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Who pays the legal fees in the Crawford County Library lawsuit?

The library wants county officials to pay the attorney fees if awarded while the county wants the opposite.

VAN BUREN, Ark. — The lawsuit saga involving the Crawford County Library continues, with parties now concerned over who will pay attorney fees to the winning party. 

The Crawford County Library System (CCLS) — along with Crawford County Judge Chris Keith, the Crawford County Quorum Court, and the interim library director — was sued by parents in 2023 for moving LGBTQ+ books made for children to the adult section of the library called the "social section." 

Three mothers filed the lawsuit on behalf of their children, stating that the library system was violating their First Amendment right to receive information. 

In September 2024, a federal judge ruled that the library must return books on "social issues" to general circulation. The judge ordered the library system to "immediately dissolve the 'social' or 'social issues' section." The CCLS must now move the books to "appropriate sections," regardless of their opinions. 

On Oct. 29, the plaintiffs in the case filed a new motion to keep the county from using the library system's budget to cover legal fees. Someone must pay $118,000 now for the plaintiffs' attorney fees. 

In court documents, County Judge Chris Keith stated, "the county's general operating fund currently contains insufficient funds to pay for both the county's day-to-day operations and a potential award of plaintiffs' attorney fees without contribution from the library board."

Keith Pigg, Chair for the Crawford County Library System Board, said he believed the county should have to pay the whole thing. 

"I really believe it's on the county, because the quorum court had the chance to drop this at any time. They could have dropped it and just put the books back," Pigg said. "I don't think that the library should be obligated to, because it was, you know, I had stated in May of that year that I thought the books needed to go back before the lawsuit ever happened." 

He said that paying over $100,000 would set them far back. 

"We're already on the shoestring budget. I mean, things have constantly gone up, and our millage has not increased since 1999," Pigg said. "The books and stuff have kept going up every year, and there's so much more in the library than books. I mean, there's people who rely on us for their Wi-Fi connection, because they can't afford Wi-Fi at home." 

Court documents also state that "the quorum court has not taken any formal legislative action on authorizing payment of the plaintiffs' potential fee award" and "the quorum court has not taken any action to 'defund' the library system." 

Pigg said it's against state law for the quorum court to move any money out of their funds without a vote by the library board. He said he's scared it could happen. 

An item was on the agenda to discuss potential impacts at their library system board meeting Tuesday night. 

"It is supposed to be proactive for thinking or planning what we need to do in case they took the money again. They took the $100,000 out without our permission. What could we do as a library to go ahead and function," Pigg said. "We've been an appointed board, so they should have to have our permission to pull that money out, to use it how they how they see fit." 

Pigg also said that the judge had previously stated the funds wouldn't be coming out of the library's budget. 

"He was asked verbatim at the at one of the quorum court meetings, if that money would come from library. And he said no, that's his words." 

As the quorum court has made no decisions yet on who will pay the money, the library board took no action on the agenda item Tuesday night.

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