A. Introduction
B. Civil Appeals
1. Final Judgments or Decrees
2. Orders that Determine the Action and Prevent a Judgment or Discontinue the Action
3. Orders that Grant or Refuse a New Trial
4. Orders that Strike Pleadings
5. Orders that Vacate or Sustain an Attachment or Garnishment
6. Orders Regarding Injunctions
7. Orders Regarding Receivers
8. Orders Disqualifying Attorneys
9. Orders Granting or Denying Class Certification
10. Orders Rejecting the Defense of Governmental Immunity
11. Certain Arbitration Orders
12. Probate Orders
13. Orders Appealable Under Any Statute in Effect on July 1, 1979
14. Orders Imposing Sanctions and Disposing of Contempt Matters
15. Orders That Require Production of Privileged Communications or Opinion Work Product
16. Orders Certified for Appeal Under ARCP 54(b)
17. Certain Orders in Juvenile Cases
C. Criminal Appeals
1. Appeals by Defendants
2. Appeals by the State
A. Introduction
Arkansas appellate courts do not provide immediate review of all decisions circuit courts make. If you appeal a decision that is not immediately appealable, the appellate court will dismiss the appeal. Therefore, if your client receives an unfavorable decision and wants to appeal, you must first determine whether the decision is immediately appealable or whether more is required to make it so. This chapter broadly discusses what decisions are and are not immediately appealable in Arkansas courts.
B. Civil Appeals
As a rule, you can only appeal final judgments or decrees—not interlocutory decisions. ARAP-Civ 2(a)(1). This is a jurisdictional issue the appellate courts will raise on their own. Cockrum v. Fox, 359 Ark. 508, 512, 199 S.W.3d 69, 71 (2004). The purpose of this rule is to avoid piecemeal litigation. Lackey v. Bramblett, 355 Ark. 414, 418-19, 139 S.W.3d 467, 469 (2003). Like most rules, there are numerous exceptions. ARAP-Civ 2. Before you file that notice of appeal, consider numbers 1-17 below to determine if the order in your case is immediately appealable.
1. Final Judgments or Decrees
A party may appeal from a "final judgment or decree entered by the circuit court." ARAP-Civ 2(a)(1). What makes a judgment, decree, or order final? If it dismisses the parties from the court, discharges them from the action, or concludes their rights to the subject matter in controversy, then it is final. Fell v. Fell, 2014 Ark. App. 627, at 2. A decision that "puts the court's directive into execution, ending the litigation or a separable branch of it" is a final adjudication. Lackey, 355 Ark. at 419, 139 S.W.3d at 469 (internal quotation marks omitted).
Once you have a final judgment, decree, or order, you can also appeal most of the circuit court's other rulings: "An appeal from any final order also brings up for review any intermediate order involving the merits and necessarily affecting the judgment." ARAP-Civ 2(b). Likewise, if you appeal the denial of a postjudgment motion under ARAP-Civ 4(b)(1), it "brings up for review the judgment and any intermediate order involving the merits and necessarily affecting the judgment, as well as the order appealed from." ARAP-Civ 2(b). See, e.g., Aka v. Jefferson Hosp. Ass'n, 344 Ark. 627, 638, 42 S.W.3d 508, 515 (2001) (a notice of appeal from a jury verdict also brings up for review a partial summary judgment). That said, it is best to always identify in a notice of appeal all the decisions you want to appeal. It never hurts to appeal "too much" in a notice, but you can run into problems if you appeal "too little." Just because you name a judgment, order, or decree in a notice of appeal does not mean you have to brief it on appeal when the time comes. Protect jurisdiction and give yourself flexibility along the way.
"Matters that are collateral or supplemental to the [circuit] court's judgment" remain within the circuit court's jurisdiction even though a party has appealed from the judgment. Harold Ives Trucking Co. v. Pro Transp., Inc., 341 Ark. 735, 737, 19 S.W.3d 600, 602 (2000). An example of a collateral matter is an award of attorney fees. Id. Thus, an order granting summary judgment on all the claims in the case and awarding attorney fees but leaving the amount of fees for later decision is a final, appealable order as to summary judgment but not as to the fees. Id. In that scenario, you must file a notice of appeal as to the summary judgment and then file a separate or amended notice of appeal once the circuit court enters an order on the amount of attorney fees. See, e.g., Ford Motor Co. v. Keatts, 2013 Ark. App. 575, at 5. (See Chapter 5 for important information about notices of appeal in civil cases.)
This section offers examples of final and non-final orders. The list is not exhaustive, and new examples seem to appear each year. Therefore, one of your tasks when handling any appeal is to ensure that a final, appealable order is in the record. To this end, always check the decisions of the Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals for recent and prior holdings when pursuing an appeal.
