Alaska Supreme Court Decisions 2012
Date: December 28, 2012
Citation: 290 P.3d 1194
Docket Number: S-14436
Justia Opinion Summary: Malcolm D. and Mallory D. were married and had three children, Jason, Brooke, and Megan. In August 2009 Malcolm and Mallory filed a petition for dissolution of marriage. The parties agreed to joint legal custody and…
Date: December 28, 2012
Docket Number: S-14721
Justia Opinion Summary: The Alaska Supreme Court issued an order that remanded redistricting cases to the redistricting board to formulate a new plan in compliance with our case law. The Court agreed with the superior court that, in drafting…
Date: December 21, 2012
Citation: 294 P.3d 76
Docket Number: S-13823
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2008 Robert Rude, then a sitting Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI) director, and three other candidates ran as an independent “New Alliance” slate for positions on the CIRI board of directors. Shortly before the…
Date: December 21, 2012
Citation: 290 P.3d 415
Docket Number: S-14215
Justia Opinion Summary: The primary issue in this appeal was whether boroughs have the implied or incidental authority to record a real property lien to secure payment of garbage-collection fees. In 2007 Virgilio and Rosemarie Sabado hired had…
Date: December 21, 2012
Citation: 290 P.3d 421
Docket Number: S-14614
Justia Opinion Summary: A father challenged a superior court’s decision to terminate his parental rights, arguing that the court’s conclusions were not supported by clear and convincing evidence, that termination was not in the best interests…
Date: December 14, 2012
Citation: 290 P.3d 403
Docket Number: S-13936
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, the issue before the court concerned whether monetary damages are available to a prisoner for violations of the terms of a judicial decree approving the "Cleary Final Settlement Agreement." In 2004…
Date: December 14, 2012
Citation: 290 P.3d 413
Docket Number: S-14367
Justia Opinion Summary: Tierice Coleman is the biological father of two minor sons, T.C. and J.C. T.C. was born in January 2000 to Elka McCullough, a woman with whom Coleman had a brief relationship. J.C. was born in March 2000 to Laura…
Date: December 14, 2012
Citation: 290 P.3d 215
Docket Number: S-14427
Justia Opinion Summary: A bar served a man alcohol while he was visibly intoxicated, and the man murdered a woman later that evening. The lawyer representing the bar in the subsequent dram shop action did not attempt to add the murderer as a…
Date: December 10, 2012
Citation: 289 P.3d 924
Docket Number: S-14565
Justia Opinion Summary: A mother appealed the termination of her parental rights to her young son. The mother had a long history of substance abuse and relinquished parental rights to her older daughter in 2008 because she was unable to care…
Date: December 7, 2012
Citation: 289 P.3d 903
Docket Number: S-14079
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1999, the Alaska Board of Fisheries (the Board) made a use finding in the Chitina subdistrict for the first time, changing it from a "personal use" to a "subsistence" fishery. The Board reversed this decision in 2003,…
Date: December 7, 2012
Citation: 289 P.3d 894
Docket Number: S-14126
Justia Opinion Summary: Five disabled Alaskans sued their former representative payee. At the conclusion of trial, the superior court awarded both compensatory and punitive damages to the plaintiffs; it also entered injunctive relief against…
Date: December 7, 2012
Citation: 290 P3d 393
Docket Number: S-14142
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2008, Michael Cooper was involved in a car accident that injured Samuel Thompson. Thompson sued Cooper and Cooper's employer for damages. The jury returned a verdict for Thompson for compensatory damages but not…
Date: December 7, 2012
Citations: 289 P.3d 914, 298 P.3d 914
Docket Number: S-14184
Justia Opinion Summary: A worker at a fish processing plant was injured while on the job. His employer asserted that it did not maintain workers' compensation and that it was immune from suit, so the worker filed a negligence action in state…
Date: December 7, 2012
Citation: 289 P.3d 896
Docket Number: S-14693
Justia Opinion Summary: Judith R. challenged the superior court's order terminating her parental rights to her son, "Dexter." The court terminated her rights based on her longstanding, unremedied mental illness. In its ruling on the record, the…
Date: November 30, 2012
Citation: 288 P.3d 1289
Docket Number: S-14234
