Jack Wagoner III (1961–2024)

Jack Wagoner III was a Little Rock (Pulaski County) attorney who was active in the legal battle to overturn Arkansas’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Jack Wagoner III was born in Little Rock on August 13, 1961, to Dr. Jack Wagoner Jr. and Lorraine Wagoner. He graduated from Hall High School with a low grade-point average but found that college was more to his liking, graduating from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a 3.6 GPA.

He had taken many philosophy classes at UA Little Rock and ended up flipping a coin to determine whether to pursue a doctorate in philosophy or a law degree. He attended what is now the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, graduating in the top five percent in his class.

While in law school, Wagoner worked with attorney Billy Roy Wilson (later a U.S. district judge) and clerked for Pulaski County Circuit Judge Ellen Brantley; he was also associate editor of the UALR Law Review. Wilson impressed Wagoner because he “wanted to fight for the little guy,” and Wagoner chose to go into private practice instead of working at a large law firm or a corporate office because “that’s where most of the stuff that pisses me off occurs.”

Establishing a family practice firm in 1989, Wagoner also pursued larger cases, as when he took part in a class-action suit against a large nursing home company. Over the course of his career as a trial lawyer, he recovered around $40 million in verdicts and settlements, including cases of wrongful death, product liability, and nursing home neglect and abuse.

He married Joyce McCormack, a winner of the Miss Arkansas Pageant, on June 7, 2001. They had two daughters. Wagoner was a lifelong fan of the Grateful Dead, and a portrait of band leader Jerry Garcia had a prominent place in his law office.

In one noteworthy case, Wagoner represented a gay man who was forbidden by Arkansas law from sleeping in the same bed with his partner of seven years while his twelve-year-old son was visiting. In November 2013, the Arkansas Supreme Court overturned the law forbidding romantic overnight guests when minor children were present.

On June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court found the federal Defense of Marriage Act that banned same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional because it denied same-sex couples due process and equal protection. When the ruling was issued, Wagoner impetuously posted an offer on his Facebook page to represent anyone seeking to overturn the state law against same-sex marriage. He soon had several clients.

Attorney Cheryl Maples filed suit in state court to overturn the law, and Wagoner followed with a suit in federal district court, working pro bono because “it’s the right thing to do.” The two lawyers ended up working together. Wagoner said that Maples was “more involved in client contact and client management, and I was more involved in just the nuts and bolts of the legal arguments,” though Maples also helped with the latter.

In May 2014, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled that the 1997 Arkansas law banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, and in late November of that year, U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker made a similar ruling at the federal level. Appeals of those rulings were rendered moot when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2015’s Obergefell v. Hodges case to allow same-sex marriages across the country.

Wagoner and Maples had a falling-out while seeking payment from the state for their work in the gay marriage case, with Piazza eventually awarding them $66,000 to split between them. Wagoner pronounced himself pleased with the settlement, saying that “we didn’t do this for the money.” Wagoner also received $7,463 for his work on the federal court case.

Wagoner was widely recognized in legal circles for his integrity and was listed for eighteen years as one of the “Best Lawyers in America” and for seventeen years in the Arkansas Times’s rating of the best lawyers in Arkansas.

He died in his sleep on April 23, 2024.

For additional information:
“Daily Record.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, June 6, 2001, p. 5B.

“Jack Wagoner III.” Wagoner Law Firm. http://www.wagonerlawfirm.com/founder–attorney–jack-wagoner-iii.html (accessed October 4, 2025).

“Jack Wagoner III” (Obituary). https://ruebelfuneralhome.com/obits/preview.php?id=3388 (accessed October 4, 2025).

Koon, David. “Jack Wagoner Fights for Equality.” Arkansas Times, June 26, 2014. https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2014/06/26/jack-wagoner-fights-for-equality (accessed October 4, 2025).

Lynch, John, “Attorneys Get $66,000 in Gay-Marriage Case.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, October 15, 2015, pp. 1B, 7B..

———. “Litigants Alter Suit on Gay Marriages.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, October 3, 2013, p. 2B.

———. “Same-Sex Couples Sue Arkansas.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, July 3, 2013, pp. 1A, 3A.

Oman, Noel. “6 Sue, Hit State Ban of Gay Marriage.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, July 16, 2013, pp. 1A, 2A.

Peacock, Leslie. “Only Arkansas Law Makes Same-Sex Couples Different.” Arkansas Times, August 1, 2013. https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2013/08/01/only-arkansas-law-makes-same-sex-couples-different (accessed October 4, 2025).

Satter, Linda. “Gay-Marriage Ban Struck Again.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 26, 2014, pp. 1A, 8A.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas