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28 Ark. App. 34

Karnes v. Trumbo

Court of Appeals of Arkansas

Decided May 17, 1989

Court of Appeals of Arkansas · decided 1989-05-17

Relies on Ferguson v. Green

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1989-05-17

How this case has been cited

Cited by 26 later decisions — most recently May 2024 · most notably Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance v. Daggett (2003), Ozarks Unlimited Resources Cooperative, Inc. v. Daniels (1998)

26 state decisions

12019891990200020102020decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Donald L. Corbin, Chief Judge,

¶1dissenting. To avoid repetition, I agree with the substance of Judge Mayfield’s dissenting opinion, but would dispose of the case iri a different manner. Briefly, I believe that the trial court was correct in denying appellants’ motion for summary judgment and agree with the majority in that respect, but I do not agree that the appellants chose to rest on their motion for summary judgment. A stipulation of facts, to which a copy of the contracts in question were attached, was filed for consideration by the court. The trial court found that no attorney’s fees should be awarded and that appellants’ claim should be dismissed. I believe the court’s ruling was clearly erroneous and would reverse, despite counsel’s failure to couch his argument in those terms. When we review chancery cases, we do not remand a case where we can plainly see the equities of the parties. See Ferguson v. Green, 266 Ark. 556, 587 S.W.2d 18 (1979).

¶2The equities require that appellants prevail on their claim despite counsel’s failure to request the proper relief on appeal. The contracts in question were drafted by appellees and had they intended to exclude appellants’ attorney’s fees they could have done so. Furthermore, the purpose of the guaranty agreement, to insure that appellants would not be disadvantaged by appellees’ assumption of the obligation, is defeated by the chancellor’s disposition, and the attorney’s fee provision is rendered a nullity. I would find in favor of appellants and render the decree on appeal that should have been rendered below.

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