Parties in defamation suit now to work as peers (UALR Public Radio) - Two people on opposite sides of a defamation lawsuit filed last year by a University of Arkansas-Little Rock law school professor now will be colleagues.
Valerie Nation, a 2008 graduate of the UALR law school and a former member of the Black Law Student Association, was named Thursday as the school's assistant dean for student affairs. She will start on July 16.

In March 2008, law school professor Rick Peltz, considered an expert on Arkansas' open records law, sued Nation and two others. Peltz claimed in the lawsuit that they had tried to ruin his reputation by maligning him as racially biased.

Peltz dropped the lawsuit in November and neither side acknowledged wrongdoing.

Peltz did not comment on Nation's hiring, and Nation did not return messages seeking comment from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.


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