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VietnameseGriffin: ‘I … hope this judgment serves as notice to all excavators and operators of underground facilities that my office will enforce Arkansas’s laws’
LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin today issued the following statement announcing a $20,000 civil penalty against Siloam Springs-based Ground Zero Construction, Inc. and its owner Rod Garman as part of a consent judgment issued in Benton County Circuit Court:
“My office is charged with enforcing the Arkansas Underground Facilities Damage Prevention Act, which requires excavators to call the One Call Center, commonly known as 811, before they excavate and timely mark the location of their underground facilities. Ground Zero did not comply with the law and, as such, repeatedly put Arkansans in danger. This is why I filed suit against the company in April and why I am pleased with the consent judgment in this case.
“I thank Assistant Attorney General Matthew Ford and the Public Protection Division of my office for bringing this matter to completion and hope this judgment serves as notice to all excavators and operators of underground facilities that my office will enforce Arkansas’s laws.”
Griffin filed suit against Ground Zero on April 27, 2023. To read the consent judgment, click here.
Earlier this year, the Arkansas General Assembly passed and the Governor signed into law Act 309 of 2023, amending the Arkansas Underground Facilities Damage Prevention Act (AUFDPA) by establishing new penalties and mandatory training for persons who violate the provisions of the Act and giving the Attorney General enhanced enforcement authority.
Complaints of violations of the AUFDPA may be submitted to the Office of the Attorney General by visiting https://arkansasag.gov/resources/file-an-811-complaint/ and completing the online complaint form and submitting it and all supporting documentation to [email protected].
About Attorney General Tim Griffin
Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.
Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 27 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.
He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née Bragg), North Carolina, and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.
Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin attends Immanuel Baptist Church and lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.
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