Columbia Circuit Judge David Guthrie entered a $500,000 judgment Tuesday against Kaylie Harrell of Magnolia in a lawsuit by Roxanne Atkins of Magnolia that said Harrell assaulted her in August 2017 during a house party in Waldo.
As a side note, Atkins’ attorney, Andrew Norwood, who practices in Conway and Little Rock, said he believed this was the first judgment for civil damages in Arkansas that followed a video teleconference hearing. Such hearings are currently allowed under emergency Arkansas Supreme Court orders during the coronavirus crisis.
The hearing was relatively perfunctory because Atkins was awarded a default judgment against Harrell, who didn’t appear to contest the outcome.
The case originally included defendants from the family at whose home the party was held — host Parker Ribble and his parents Barry and Kelly Ribble. They were dismissed from the case in March after an apparent settlement. Norwood said he couldn’t discuss that. He said he would now be working to find if Harrell has assets to satisfy the judgment against her — $400,000 in actual damages and $100,000 in punitive damages.
By the lawsuit’s account, Atkins was invited to a party at the Ribble home in Waldo Aug. 6, 2017. When Atkins entered, she said she was slammed to the ground by Harrell and beaten unconscious in front of partygoers, some of whom made videos of the attack on cell phones. Atkins received treatment for a closed head injury, a broken nose, chipped teeth, lacerations and other injuries, Norwood said.
The videos were widely viewed on social media — more than 100,000 times, Norwood said. He said Atkins was so severely injured physically and mentally that she was unable to finish the year at Southern Arkansas University, where she was a cheerleader. Norwood said Harrell remained at SAU and is a former member of the rodeo team.
Said Norwood’s news release, “I am so happy for Roxanne because today she got to stand up to a bully.”