Jones v. Huckabee, 369 Ark. 42

Summary

The Supreme Court of Arkansas affirmed summary judgment against Richard Emmett Jones in his civil-rights action concerning the Arkansas Crime Information Center's handling of sealed arrest records. The court held that Arkansas law defined expungement as sealing and confidentiality rather than physical destruction, and that the ACIC complied with the applicable court orders and statutes. The court also rejected respondeat superior liability for alleged unauthorized disclosure and held that Jones's constitutional challenge to the ACIC enabling statutes was not preserved for appellate review.

Holdings

1. The ACIC complied with the municipal courts' orders and applicable Arkansas law by sealing and electronically segregating Jones's arrest records; expungement did not require physical destruction of the records.
2. Respondeat superior is not a basis for liability under either 42 U.S.C. § 1983 or the Arkansas Civil Rights Act of 1993.
3. The constitutional challenge was not preserved for appellate review because the circuit court made no specific ruling on the constitutionality of the statutes.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the appellees were entitled to summary judgment on Jones's claim that the ACIC violated his civil rights by sealing and retaining, rather than physically destroying, his arrest records.
2. Whether the alleged unauthorized use or dissemination of Jones's arrest records supported civil-rights liability against the ACIC, its director, and the governor under respondeat superior.
3. Whether Jones's constitutional challenge to the ACIC enabling statutes was preserved for appellate review.

Disposition

affirmed