Some examples of final, appealable orders include:
• an order granting a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss without prejudice for failure to state facts on which relief may be granted. The plaintiff can appeal or replead, but not both, Sluder v. Steak & Ale of Little Rock, Inc., 368 Ark. 293, 298, 245 S.W.3d 115, 118 (2006);
• an order granting summary judgment against the entire complaint, Driggers v. Locke, 323 Ark. 63, 65-67, 913 S.W.2d 269, 270-71 (1996);
• an order of dismissal with prejudice, Hubbard v. Shores Grp., Inc., 313 Ark. 498, 501, 855 S.W.2d 924, 927 (1993);
• a decree that orders a judicial sale of property and places the circuit court's directive into execution, Alberty v. Wideman, 312 Ark. 434, 436, 850 S.W.2d 314, 315-16 (1993);
• a decree foreclosing a mortgage and a later decree confirming the foreclosure sale, Scherz v. Mundaca Inv. Corp., 318 Ark. 595, 597, 886 S.W.2d 631, 632 (1994);
• a final order awarding custody, ARAP-Civ 2(d), but an order denying custody is not necessarily immediately appealable. Edwards v. Ark. Dep't of Human Servs., 2015 Ark. 402, at 5, 474 S.W.3d 58, 61;
• an order granting a petition for a trust accounting brought by a single petitioner against a single respondent, even though the accounting is not yet completed, Bank of the Ozarks v. Cossey, 2015 Ark. 367, at 3 n.1, 471 S.W.3d 203, 206 n.1;
• an order vacating a judgment after 90 days, Citibank, N.A. v. Carruth, 2015 Ark. App. 704, at 7;
• a divorce decree that resolves all issues except that it orders the property to be sold and the proceeds to be divided if the parties cannot agree, Davis v. Davis, 2016 Ark. 64, at 9, 487 S.W.3d 803, 808;
• an order dismissing a cross-claim without prejudice if the cross-claim is the only reason the cross-defendant remains in the case and if all other issues in the case have been resolved. See Park Plaza Mall CMBS, LLC, v. Powell, 2018 Ark. App. 48, at 5-6; and
• if a plaintiff obtains relief on a claim, nonsuits its remaining claims without prejudice, and fails to refile the nonsuited claims within one year or within the applicable statute of limitations, then a circuit court's denial of the defendant's motion to dismiss the nonsuited claims with prejudice is a final order, Stodola v. Lynch, 2017 Ark. 181, at 4-5, 519 S.W.3d 677, 679-80.
The following list, which is not exhaustive, presents orders that are not final and appealable:
• an order denying a motion for a default judgment, DeClerk v. Tribble, 269 Ark. 572, 574, 599 S.W.2d 152, 153 (1980);
• an order denying a motion to dismiss, Lenders Title Co. v. Chandler, 353 Ark. 339, 349, 107 S.W.3d 157, 163 (2003), unless the motion is based on sovereign, governmental, or charitable immunity, see Section B.2. below;
• an order denying a motion for summary judgment, Sutter v. King, 310 Ark. 681, 682, 839 S.W.2d 218, 219 (1992);
• an order granting partial summary judgment, Haile v. Ark. Power & Light Co., 322 Ark. 29, 31-32, 907 S.W.2d 122, 123 (1995);
• an order awarding costs, Warren v. Kelso, 339 Ark. 70, 74, 3 S.W.3d 302, 304 (1999);
• an order fixing venue, Blunt v. Cartwright, 342 Ark. 662, 666, 30 S.W.3d 737, 739 (2000);
• an order denying a motion to recuse, Manila Sch. Dist. No. 15 v. Wagner, 357 Ark. 20, 25, 159 S.W.3d 285, 290 (2004);
• an order granting severance, Lackey v. Bramblett, 355 Ark. 414, 419, 139 S.W.3d 467, 469 (2003);
• an order denying a motion for a protective order to quash a subpoena, In re Badami, 309 Ark. 511, 513, 831 S.W.2d 905, 906 (1992);
• an order denying a motion to relocate if other issues such as custody remain pending, Loving v. Loving, 2019 Ark. App. 42, at 3-4, 569 S.W.3d 346, 348; Kines v. McBride, 2017 Ark. App. 40, at 4, 511 S.W.3d 352, 354-55;
• an order that would otherwise be final but for the voluntary dismissal without prejudice of a compulsory (as opposed to a permissive) counterclaim, Belk v. Belk, 2015 Ark. App. 682, at 3-4, 476 S.W.3d 861, 863;
• a judgment on a compulsory counterclaim if the complaint was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice, Pockrus v. Morris, 2017 Ark. App. 293, at 1-2;
• a letter opinion that outlines a dispositive ruling, Panhandle Oil & Gas, Inc. v. BHP Billiton Petro. (Fayetteville) LLC, 2016 Ark. App. 376, at 6, 499 S.W.3d 667, 670 (not final because it contemplates entry of a formal written order in the future);
• an order of partition, either in kind or by sale and division of the proceeds, Rome v. Ratliff, 2016 Ark. App. 199, at 3 (the final, appealable order in a partition action is the order confirming the sale of the property);
• a circuit court's order of remand to an administrative agency for further proceedings, Ark. Ins. Dep't v. Henley, 2016 Ark. App. 60, at 2, 481 S.W.3d 467, 468;
• a judgment that does not set forth the specific dollar amount owed by each...
