HELENA COUNTRY CLUB v. BILLY RAY BROCATO, 535 S.W.3d 272

Brocato sued Helena Country Club for breach of an oral pool-maintenance agreement and ADTPA damages; Club counterclaimed alleging fraud and ADTPA violations.
Club was represented by attorney Charles E. Halbert, Jr., who also served on the Club’s board.
Brocato planned to introduce at trial an alleged statement by Halbert (during a telephone settlement discussion): “We aren’t paying him a f*ing thing.”
The Club moved to exclude the statement under Ark. R. Evid. 408 and warned that admission might require Halbert’s disqualification; Brocato responded the remark was not made during settlement or was admissible to show intent/bias and that Halbert would be a board witness.
The circuit court disqualified Halbert without a motion to disqualify and without applying the three-part test from Weigel for when opposing counsel seeks to call trial counsel as a witness.
The Arkansas Supreme Court granted interlocutory review of the disqualification order and reversed, holding the trial court abused its discretion by disqualifying counsel without the required showing.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court properly disqualified Club’s counsel because opposing counsel said he would call that attorney as a witness	Brocato argued Halbert’s testimony (or the alleged statement) was relevant to intent/bias and Halbert would be called as a board witness; he did not move to disqualify Halbert	Club argued evidence was settlement-related and inadmissible under Rule 408 and that admission would require disqualification of Halbert	Reversed — court abused its discretion; disqualification requires satisfaction of Weigel factors, which Brocato failed to demonstrate and did not request disqualification

Weigel v. Farmers Ins. Co., 356 Ark. 617 (disqualification when opposing party seeks to call counsel as witness requires three-part showing)
Haase v. Starnes, 337 Ark. 193 (appealability limits; evidentiary rulings not final here)
Craig v. Carrigo, 340 Ark. 624 (disqualification is drastic and subject to abuse-of-discretion review)