrable escorted out by police.
That night, Skrable sent an email to Moore saying "your days are numbered," which resulted in one of two misdemeanor terroristic threatening convictions against Skrable on July 22 in Pulaski County Municipal Court.
Marshall said Thursday that Skrable's complaint against Stodola could proceed for now, because the allegations are considered a plausible First Amendment claim. But Marshall said Carpenter is immune from being sued for refusing to file ethics complaints on Skrable's behalf, and that Skrable made no actual federal claim against Moore.
Marshall directed the court clerk to prepare a summons for Stodola. He said that because of Skrable's limited funds, he won't have to pay to have the U.S. Marshals office serve the summons and the lawsuit on the mayor.
Metro on 08/21/2015