Appeals court affirms dismissal of lawsuit by Laney Harris

TEXARKANA, Ark. — A federal appeals court last month affirmed a Texarkana judge’s dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Arkansas-side, Ward 2 Director Laney Harris against a former mayor and fellow board members who censured him in 2017.

An opinion by the federal 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds rulings by U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey and U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant. Bryant recommended in October a motion

to dismiss filed on behalf of the defendants, which Hickey adopted.

Hickey’s order, like Bryant’s report, evaluates each of the claims Harris appears to put forth in a 71-page amended complaint both jurists lamented as difficult to understand in court filings. Harris filed the complaint and all other documents in the case on his own behalf without the benefit of a lawyer.

Harris filed suit in June 2018, about a year after fellow directors and then-Mayor Ruth Penney Bell signed a letter censuring Harris for allowing himself to be the subject of a harassment complaint, for conducting an unauthorized walkthrough of a city building and for having a verbal confrontation with a citizen at a local community festival.

Harris was removed from the city’s

Advertising and Promotion Commission at the same time he was censured.

Harris’ suit asked that the censure be declared “null and void” and that the defendants be ordered to issue a public apology.

A lawsuit Harris filed in Miller County Circuit Court against two volunteers he argued had wronged him in connection with RailFest 2017 also ended in favor of the defendants.