LAWSUIT against ex-legislator by nonprofit is dismissed.

A federal judge in Little Rock tossed a lawsuit against former attorney and state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson on Monday after a Missouri-based nonprofit group agreed to drop its claim accusing him of not performing contracted legal work.

Preferred Family Healthcare sued Hutchinson and his former law partners for at least $384,000 — or the amount awarded to an ex-employee in a case in which Hutchinson represented one of Preferred Family’s subsidiaries.

The nonprofit group, which has been ensnared in a wide-ranging federal public corruption investigation, once paid Hutchinson $9,000 per month in lawyer fees. Its complaint accused Hutchinson of not attending hearings or responding to motions in the 2014 lawsuit called David Coleman v. Health and Human Resources of Arkansas.

All three parties involved in the lawsuit — Preferred Family, Hutchinson and the Steel, Wright & Gray firm — stipulated the case be dismissed with prejudice, meaning the claim cannot be brought again. U.S. District Judge Brian Miller granted their wish Monday with a one-sentence order.

Terms of the agreement weren’t released. Separate attorneys representing Hutchinson and Steel, Wright & Gray said the proceedings are confidential and declined to comment. A Preferred Family spokesman provided a statement but didn’t answer questions.

“Preferred Family Healthcare has reached a satisfactory resolution with the parties in the suit,” said Julie Heavrin, communications director. “We are pleased to put this matter behind us and are focusing on the future.”

Each party will pay its own legal fees and costs associated with the case, Miller’s order says.

The agreement settles one of multiple legal challenges facing Hutchinson, son of former U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson and nephew of Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Jeremy Hutchinson, a onetime confidential FBI informant, was a veteran lawmaker and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee before resigning his seat last summer. He served more than 15 years in the Legislature.

A federal grand jury indicted Hutchinson on Aug. 30 on a dozen counts of wire and tax fraud related to accusations he misspent campaign contributions and underreported his income. The Little Rock Republican resigned his Senate seat the next day.

Hutchinson, who is free without bail, has pleaded not guilty and asked U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker to dismiss the charges.

Separately, the Arkansas Ethics Commission on Friday fined Hutchinson $11,000 over violations of state campaign-finance reporting laws. Those violations included using campaign money for personal income, failing to report contributions, failing to report expenses and failing to file mandated reports.

Federal prosecutors have also implicated Hutchinson — but haven’t charged him — in a bribery scheme involving Preferred Family.

Former Arkansas lobbyist Milton “Rusty” Cranford, in his guilty plea to a federal bribery charge in June, said Hutchinson received more than $500,000 from 2012-17 in payoffs from the lobbyist, former Preferred Family executives and other clients whom Cranford referred to Hutchinson, described in court filings as “Senator A.”

Cranford’s plea agreement said the payments were in exchange for favorable legislative treatment. Cranford lobbied on behalf of the Missouri company and oversaw its Arkansas operations, including the state’s largest network of outpatient mental health clinics.

Hutchinson’s attorney, Tim Dudley of Little Rock, has said Cranford’s plea agreement “mischaracterizes” Hutchinson’s legal work for the firm and the ex-senator did “nothing illegal or unethical.”

The civil case dismissed Monday sprang from a 2014 lawsuit David Coleman filed against Health Resources of Arkansas, a network of mental health facilities Preferred Family acquired that same year.

The company’s attorney said a December 2016 judgment in Coleman’s favor for $383,805 resulted from Hutchinson’s negligence and “abject failure” to represent the company.

Preferred Family in its lawsuit said Hutchinson didn’t file with the court a response to a “request for admissions” — or a series of allegations filed in court. He also missed hearings and didn’t notify company executives of case developments.

The lawsuit also said Hutchinson invoiced and received $379,000 in payments from 2013-16 “without corresponding evidence of any legal work.”

Steel, Gray & Wright, which removed the Hutchinson name from its title last year, was named in the suit because Hutchinson was a member and acting as an agent of the firm, according to the suit.

Information for this article was contributed by Lisa Hammersly of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and by Doug Thompson of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.