In federal court, Luke Skrable cannot challenge a ban that kept him out of city-owned buildings in Little Rock for two years, but he can challenge whether Mayor Mark Stodola violated his rights by refusing to let him address the city board on Jan. 20, 2015.
That's what U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth Deere ruled Friday in weighing the city's request that she throw out Skrable's 2015 federal lawsuit and Skrable's request that she allow the lawsuit to proceed to trial.
Skrable, a Little Rock man who aired his opinions at city board meetings at least 78 times before the January 2015 meeting, accused Stodola and City Manager Bruce Moore in the lawsuit of violating his First Amendment rights. The lawsuit focuses on Stodola's refusal to let Skrable address the board during a citizen comment period at the January 2015 meeting and the ban that followed.
Stodola said Skrable told him during a break in the Jan. 20, 2015, meeting that he wanted to talk about ditch issues, which Stodola said had already been addressed at a Jan. 6, 2015, board meeting. The agenda for both meetings said, "Three minutes are allowed to present a specific item which has not previously been brought to the attention of the Board by the speaker and is not already on the Agenda."
Skrable, however, said he told Stodola during a break that he mainly wanted to talk about why the city had not responded to requests he made under the state Freedom of Information Act about the ditches. Skrable also said he wanted to discuss a new topic -- a public apology from Stodola for incorrectly saying that Skrable had alleged there was "a change to the ditch maintenance."
Deere said records show that at the Jan. 20, 2015, meeting, Skrable submitted a yellow card seeking permission to address the board about "clarification of Mayor's Statement at 1-6-15 BOD Meeting." She said he also submitted a second card saying he wanted to address "Incorrect Mayor Comments from 1-16-15 Meeting."
At the Jan. 6 meeting, Skrable submitted a yellow card saying he wanted to discuss "Gross Abuse of Ark FOI Act." Deere said that according to documents, he then addressed the board "about a change in city policy regarding maintenance of a storm drainage ditch in his Merrivale community," and also asked why several Freedom of Information requests "asking for public records relative to this change had not been answered."
The board listened to Skrable, then discussed his remarks, Deere noted. She said Stodola also asked Moore to prepare a report on the ditch issue.
But in the Jan. 20 meeting, after Stodola refused to let Skrable address the board during the citizen comment period, Skrable slammed his fists on the podium and raised his voice. A police officer escorted him out of the boardroom at Stodola's request.
Later that night, Skrable sent an email to Moore saying in part that "your days are numbered," which Skrable later said only meant that Moore's days as city manager were numbered.
However, Skrable was later convicted in Little Rock District Court of misdemeanor terroristic threatening, resulting in a temporary ban imposed on Jan. 26, 2015, that prohibited him from visiting city-owned buildings without an invitation. The ban was to remain in effect until his probation ended on Jan. 19 of this year.
Since that time, however, the board has indefinitely denied Skrable's request to lift the ban.
In Friday's order, Deere said the lingering dispute about what was said when Stodola and Skrable talked during a break in the Jan. 20, 2015, meeting must be resolved at trial and requires that she leave intact Skrable's First Amendment complaint against Stodola for blocking Skrable's comments. But she threw out Skrable's First Amendment claim against Moore concerning the ban that existed until Jan. 19.
Skrable's new claim that his rights were violated when the ban was recently expanded must be addressed separately, Deere said. Accordingly, she canceled a trial that had been set to begin May 15 and said she will issue a new schedule to address pretrial issues as well as a new trial date.
Metro on 05/06/2017