Board of Trustees v. Crawford County Circuit Court

Cite as 2014 Ark. 60
SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS
No. CV-13-419
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE Opinion Delivered FEBRUARY 13, 2014
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS P E T I T I O N FO R W R I T S O F
PETITIONER MANDAMUS, PROHIBITION, AND
CERTIORARI
V. [NO. 17CV-2011-480 II]
CRAWFORD COUNTY CIRCUIT HONORABLE MICHAEL MEDLOCK,
COURT, THE HONORABLE MICHAEL JUDGE
MEDLOCK, JUDGE
RESPONDENT PETITION MOOT.
DONALD L. CORBIN, Associate Justice
Petitioner, the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas (the “Board”), seeks
the extraordinary writs of mandamus, prohibition, and certiorari directed to Respondent, the
Circuit Court of Crawford County, the Honorable Michael Medlock, Judge, to stop the
court from proceeding further on an amended complaint for wrongful discharge styled Mike
Burcham v. The University of Arkansas Fort Smith by and Through the Board of Trustees of the
University of Arkansas; Paul B. Beran, UAFS Chancellor; and Mark Horn, UAFS Vice Chancellor,
No. 17CV-2011-480-I. The Board petitions for these extraordinary writs following the
circuit court’s denial of its motion to dismiss based on lack of venue, sovereign immunity, lack
of service, and failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. We allowed this
petition for extraordinary writs to be taken as a case only on the issue of venue. We also
decide today, in a separate interlocutory appeal pursuant to Ark. R. App. P.–Civ. 2(a)(10)
(2013), the issue of sovereign immunity. See Bd. of Trustees v. Burcham, 2014 Ark ___, ___
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S.W.3d ___. Jurisdiction of this petition for extraordinary writs is properly in this court
pursuant to Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 1-2(a)(3) (2013).
Our decision delivered today in the companion interlocutory appeal that the Board is
entitled to sovereign immunity renders the instant petition for extraordinary writs moot. We
have generally held that a case becomes moot when any judgment rendered would have no
practical legal effect upon a then existing legal controversy. Brown v. Brown, 2012 Ark. 89,
387 S.W.3d 159. Generally, the appellate courts of this state do not review issues that are
moot, because to do so would be to render advisory opinions, which this court will not do.
Id.
Sovereign immunity is jurisdictional immunity from suit, and where sovereign
immunity is applicable, the trial court acquires no jurisdiction. Grine v. Bd. of Trustees, 338
Ark. 791, 2 S.W.3d 54 (1999). As a general rule, venue is procedural, not jurisdictional; thus,
when a trial court lacks proper venue, it still has the power to render a valid judgment. Mark
Twain Life Ins. Corp. v. Cory, 283 Ark. 55, 670 S.W.2d 809 (1984). This court has previously
explained the distinction between venue and jurisdiction, with venue meaning the place, that
is, the county or district wherein a cause is to be tried; and jurisdiction meaning, not the place
of trial, but the power of the court to hear and determine a cause, including the power to
enforce its judgment. Gland-O-Lac Co. v. Franklin Cnty. Cir. Ct., 230 Ark. 919, 327 S.W.2d
558 (1959). Thus, the jurisdictional issue of sovereign immunity and whether it was waived
should be addressed prior to the procedural issue of venue. See Ark. Dep’t of Cmty. Correction
v. City of Pine Bluff, 2013 Ark. 36, ___ S.W.3d ___ (addressing sovereign immunity first and
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not ruling on venue when both sovereign immunity and venue were challenged in the same
appeal).
Because we have today concluded in the companion interlocutory appeal that the
Board is indeed entitled to sovereign immunity, the case against the Board has been dismissed.
Bd. of Trustees v. Burcham, 2014 Ark. ___, ___ S.W.3d ___. Following the dismissal based on
sovereign immunity, there is no longer any existing legal controversy within which a
justiciable issue is presented for our determination. The instant petition for extraordinary
writs based on lack of venue is therefore moot. Accordingly, we refrain from issuing an
advisory opinion on the venue question here presented.
Petition moot.
Special Justice A. VAUGHAN HANKINS joins in this opinion.
GOODSON, J., not participating.
Matthew McCoy, Associate General Counsel, University of Arkansas System, for
petitioner.
Holmes & Holmes, PLLC, by: Kevin R. Holmes, for respondent.
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