Justia Opinion Summary: Victoria ("Vicky") Cox and John Floreske were married in July 1981. They separated in September 2007 and divorced in June 2009. During their marriage, Vicky and John amassed a highly illiquid marital estate including…
Date: November 23, 2012
Citation: 288 P.3d 736
Docket Number: S-14021
Justia Opinion Summary: Alyeska Pipeline Service Company (Alyeska), the agent for the owners of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), leases the TAPS right-of-way from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (Department). Alyeska appealed…
Date: November 23, 2012
Citation: 288 P.3d 745
Docket Number: S-14253
Justia Opinion Summary: The Department of Natural Resources restricted the non-winter use of large vehicles on the Rex Trail. The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether these restrictions were within the Department's authority.…
Date: November 16, 2012
Citation: 288 P.3d 480
Docket Number: S-13788
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal concerned a dispute between three daughters regarding the administration of their deceased mother’s estate. The dispute centered around three documents: (1) a will executed in 1987; (2) a revised will the…
Date: November 16, 2012
Citation: 288 P.3d 64
Docket Number: S-14042
Justia Opinion Summary: The question raised before the Supreme Court in two consolidated appeals was whether this certain provisions of the Alaska Sex Offender Registration Act (ASORA) applied to a person convicted in a single proceeding of two…
Date: November 16, 2012
Citation: 288 P.3d 463
Docket Number: S-14422
Justia Opinion Summary: Helen S. K. and Samuel M. K. were married in 1990. Helen filed for divorce in December 2010, requesting sole legal and primary physical custody of the parties' three minor children and equitable division of the marital…
Date: November 16, 2012
Citation: 292 P.3d 182
Docket Number: S-14620
Justia Opinion Summary: Siegfried Pedersen was convicted of assault and weapons misconduct. He brought a civil suit against the victims of those crimes, Daniel Blythe and Bobbie Luxford, alleging defamation and trespass. The superior court…
Date: November 9, 2012
Citation: 288 P.3d 452
Docket Number: S-13968
Justia Opinion Summary: Before 2009, the Alaska Board of Game employed a controversial scoring system in order to distribute permits to subsistence hunters in a popular caribou and moose hunting area between Anchorage and Fairbanks. In 2009,…
Date: November 2, 2012
Citation: 288 P.3d 446
Docket Number: S-14043
Justia Opinion Summary: After a van driven by Ralph Kermit Winterrowd II was damaged in a collision with a moose, the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) proposed suspending Winterrowd’s driver’s license because he did not provide proof of…
Date: October 19, 2012
Citation: 286 P.3d 1054
Docket Number: S-14053
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal concerned the division of property between a couple who had been in a relationship for 12 years but never married. The couple and their children resided in a home titled in the man's name. After they…
Date: October 19, 2012
Citation: 286 P.3d 1059
Docket Number: S-14317
Justia Opinion Summary: Diana Albrecht brought a class-action lawsuit against Alaska Trustee, LLC, on behalf of a group of Alaska homeowners who had faced foreclosure on their homes. Alaska Trustee, acting as foreclosure trustee, had provided…
Date: October 12, 2012
Citation: 290 P.3d 1173
Docket Number: S-13729
Justia Opinion Summary: A quasi-independent governmental agency manages a program designed to improve power generation in small Alaska villages that are located off the electrical grid. One such village believed that the agency did not respect…
Date: October 12, 2012
Citation: 286 P.3d 509
Docket Number: S-13861
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case were two narrow legal questions arising from the Alaska Records Management Act and the Alaska Public Records Act: (1) when state employees use private email accounts to…
Date: October 5, 2012
Citation: 286 P.3d 504
Docket Number: S-14238
Justia Opinion Summary: A divorced couple with one child agreed in 2006 that the mother would cover all of the child's travel costs in lieu of paying child support. In 2010, the father filed a motion arguing that the 2006 agreement was invalid…
Date: September 28, 2012
Citation: 299 P.3d 148
Docket Number: S-13530
Justia Opinion Summary: Two mining companies entered a ten-year mining lease. The lessee was responsible for mining and prospecting claims owned by the lessor and its president. The companies entered a holdover tenancy after the expiration of…
Date: September 28, 2012
Docket Number: S-14142
