Arnold v. Spears

Summary

The Arkansas Supreme Court denied petitions for writs of certiorari and prohibition filed by landlords who challenged a chancery court's orders concerning business inventory located in a different county and connected to a pending divorce action. The court held that the chancellor could identify and protect marital property, including property outside the county, and could join the landlords under the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure. The court declined to address unpreserved due-process and notice arguments raised for the first time in the extraordinary-relief proceedings.

Holdings

1. A chancery court hearing a divorce action may identify and determine what property constitutes marital property even when the property is physically located outside the county or judicial district in which the divorce was filed.
2. The possibility that a separate landlord-tenant action concerning the property would be venued in Crawford County does not prevent the Sebastian County chancery court from considering the property in determining the Reeveses' marital estate.
3. A chancellor may require persons claiming an interest in property relevant to the divorce to be joined under Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure 19(a) and 21; impleader under Rule 14 is not the exclusive procedure.
4. The Supreme Court will not consider claims raised for the first time in petitions for extraordinary relief when the claims were not presented to or ruled on by the trial court.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Sebastian County chancery court had subject-matter jurisdiction to identify and control property located in Crawford County for purposes of determining and distributing marital property in a divorce action.
2. Whether the chancellor improperly exercised jurisdiction or venue over a Crawford County landlord-tenant dispute.
3. Whether the chancellor could join the Arnolds in the divorce action under the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure without using third-party impleader.
4. Whether the Arnolds could obtain extraordinary relief based on alleged lack of notice, lack of an emergency, failure to comply with injunction procedures, or deprivation of the ability to rent their property when those issues had not been presented to or ruled on by the chancellor.

Disposition

writ_denied