United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________

No. 19-1866 ___________________________

Timothy Watkins

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellant

v.

Arkansas, State of; Keith Rhodes, Individually

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants

Brad Perkins, Individually

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellee

Hazen District Court; Billy's Trucking; David Smith, Individually

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas - Little Rock ____________

Submitted: October 30, 2019 Filed: November 4, 2019 [Unpublished] ____________

Before LOKEN, WOLLMAN, and KELLY, Circuit Judges. ____________ PER CURIAM.

Timothy Watkins appeals following the district court’s1 judgment on an adverse jury verdict in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action. Watkins’s challenges to prior decisions of this court are precluded under the law-of-the-case doctrine. See Thompson v. Comm’r of Internal Revenue, 821 F.3d 1008, 1011 (8th Cir. 2016) (reiterating the principle that “when a court decides upon a rule of law, that decision should continue to govern the same issues in subsequent stages of the same case.”). Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed. See 8th Cir. R. 47B. ______________________________

1 The Honorable Susan Webber Wright, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

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