USA: Lawyer wrongfully arrested at Bar association meeting accepts settlement

A Bentonville attorney reached a settlement agreement with the city of Hot Springs and the Arkansas Bar Association in November, about five months after she was arrested by Hot Springs police for carrying petitions with her in the Hot Springs Convention Center.

In June, Jennifer Standerfer was arrested at the convention center during the annual meeting of the Arkansas Bar Association. Standerfer was carrying petition materials with her and was making them available to anyone who wanted to sign them to try to put a pair of Freedom of Information measures on the November 2024 ballot.

Standerfer was not asking people to sign the petitions. Still, she was arrested and accused of violating the convention center’s rule against soliciting, although the Hot Springs Police Department did not pursue charges against her.

A settlement agreement shows Standerfer reached an out-of-court settlement in November with the city of Hot Springs, the city’s Advertising and Promotions Commission, the city’s police department, the Arkansas Bar Association and their insurers.

The defendants agreed to pay $200,000 to Little Rock law firm Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull PLLC, which represented Standerfer in the mediation.

USA: Lawyer wrongfully arrested at Bar association meeting accepts settlement