Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — A state law that makes people on active military duty exempt from being served with civil lawsuits does not conflict with the Arkansas Constitution, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The state’s highest court overturned a Craighead County circuit judge’s finding that the exemption was unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Barrett Cato, who claimed he was illegally served with civil papers while on uniformed duty with the Arkansas National Guard at the Prescott Armory on Nov. 19, 2007.

Cato was named as a defendant in a lawsuit by Kevin Lawrence, who alleged that on July 15, 2005, Cato negligently fired a gun, striking Lawrence in the abdomen. After a summons was served to Cato at the armory, he filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that a state law protected him from being served with a civil suit.

A Craighead County circuit judge denied the motion to dismiss, finding that the exemption for military personnel violated the separation-of-powers doctrine between the executive, judicial and legislative branches.

In its opinion Thursday reversing that decision, the Supreme Court said the law creating the exemption is constitutional because it dictates a public policy, not a court rule or procedure.

“This court has long held that matters of public policy are generally within the purview of the Legislature,” Justice Annabelle Clinton Imber wrote in the opinion.