Camacho drops suit against Evans

Springdale City Hall is shown in this undated file photo.
Springdale City Hall is shown in this undated file photo.

SPRINGDALE — A lawsuit filed against a member of the City Council was dismissed Nov. 10 by 4th District Circuit Judge John Threet.

Irvin Camacho, a local social activist, filed the suit Oct. 29 against council member Rick Evans and later asked the court for the dismissal.

Camacho’s attorney Victor Rojas did not return telephone messages left Monday afternoon.

“We asked them to drop the suit, and they did,” Evans said Monday.

The lawsuit claimed Evans’ campaign material made xenophobic, false and defamatory comments about Camacho, three candidates for the Springdale City Council and one for Washington County Quorum Court. Camacho asked for damages and a retraction by Evans.

Evans has served 22 years on the Springdale City Council and was up for reelection to the Ward 2, Position 2 seat, which serves the southeast quad- rant of Springdale. His term will end Dec. 31.

He lost the seat in the Nov. 3 general election to Kevin Flores, with 6,854 or 43% of the vote for Evans and 9,126 or 57% of the votes for Flores.

Flores was not involved in the lawsuit.

Flyers, purportedly from Evans’ campaign, referred to Flores, other council candidates Derek Van Voast and Mayra Carrillo and Laurie Marshall, a candidate for justice of the peace, as Camacho candidates. The flyers were mailed to homes in Springdale.

The lawsuit contended Evans and his associates intended to defame Camacho with the flyers and thus the candidates with whom he was associated.

The suit called the actions of the defendants an unnecessary personal attack, which emotionally harmed Camacho and future business opportunities.

Evans called the lawsuit a “political stunt.”

Evans issued an apology in July after being heard in a City Council livestream refer- ring to Flores as “some little Mexican lawyer.”

The flyers mentioned Flores as being a friend of Camacho.

Camacho is known for his work in the areas of immigration reform, bail reform and employment rights, the lawsuit reads. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Arkansas House in 2016.

Laurinda Joenks can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWALaurinda.

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