Arkansas Supreme Court Opinion Issued in Old Dominion Freight Suit
The Arkansas Supreme Court delivered an opinion October 8 in an appeal brought by Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. and driver Aaron Marvell Foster against six individual plaintiffs — Frank McMillion, Allen Jones, Carlton Pettus, Hunter Bokker, Bengi Bokker and Zack Billingsley. The case came up from St. Francis County Circuit Court, case number 62CV-20-141, before Judge E. Dion Wilson.
The text available addresses only a procedural motion: the plaintiffs asked Associate Justice Rhonda Wood to recuse herself from the case. Wood denied the motion individually. She wrote that her contacts with appellants' counsel — a podcast appearance that ended in 2021, shared work on children's commissions, a panel at the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society, and a firm sponsorship of an event where she spoke — did not meet the bar for disqualification under Arkansas Code of Judicial Conduct Rule 2.11(A). She cited precedent holding that friendship with a lawyer, without more, is not grounds for recusal.
The court's substantive ruling on the carriers' and driver's liability to the plaintiffs is not contained in the material reviewed.
What's next
- Confirm whether a separate merits opinion in CV-22-305 addresses liability, damages or remand.
- Check the full PDF at the Arkansas courts' opinion archive for the majority holding.
All sources
- Opinion: Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.; And Aaron Marvell Foster v. Frank McMillion, Allen Jones, Carlton Pettus, Hunter Bokker, Bengi Bokker, and Zack Billingsley — CourtListener (Supreme Court of Arkansas), 2026-10-08
