Madden v. Aldrich

I dissent from the majority opinion because the majority’s interpretation of Arkansas’s lawyer-immunity statute, codified at Ark. Code Ann. §§ 16-22-310 (Repl. 1999), 16-114-303 (Supl. 2001), fails to grant immunity to Ms. Madden as required by the plain language of the statute. In determining the meaning of a statute, the first rule is to construe it just as it reads, giving the words their ordinary and usually accepted meaning in common language. Ford v. Keith, 338 Ark. 487, 996 S.W.2d 20 (1999); Kildow v. Baldwin Piano & Organ, 333 Ark. 335, 969 S.W.2d 190 (1998). The statute must be…