Page:First National Bank of DeWitt v. Cruthis.pdf/5

532   compulsory counterclaim in the case before us, an already existing action filed in chancery court in Arkansas County on May 30, 1997. See First National Bank of Dewitt v. Cruthis, 352 Ark. 292, 100 S.W.3d 703 (2003). In the present action, by way of its Amended Complaint filed August 8, 2003, FNB sought restitution including an equitable lien, damages for breach of contract, damages for conversion, and damages for breach of warranty.

After dismissal of the action in the appeal noted above, Cruthis filed a counterclaim in the present action asserting causes of action for conversion, fraud and misrepresentation, tortious interference with contract, undue control and breach of fiduciary capacity. A jury demand was included in the counterclaim. Cruthis filed a motion to dismiss FNB's action in chancery for failure to assert that there was no adequate remedy at law. By the time the court heard the matter, Amendment 80 had taken effect, and the chancery court had become a circuit court. The circuit court stated that there was merit to the claim that FNB failed to assert a lack of an adequate remedy at law and concluded that there was an adequate remedy at law. However, rather than dismiss the case, the circuit court stated that the case would be decided at law rather than at equity.

Following a jury verdict, FNB filed a motion for judgment not withstanding the verdict, or in the alternative, for a new trial. FNB alleged that there was a lack of substantial evidence support.ing the jury verdict. More specifically, FNB argued that there was a lack of substantial evidence supporting the jury's verdict that Stratton was not unjustly enriched. Alternatively, FNB argued for a new trial based on an error in the jury's assessment "due to an erroneous conclusion as to the effect of their verdict form."

Amendment 80
[1, 2] This case involves a question of whether the circuit court erred in trying the case as one at law rather than at equity. This implicates Amendment 80 to the Arkansas Constitution and its effect on jurisdiction formerly residing in circuit and chancery courts. Amendment 80 is now part of our constitution, In interpreting the constitution on appeal, our task is to read the law as it is written and interpret it in accordance with established principles of constitutional construction. Smith v. Sidney Moncrief Pontiac, Buick, GMC, Co., 353 Ark. 701, 120 S.W.3d 525 (2003); Brewer v. Fergus, 348 Ark. 577, 79 S.W.3d 831 (2002). It is this court's responsibility to decide what a constitutional provision means, and