Smith v. AJ & K OPERATING CO.

227 S.W.3d 899, 365 Ark. 229
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedFebruary 9, 2006
DocketCR 05-193
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 227 S.W.3d 899 (Smith v. AJ & K OPERATING CO.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. AJ & K OPERATING CO., 227 S.W.3d 899, 365 Ark. 229 (Ark. 2006).

Opinion

Donald L. Corbin, Justice.

Appellants Grover Smith, et al. (the Landowners) appeal the order of the Union County Circuit Court lifting the temporary restraining order against Appellees AJ&K Operating Co., et al. (the Oil Companies) and allowing the Oil Companies to remediate the land under appropriate guidelines. This case was previously before this court; see AJ&K Operating Co., Inc. v. Smith, 355 Ark. 510, 140 S.W.3d 475 (2004) (Smith I); hence, we have jurisdiction of the case pursuant to Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 1-2 (a) (7) (2005). We find no error and affirm.

In Smith I, the Oil Companies appealed the trial court’s order denying their motion to modify a temporary restraining order (TRO) which was entered against them. The Oil Companies raised four arguments on appeal: (1) that there was no irreparable harm to support injunctive relief; (2) that the existence of concurrent jurisdiction before the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission and a court of law does not authorize the injunction entered in this case; (3) that public policy of the State demands that remediation take place under the direction of appropriate regulatory authorities; (4) that the reason for granting the injunction which was to preserve the Landowners’ “cost of repair” damage claim was based on misinterpretation of Arkansas law. We reversed and remanded, holding that “the circuit court abused its discretion in concluding that there was irreparable harm to the Landowners and in refusing to modify the [TRO].” Smith I, 355 Ark. at 512, 140 S.W.3d at 477.

On January 8, 2004, we issued a mandate directing the trial court to modify its TRO and allow the Oil Companies onto the property to begin remediation. On March 12, 2004, the Oil Companies filed a Joint Motion for Purpose of Lifting Injunction requesting that the trial court schedule a hearing for the purpose of implementing our mandate. On November 8, 2004, the trial court held a hearing to address the Oil Companies’ motion. After the hearing, on November 18, 2004, the trial court entered an order lifting the TRO and allowing the Oil Companies to remediate the land under appropriate guidelines. This appeal followed.

For their first point of appeal, the Landowners argue that the trial court erred in ordering them to allow the Oil Companies entry onto their property for the purpose of conducting clean-up operations. The Landowners divide their argument into four sub-parts: (1) the trial court erred in entering an order to allow the Oil Companies entry onto their property without making a determination of the parties’ rights in the land; (2) the Oil Companies have no rights in the land at issue that would entitle them to enter the property against the Landowners’ will; (3) the Oil Companies failed to prove the required irreparable harm needed to entitle them to an injunction; (4) the Oil Companies are attempting to limit the Landowners’ choice of remedy. Upon review, the Landowners’ arguments are the same arguments as those raised previously in Smith I. Nevertheless, it is unnecessary to even examine these arguments as the Landowners are essentially asking us to reverse the trial court’s order that was entered pursuant to our mandate in Smith I. This argument has absolutely no merit.

We have long held that the trial court, upon remand, must execute the mandate. See Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Regions Bank Trust Dep’t, 356 Ark. 494, 156 S.W.3d 249 (2004); Dolphin v. Wilson, 335 Ark. 113, 983 S.W.2d 113 (1998); Fortenberry v. Frazier, 5 Ark. 200 (1843). Recently, in Wal-Mart Stores, 356 Ark. 494, 156 S.W.3d 249, we reviewed the history of the mandate rule, and stated:

The inferior court is bound by the judgment or decree as the law of the case, and must carry it into execution according to the mandate. The inferior court cannot vary it, or judicially examine it for any other purpose than execution. It can give no other or further relief as to any matter decided by the Supreme Court, even where there is error apparent; or in any manner intermeddle with it further than to execute the mandate, and settle such matters as have been remanded, not adjudicated, by the Supreme Court.

Id. at 497, 156 S.W.3d at 252 (quoting Fortenberry, 5 Ark. at 202). Furthermore, in Dolphin, 335 Ark. 113, 983 S.W.2d 113, we adopted the Third Circuit Court of Appeals’ rules for a trial court’s treatment of a remanded case, explaining:

The history of the mandate rule was reviewed recently by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. See Casey v. Planned Parenthood, 14 F.3d 848 (3d Cir. 1994). In Casey, the Third Circuit observed:
Of these rules, the most compelling is the mandate rule. This fundamental rule binds every court to honor rulings in the case by superior courts. As the Supreme Court has stated, “In its earliest days this Court consistently held that an inferior court has no power or authority to deviate from the mandate issued by an appellate court.” Briggs v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 334 U.S. 304, 306, 68 S.Ct. 1039, 1040, 92 L.Ed. 1403 (1948).

Casey, 14 F.3d at 856. Quoting from Bankers Trust Co. v. Bethlehem Steel Corp., 761 F.2d 943, 949 (3d Cir. 1985), the Third Circuit went on to underscore the deference a trial court must give to the mandate:

A trial court must implement both the letter and spirit of the mandate, taking into account the appellate court’s opinion and the circumstances it embraces.

Casey, 14 F.3d at 857.

Id. at 118, 983 S.W.2d at 114. We have made it very clear, “[d]irections by an appellate court to the trial court as expressed by the opinion and the mandate must be followed exactly and placed into execution.” Wal-Mart Stores, 356 Ark. at 499, 156 S.W.3d at 253. With this in mind, we now look to the present case.

In Smith I, 355 Ark. 510, 140 S.W.3d 475, we reversed the trial court’s refusal to modify its TRO and explicitly directed “that the TRO be modified to permit the Oil Companies to clean up and remediate the land under such reasonable guidelines as the court may set.” Id. at 521, 140 S.W.3d at 483. In its November 18, 2004 order, the trial court followed our mandate and stated, “[t]he plain language of the Supreme Court ruling is for this Court to lift the temporary restraining order and allow the Oil Companies to remediate the land under appropriate guidelines. That is the purpose of this order, and all other issues are reserved.” Because we issued a mandate directing the trial court to modify the TRO and allow remediation, we will not now reverse the trial court’s order that implements that mandate.

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Bluebook (online)
227 S.W.3d 899, 365 Ark. 229, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-aj-k-operating-co-ark-2006.