Opinion ID: 2354364
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Bond Guaranty Act is unconstitutional.

Text: In a final point on appeal, appellants contend that the Bond Guaranty Act, codified at Ark.Code Ann. § 15-5-401 et seq. (Repl.2000), is unconstitutional. This allegation was raised in appellants' amended answer. Appellants argued that the Act is unconstitutional because it violates the prohibition against the State lending its credit. Appellee responded to the challenge by filing a motion to strike in which it argued that appellants' amended answer should be struck because: (1) the appellants lacked standing to challenge the Act; (2) the constitutional challenge was not relevant or material to the issues before the court; and (3) appellee would be prejudiced by the late filing of the amended answer. A hearing was held on appellee's motion to strike. Following this hearing, an order was entered in which the trial court granted appellee's motion to strike appellants' amended answer. The trial court's order also noted that the issue of constitutionality of the Arkansas Development Finance Authority Bond Guaranty Act of 1985 is not relevant or material to the determination of the issues herein. However, after striking appellants' amended answer, which sought to raise the issue of the constitutionality of the statute, and after concluding that the determination of the constitutional claim was irrelevant and immaterial, the trial court made the statement that the Arkansas Development Finance Authority Bond Guaranty Act of 1985 is constitutional. Upon our review of the facts surrounding the trial court's statement that the Act was constitutional, we conclude that it was a superfluous observation of the kind referred to as obiter dicta. Specifically, the relief sought by appellee was to strike the pleading in which the constitutional challenge had been raised. The trial court granted this relief, thereby eliminating the constitutional challenge from consideration in this suit. Even if the trial court's statement was not dicta, we note that the issue of the Act's constitutionality was not properly developed for consideration by the trial court during the proceedings. We do not address issues that have not been fully developed below. See AT & T Communications of the Southwest, Inc. v. Arkansas Public Service Comm., 344 Ark. 188, 40 S.W.3d 273 (2001) (holding that an appellant must fully develop an issue at the lower court level in order to preserve it for appellate review). Accordingly, the constitutionality of the Act is not before us for review. Affirmed.