Conway police officers and firefighters suing the city can do so with class-action status, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Faulkner County Circuit Judge Troy Braswell did not abuse his discretion when he certified a class of more than 100 firefighters and more than 130 police officers in a lawsuit against the city over a breach of contract, the court determined.
"A court abuses its discretion when it acts improvidently, thoughtlessly, or without due consideration. ... We cannot say that the court abused its discretion here, when it carefully considered the complaint and matters in the record to find that common questions were present," Justice Rhonda Wood wrote in the court's majority opinion. Further, the employees all had a common complaint regarding promises made about their pay, the parties who sued had typical complaints compared to the class as a whole, and a class-action lawsuit would be the most efficient way of resolving potentially more than 200 claims, the court ruled.