Hot Springs is one of three cities named as a defendant in class action claims asserting fines authorized by false alarm ordinances violate property and due process rights granted by the state Constitution.
Newoods Inc., which does business at ABC Block & Brick, 907 Spring St., filed a lawsuit in Garland County Circuit Court last week seeking to invalidate the ordinance adopted by the Hot Springs Board of Directors in 2006. Newoods is also suing for a refund of all false alarm fines and fees the prospective class paid over the last three years, compensatory damages and attorney fees.
The company, which has 12 locations in Arkansas, filed the same claim against the cities of Little Rock and Fayetteville earlier this month.
The complaint filed by attorney Chris Corbitt, who is listed as Newoods' vice president, said the ordinance imposes an undue burden on property owners, making them solely responsible for false alarms when installation and monitoring companies can also be the cause.
"Nationwide, the reliability rate is almost 6 percent," the filing said. "This means 94 percent or higher of all alarm signals are false alarms. The problem with alarm reliability and false alarms has persisted for decades."
The complaint said the ordinance is vague, allowing the police department, in the absence of a clear standard enshrined in the city code, to determine whether an alarm is false. In addition to installation and monitoring companies, the complaint said false alarms can also be caused "by acts of God."
"What's to say what a false alarm is?" Corbitt said last week. "Maybe a perpetrator came by and shook the door. Maybe a storm or faulty equipment caused it to go off."
A fine is levied after five false alarms, with property owners paying $25 each for false alarms six through 10, $50 each for false alarms 11 through 15 and $100 for every one after that.
A spreadsheet the city compiled at the request of the lead plaintiff's attorneys, and that The Sentinel-Record obtained through an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act request, showed the city assessed 264 businesses, churches and residences false alarm fines totaling $25,200 in 2014.
Billing records obtained by the newspaper showed Tractor Supply Co. at 2307 Albert Pike Road has been fined the most since 2015, with $9,525 in fines levied for 129 false alarms through July 2017. CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs was fined $1,275 for 24 false alarms at its 1 Mercy Lane facility last year.
St. Mary's Catholic Church was fined $375 for 15 false alarms in 2015 and $575 for 17 false alarms last year. The KFC at 114 Airport Road was fined $975 for 21 false alarms in 2015, and Las Americas Supermarket was fined $875 for 20 false alarms last year.
The city fined ABC Block $125 for 10 false alarms from April to August of this year.
Corbitt said the city presumes an alarm is false if the subsequent response doesn't turn up an intruder, a standard he said other calls for service aren't held to.
"Maybe the alarm did it's job and scared them off, or they've left by the time the police get there," he said last week. "If someone sees an unusual guy creeping around their neighborhood, or something weird going on, and they call the police, does that citizen get a fine or invoice in the mail if the cops show up and can't find anyone?"
Corbitt said he's using billing information obtained from the city to identify potential co-plaintiffs.
Local on 11/21/2017