Lonoke County, Arkansas; Lonoke County Judge Doug Erwin; and Lonoke County Quorum Court Members Joe — Baker, J…

Summary

Justice Baker's dissent agrees with reversing the attorney-fee award but rejects the majority's conclusion that the circuit court properly granted mandamus. She would read the amended statute as establishing a new payment division that did not preserve the 1991 agreement because the agreement could not have anticipated a 2012 statutory scheme and the statute contains no language preserving prior agreements. Justice Danielson, concurring, agrees that existing cost-sharing agreements remain effective but urges the General Assembly to clarify the statute's wording.