Opinion ID: 1632335
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Common Authorship

Text: SERT's second point on appeal is that the circuit judge erred by invalidating 238 signatures on grounds that there was evidence of common authorship. SERT initially claims that the judge did not apply the recognized standard of proof. SERT also urges this court to find that the evidence was insufficient to support a finding of common authorship. SERT finally contends that the trial judge erred by invalidating the petitions in their entirety because the appellees did not present evidence that the canvassers consciously submitted false affidavits. SERT directs this court to Roberts v. Priest for the proposition that a high degree of certainty is required to invalidate a signature on an initiative petition. 334 Ark. 503, 513, 975 S.W.2d 850, 854 (1998). It points to Dawn Reed's expert testimony that it was more probably true than not that the signatures had common authorship. Accordingly, SERT argues that the evidence did not meet the required standard of proof. In the alternative, SERT maintains that there was insufficient evidence to support a finding of common authorship under any standard of review. SERT alleges that Ms. Reed's testimony was the only evidence of common authorship and that it was too speculative to support the circuit judge's findings. This court gives great deference to a circuit judge's findings of fact. See, e.g., Graham Constr. Co. v. Earl, 362 Ark. 220, 225, 208 S.W.3d 106, 109 (2005). One reason is that this court is mindful that the circuit judge is in the best position to hear testimony and determine the credibility of the witnesses. Id. This court will reverse a finding of fact by a circuit judge only if it is clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. Id.; see also Ark. R. Civ. P. 52(a) (2008). [2] In the case before us, the circuit judge expressly relied on testimony of an expert witness. Moreover, Ruth Reynolds admitted that in a number of instances someone else had signed the name of the person whose signature appeared on the petition. The judge's order also indicates that he relied on the testimony of witnesses whose signatures were purportedly invalid, as well as his own review of the petitions. Based on his assessment of this evidence, he concluded that there were instances of common authorship on twenty-three petition pages. This finding was not clearly against the preponderance of the evidence, and there was substantial evidence to support his finding. SERT also claims that the trial court erred by invalidating all of the signatures on those twenty-three petitions. Instead, it asserts that evidence of common authorship operates to invalidate the entire petition only where there is evidence that the canvasser acted consciously and for an improper purpose. In advancing this proposition, appellant relies on a case involving a state initiative in which this court held that one who attacks a petition cannot destroy the verity of the circulator's affidavit merely by proving that at least one signature is not genuine. The plaintiff must also adduce proof to show that the falsity of the canvasser's affidavit was conscious rather than inadvertent. Pafford v. Hall, 217 Ark. 734, 737, 233 S.W.2d 72, 74 (1950). SERT argues that under the Pafford standard, the circuit judge was only permitted to nullify the signatures he found to be invalid, not the entire petitions. SERT's contentions must fail because the legislature has spoken on this point with respect to county initiative petitions. See Act of Mar. 24, 1977, No. 742, 1977 Ark. Acts 1736, now codified at Ark.Code Ann. § 14-14-915(d) (Repl.1998). Section 14-14-915(d) reads: (d) SUFFICIENCY OF PETITION. Within ten (10) days after the filing of any petition, the county clerk shall examine and ascertain its sufficiency. Where the petition contains evidence of forgery, perpetrated either by the circulator or with his connivance, or evidence that a person has signed a name other than his own to the petition, the prima facie verity of the circulator's affidavit shall be nullified and disregarded, and the burden of proof shall be upon the sponsors of petitions to establish the genuineness of each signature. If the petition is found sufficient, the clerk shall immediately certify such finding to the county board of election commissioners and the quorum court. See also Parks v. Taylor, 283 Ark. 486, 491, 678 S.W.2d 766, 768 (1984) (when a circulator for a county initiative makes an affidavit that signatures are genuine when they are not, he has made a false affidavit and the petition loses its presumption of validity). Section 14-14-915(d) does not include the conscious falsity element. We hold that section 14-14-915(d) controls this issue for this county initiative. In the instant case, there was sufficient evidence on which the circuit judge could rely to find that certain people signed names other than their own on various initiative petitions submitted to the county clerk by SERT. As such, the circuit judge was well within his bounds to reject the validity of those petitions and invalidate all of the signatures in the absence of proof from SERT that each signature was, in fact, valid. Accordingly, the burden of proving the genuineness of the disputed signatures shifted to SERT. Neither Ruth Reynolds, nor any other canvasser, however, testified that the individual signatures on the initiative petitions, other than those with common authorship, were valid or genuine. SERT's burden of proof was not met. We hold that the circuit judge did not clearly err on this issue. To summarize, we hold that the circuit judge was not clearly erroneous in finding a total of 461 signatures on the initiative petitions to be invalid. The result of this finding is that the required number of valid signatures was not collected to place the question on the ballot. Accordingly, we affirm the order of the circuit judge setting aside the certification of the question regarding the sale of alcoholic beverages in Sharp County for placement on the ballot for the November 4, 2008 general election. We further affirm the order of the circuit judge removing this question from the ballot and directing that no votes cast on this question be counted. Because of this court's affirmance on direct appeal, it is unnecessary to address appellees' issues on cross-appeal. A request for oral argument was included in SERT's initial brief but was not filed separately in letter form as required by our Rules of the Supreme Court. Ark. Sup.Ct. R. 5-1(a) (2008). Hence, we do not consider it. The mandate will issue on October 22, 2008, unless a petition for rehearing is filed. Any petition for rehearing must be filed by October 20, 2008, and any response by October 21, 2008. Affirmed.