In a bit of good news for the people of Arkansas and the rule of law generally, Attorney General Tim Griffin had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Thursday.

Even before the Arkansas Supreme Court found Griffin’s arguments unpersuasive and dismissed the appeals in two cases Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders lost late last year after she tried to delay special elections to fill legislative vacancies, a Pulaski County circuit court ruled against Griffin in a fair-housing case where Griffin’s office filed a lawsuit well beyond the allowable timeframe and tried to claim that the state is not bound by a statute of limitations.

Griffin’s office filed the lawsuit in October 2024, representing the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission on behalf of Bobby Eubanks, who rented an apartment in Conway. The lawsuit alleged that Edward Conners, who managed the apartment property, had discriminated against Eubanks in July 2021 by demanding that Eubanks return to the property and not leave three minor children, ages 6 to 15, unattended when Eubanks was at work. 

The lawsuit went on to say that Conners “demanded Eubanks agree and sign a document stating, ‘I will not have minor children in the home unless I’m there.’” It further alleged that Conners threatened to evict Eubanks if Eubanks left the children home alone in the future and if he did not sign the agreement about not leaving the children unattended.

Eubanks subsequently filed a complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and, in December 2021, the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission determined that Eubanks had been discriminated against based on his “familial status,” in violation of fair-housing laws. On January 4, 2022, the defendants — Conners, plus the company that owned the apartment and Conners’ property management company — chose to have the matter determined by a circuit court, rather than an administrative judge, which was their right.

And there the matter sat, for 33 months, until Griffin’s office filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County circuit court on October 3, 2024. The defendants immediately filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the statute of limitations in this context was two years from the date of the alleged discrimination, which meant the lawsuit had to be filed no later than July 30, 2023. The motion to dismiss also said that Eubanks’ claims of “discrimination” were based on conversations that occurred when Conners was attempting to get Eubanks to rein in his three children, who were behaving so loudly and inappropriately in the apartment building that it was adversely affecting other tenants.

Griffin’s office objected to the motion to dismiss, arguing the state, as a plaintiff, is not bound by statutes of limitation in these cases. Specifically, they invoked the common law doctrine that “no time runs against the king,” and they said they were free to bring a fair-housing lawsuit at any time.

In November, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, raising the same argument that the case was barred by the two-year statute of limitations. This week, Circuit Judge Patricia James entered an order granting the motion in the defendant’s favor.

James found that the original complaint failed to note any discriminatory acts that occurred between August 2021 and December 2021, when the Fair Housing Commission issued its determination of discrimination, which might have extended the time for filing the lawsuit. Further, she said the idea that the statute of limitations did not apply to the state — known by its Latin name of nullum tempus occurrit regi — was incorrect and that Griffin was attempting to apply it for improper reasons:

The court finds that Plaintiff’s action was brought under the guise of impermissibly extending the statute of limitations for the aggrieved party in this case, rather than truly enforcing and protecting the rights of the public; rendering application of the doctrine of nullum tempus occurrit regi is inapplicable.

The state has 30 days to appeal the decision. Whether they will is unclear, but based on how eagerly they’ve tilted at other windmills over the past couple of years, it would not be shocking if they chose to throw more time and resources at this one as well.