In another loss for Sanders, court rules attorney for Corrections Board can get paid 

The lawyer and law firm who originally represented the Arkansas Board of Corrections in ongoing litigation against Gov. Sarah Sanders were properly hired and can submit a motion to recover the fees they’re owed. That’s according to an order Tuesday from Pulaski County Circuit Judge Patti James. 

In a three-page order, James first reiterated her previous rulings that the Board of Corrections is a constitutional board and its members are constitutional officers, that the board properly hired attorney Abtin Mehdizadegan as special counsel at the outset of this litigation, and that Mehdizadegan is entitled to attorney’s fees. She directed Mehdizadegan and his law firm, Hall Booth Smith, P.C., to “prepare and file their claim for attorneys’ fees, including all supporting documentation, for consideration.”

After they have submitted their motion, James said, the state will have 10 days to file a response. 

“Once received, the court will determine whether the requested attorneys’ fees are ‘reasonable compensation’ without further hearing, unless requested by any of the parties,” James wrote.

Mehdizadegan previously said he was owed more than $300,000 for work he performed on behalf of the Corrections Board in litigation against Sanders and in defending the board against a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Attorney General Tim Griffin. Despite objections from the Arkansas Legislature, the board approved payment of that amount in December 2025. But Sanders’ subsequent replacement of outgoing board members with new members loyal to her put the brakes on payment. 

The ruling represents yet another loss for Sanders in the protracted court battle with corrections officials. It comes just weeks after James rejected a proposed settlement between the board and Sanders that would have rendered Amendment 33 to the Arkansas Constitution moot by allowing the governor to hire and fire top prison officials.

The proposed settlement agreement sought to undo an October 2025 ruling by James that two laws passed by the Legislature in 2023 — Acts 185 and 659 — were unconstitutional. The Board of Corrections hired Mehdizadegan and sued, arguing those acts improperly transferred day-to-day control of the state’s corrections divisions to the governor, in violation of Amendment 33. James agreed, ruling in favor of the board.

In a scathing decision issued late last month, James called the proposed settlement “the first step down the slippery slope towards the degradation of our great democracy,” “an unjustifiable attempt to usurp the power of the people” and “an attempt to undermine this court and authority of the judiciary.”

“We are proud of the work that the HBS team did on behalf of the citizens of Arkansas and in support of the Arkansas constitution,” Baxter Drennon, managing attorney of the Little Rock office of Hall Booth Smith, said in response to Tuesday’s ruling. “Judge James’ order again confirms that we were appropriately hired and the quality of that work. We will submit a fee petition per her order.”

It is unclear whether the state plans to appeal James’ ruling. Griffin’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The case is styled as Arkansas Board of Corrections, et al., v. Sarah Sanders, et al., 60CV-23-9598.