A legislative subcommittee tasked with reviewing claims against the state approved $394,450 for two claimants Friday morning, while delaying action on a third claim.
Both awards approved by the subcommittee were the result of settlements that had been reached between the state agencies and the plaintiffs involved.
A constitutional doctrine known as sovereign immunity protects the state of Arkansas -- and its various subdivisions -- from being taken to court over monetary claims. As a result, those claims must go to the Arkansas Claims Commission and then to either Legislative Council, which meets between legislative sessions, or the Joint Budget Committee, which meets during sessions.
The Legislature is now meeting in a fiscal session that started Wednesday.
The first claim approved by Joint Budget's Claims Subcommittee on Friday morning involved a 93-year-old woman who was receiving home health services from the Department of Health in Desha County when she fell and broke her hip while showering in 2015.
The family claimed that the fall was due to negligence on the part of the home health care worker, and that it led to debilitation and "rapid mental decline" before the woman's death about a month after the fall. The family settled the case with the Health Department for $115,000.
The second claim approved by lawmakers Friday involved the company RA Outdoors, which argued that it was owed more than $558,910 by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism for credit card processing fees that the company paid through sales of tickets and campground reservations on behalf of the Parks Department. The two sides reached a settlement of $279,450 last year.
The subcommittee held off deciding a third settlement -- for $189,000 -- between the Department of Environmental Quality and a Virginia engineering firm that did work to close a landfill near Mountain Home in 2014.
Clayborne Stone -- a Little Rock attorney representing Stearns, Conrad and Schmidt Consulting Engineers -- said Friday that he and his client would be "reviewing our options."
Metro on 04/11/2020