Texarkana-based attorney John Goodson and 11 lawyers who work with him on class-action lawsuits have appealed a federal judge’s ruling that they broke ethics rules and abused the court system.

Their appeal questions whether their conduct violated those rules and whether Chief U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III abused his discretion in reprimanding five of the lawyers, according to documents filed Monday.

The appeals notice merely lists the two issues. Full arguments will be filed in coming weeks, legal experts said. The appeal process likely will take months to work through the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis before a decision is reached

Goodson, a University of Arkansas System trustee and one of Arkansas’ biggest political donors, was among the five lawyers reprimanded. He also is married to Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson.

Others reprimanded and appealing are: Goodson’s law partner Matt Keil of Texarkana; Jason Roselius of Oklahoma City; and Richard Norman and Martin Weber Jr. of Houston.

Holmes’ reprimand requires the five attorneys to acknowledge in certain out-of-state cases that they have been disciplined for an ethics violation. Judges in those cases could refuse to let them take part in cases in their courtrooms. Now, the attorneys can note they’re appealing the reprimand.

Holmes ruled last week that 12 lawyers dismissed a class-action insurance case from his court in Fort Smith to settle in state court, where judges aren’t required to scrutinize as aggressively the settlement for fairness to all parties.

Holmes has said he wouldn’t have approved the Dec. 16 settlement of Adams v. United Services Automobile Association (2:14-cv-2013) that both sides filed in Polk County Circuit Court.

In rulings this year, the judge said that settlement benefited the lawyers and the insurance company at the expense of policyholders who were harmed.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers received $1.85 million in fees and expenses in the Adams case, court records show. Only 4 percent of eligible policyholders filled out a lengthy form to claim part of the insurance company’s estimated $3.44 million settlement pool.

Holmes’ reprimand of the five attorneys said they acted in “bad faith,” or with prior knowledge that what they did was improper.

The other seven lawyers filing the appeal took similar actions in the Adams case, but didn’t exhibit bad faith, Holmes’ order said. The judge didn’t reprimand or punish them.

Those seven lawyers are W.H. Taylor, Stevan Vowell, William Putman and Timothy Myers of Fayetteville; Tom Thompson and Casey Castleberry of Batesville; and Matthew Mustokoff of Radnor, Pa.

Holmes also ruled that three United Services Automobile Association defense attorneys committed similar ethics violations. The judge did not find bad faith and didn’t discipline them. The defense attorneys were not listed as part of the appeal.

They are: Lyn Pruitt of Little Rock and Wystan Ackerman and Stephen Goldman of Hartford, Conn. Their attorney could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Attorneys for the 12 plaintiffs’ lawyers, of Joseph Hage Aaronson of New York, declined to answer questions.

John Goodson and his firm have settled dozens of class-action cases on behalf of consumers in Arkansas and other states who said they were wronged by the actions of big companies. Among the businesses sued: insurance and computer software companies. The lawyers have received tens of millions in attorneys’ fees and expenses, according to court records.

Goodson also is one of the state’s biggest campaign contributors to elected members of the Arkansas Supreme Court and to both political parties, campaign-finance records show.

His firm’s clients have won at least eight cases before the state Supreme Court since 2008, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported in January. Online court records didn’t reveal any cases the Goodson clients lost in that time.

A Section on 08/10/2016