North Little Rock notebook

Travel suit payout awaits court ruling

North Little Rock’s Advertising and Promotion Commission will have to wait to receive any monetary settlement from a claim of unremitted taxes against a number of online travel companies, pending a decision by the Arkansas Supreme Court, according to the city attorney’s office.

In May, the Jefferson County Circuit Court ruled that Hotels.com and 11 other online travel companies are liable for back taxes that weren’t remitted based on the full tax amounts paid by customers.

North Little Rock was an original plaintiff in the lawsuit, and the commission also signed off on July 17 to intervene in the class action so the city can receive payment of any unremitted taxes.

The online travel companies have filed a petition with the Arkansas Supreme Court to halt proceedings in the trial court and filed an appeal of the trial court’s summary judgment decision, the city attorney’s office was notified last week.

Because of those filings, the trial court has extended the deadline for filing the motions to intervene until after the Supreme Court rules on the petition and notice of appeal, possibly by mid-September.

The online travel companies contend they collect and remit taxes on the room rate set by the hotel. The remaining costs are the travel agent’s service fees for the booking and aren’t unremitted taxes, according to a spokesman for the Travel Technology Association, which represents the companies.

Library adds film streaming service

Kanopy, an on-demand film streaming service, is now available for free to William F. Laman Public Library cardholders at both the main library and Argenta branch in North Little Rock.

Laman Library cardholders can access Kanopy and sign up to start streaming films by visiting lamanlibrary. org. Films can be streamed from any computer, television, mobile device or platform by downloading the Kanopy app for iOS, Android, AppleTV, Chromecast or Roku, according to a library news release.

Kanopy has 5 million users worldwide and provides access to films of unique social and cultural value, films difficult to access elsewhere and programming that features diversity, including foreign language films and films about race and current affairs, according to the news release.

“We’re excited to offer Kanopy because they have films that may be hard to find on other streaming devices,” Richard Theilig, Laman Library’s associate director, said in the news release. “Besides award winners, our patrons now have greater access to movies and documentaries by and about people of diverse communities.”

More information on the streaming service is available online at kanopy.com.