Insurance pool for litigation OK’d

Members of the Little Rock Board of Directors at a meeting Tuesday approved entering into a 2023 litigation insurance pool administered by the Arkansas Municipal League for approximately $478,000.

The ordinance was approved in a voice vote, despite concerns raised by at-large City Director Dean Kumpuris.

Kumpuris referred to the episode last year in which the Municipal League negotiated a contentious settlement between the city, two former officers and the estate of Bradley Blackshire, a Black man who was fatally shot by a white police officer in 2019.

Little Rock City Attorney Tom Carpenter objected to the way the settlement agreement was handled at the time.

City board members later adopted an ordinance that said the city manager’s unilateral authority to make payments or enter into contracts did not extend to legal settlements.

On Tuesday, referring to the Municipal League, Kumpuris said, “I don’t think they’ve served us well. … The last time we employed them specifically, they disregarded the city attorney. They disrespected the city attorney. They disrespected this board.”

City Manager Bruce Moore said it was impossible to obtain an alternative legal-defense arrangement before Jan. 1, to which Kumpuris responded that “we’re in the same box we’re always in — we’re gonna have to approve this ’cause we have to have coverage in a month. But I don’t think they served us well.”