Skelton v. BC Land Co., Inc.

I cannot agree with the majority opinion in its determination that the appellee’s income tax returns were pending on January 1, 1975.

In construing statutes courts must give words their ordinary and usually accepted meaning in the common language. Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Heath, 254 Ark. 847, 497 S.W. 2d 30 (1973), and Hicks v. Ark. State Medical Board, 260 Ark. 31, 537 S.W. 2d 794 (1976).

The ordinary meaning of the word “pending” is “in the period before the decision or conclusion of; remaining undecided; awaiting decision or settlement; unfinished.” Random House Dictionary of the English…