Opinion
Delivered September 19, 1988
In Johnson v. Carpenter, 290 Ark. 255, 718 S.W.2d 434 (1986), we stated clearly that appeals were not to be dismissed by trial courts. There is one exception to that statement. A trial court should have the power to dismiss an appeal before the record is docketed with this court or the court of appeals if all parties to the appeal stipulate that it is to be dismissed and they petition the trial court to dismiss it. The second sentence of Ark. R. App. P. 3 (b) is changed, effective this date, to read as follows:
If, however, the record on appeal has not been filed pursuant to Rule 5, the trial court in which the notice of appeal was filed may dismiss the appeal or cross appeal upon petition of all parties to the appeal or cross appeal accompanied by a joint stipulation that the appeal or cross appeal is to be dismissed.