15
(1963) (dismissing writ of certiorari as improvidently
granted where a controversy “primarily implicate[d]
questions of [state] law and present[ed] no federal
question of substance”).
A. Petitioners failed to properly file their
motion for appellate fees in the trial court
after the entry of final judgment and forfeited any ability to seek those fees.
Contrary to Petitioners’ claim that the Arkansas
Supreme Court flouted federal law in denying their
motion for attorney’s fees, Petitioners forfeited their
ability to seek appellate fees by failing to follow Arkansas’s procedural rules. ARK. R. CIV. P. 54(e)(2)—which
Petitioners concede governs motions for attorney’s
fees—provides that such motions must be filed “no
later than 14 days after the entry of judgment[.]” The
Arkansas Supreme Court has held that “[a] final judgment under ARK. R. CIV. P. 54(a) is ‘one that dismisses
the parties, discharges them from the action, or concludes their rights to the subject matter in controversy.’ ” Jones v. Flowers, 283 S.W.3d 551, 554 (Ark.
2008) (quoting Looney v. Looney, 986 S.W.2d 858, 861
(Ark. 1999)) (reversing the trial court’s denial of attorney’s fees under 42 U.S.C. 1988 after remand from this
Court). Rule 54(e)’s fourteen-day time period begins to
run “upon an entry of judgment that finally concludes
the controversy for which attorney’s fees are sought.”
Id. at 555. “Only upon [a] final resolution of the respective parties’ rights [is] a motion for attorney’s fees appropriate.” Id.