McCambridge v. City of Little Rock
Arkansas Supreme Court
766 S.W.2d 909 (1989)
- Written by Laura Julien, JD
Facts
Mercedes McCambridge (plaintiff) was the mother of John Markle. Markle was the offender in a highly publicized murder-suicide in Little Rock, Arkansas. McCambridge was an award-winning actress and public figure. During the police’s investigation of the murder-suicide, they discovered a number of documents, including two handwritten letters from Markle to his attorney admitting to the crime, Markle’s diary, a handwritten letter from Markle to McCambridge expressing his anger with her, and some miscellaneous notes. McCambridge filed suit to restrain the City of Little Rock (defendant) from releasing the letters, notes, and photographs of the crime scene. Specifically, McCambridge asserted that the release of the documents would violate her constitutional right to privacy because the information was personal in nature and potentially embarrassing and harmful if disclosed. The trial court held that all items must be disclosed under Arkansas’s open-records law. McCambridge filed an appeal.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Dudley, J.)
Concurrence (Hickman, J.)
Concurrence/Dissent (Purtle, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 899,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 47,000 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