Justia Opinion Summary: In December 2008, Michael Cooper caused a car accident that injured Samuel Thompson. Thompson sued Cooper and Cooper's employer for compensatory and punitive damages. The jury returned a verdict for Thompson for…
Date: September 28, 2012
Citations: 286 P.3d 495, 292 P.3d 906
Docket Number: S-14362
Justia Opinion Summary: Brian Ross had been absent from the State of Alaska since 1990, first as a student at the United States Naval Academy and later as a career Marine Corps officer. Despite his absence, Ross maintained Alaska residency and…
Date: September 14, 2012
Citation: 284 P.3d 832
Docket Number: S-14178
Justia Opinion Summary: A man filed an application for both occupational and nonoccupational disability benefits from the Public Employees Retirement System, claiming disability from both physical and mental conditions. An administrative law…
Date: September 14, 2012
Citation: 287 P.3d 87
Docket Number: S-14196
Justia Opinion Summary: A homeowner sought a declaratory judgment that foreclosure fees were not properly included in the reinstatement amount necessary to halt foreclosure proceedings under Alaska law. The superior court concluded that the…
Date: September 14, 2012
Citation: 285 P.3d 276
Docket Number: S-14315
Justia Opinion Summary: A couple had a turbulent relationship over the course of eight months, breaking up and reuniting several times. During the final break-up the woman sought a domestic violence protective order. The superior court granted…
Date: September 14, 2012
Citation: 285 P.3d 273
Docket Number: S-14473
Justia Opinion Summary: When Chad and Jessica Lewis divorced, they participated in a settlement conference to divide their property. Following the settlement conference, the superior court recited a proposed settlement agreement on the record,…
Date: September 7, 2012
Citation: 285 P.3d 256
Docket Number: S-13423
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal the issue before the Supreme Court was the superior court's valuation and distribution of marital property in the divorce of Carolyn Vieve Day and Charlie T. Williams. Day appealed on three grounds: (1)…
Date: September 7, 2012
Citation: 284 P.3d 13
Docket Number: S-13990
Justia Opinion Summary: A couple divorced in 2008, and the mother was granted sole legal custody and primary physical custody of their three children. At the time of the divorce, the superior court stated that if the father met certain…
Date: September 7, 2012
Citation: 285 P.3d 268
Docket Number: S-14474
Justia Opinion Summary: A father and a mother share joint legal and equal physical custody over their daughter. The father sought to obtain a passport for the daughter, but federal law requires the consent of both parents if the child is under…
Date: August 31, 2012
Citations: 284 P.3d 1, 298 P.3d 1
Docket Number: S-14110
Justia Opinion Summary: Loren J. Larson, Jr. was incarcerated at the Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward. Acting pro se, he filed two separate complaints alleging violations of his constitutional rights. In his first complaint, he…
Date: August 10, 2012
Citation: 282 P.3d 1262
Docket Number: S-13877
Justia Opinion Summary: Dennis Davison was convicted of sexually abusing his fourteen-year-old daughter, R.D. At trial, the doctor who performed a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) examination of R.D. testified to statements R.D. had made…
Date: July 27, 2012
Citation: 282 P.3d 348
Docket Number: S-13994
Justia Opinion Summary: Offshore Systems – Kenai (Offshore) operates a commercial dock facility on Cook Inlet in the Kenai Peninsula Borough (Borough). Nikishka Beach Road traverses Offshore's property. The public has used this road to access…
Date: July 27, 2012
Citation: 282 P.3d 359
Docket Number: S-14078
Justia Opinion Summary: Sea Hawk Seafoods, Inc. sued the City of Valdez for damages after Valdez applied for a grant from the State of Alaska for funding to convert Sea Hawk's seafood processing facility into a fish meal plant but then declined…
Date: July 27, 2012
Citation: 282 P.3d 369
Docket Number: S-14091
Justia Opinion Summary: The State of Alaska dismissed an employee for allegedly submitting a falsified timesheet and claiming full pay for a week when she was not working. The employee argued her dismissal violated the implied covenant of good…
Date: July 27, 2012
Citation: 281 P.3d 81
Docket Number: S-14277
Justia Opinion Summary: Jeffrey Gorton and Stephanie Mann are the parents of a young son. When they divorced, the superior court awarded them a shared physical custody schedule and to calculated child support. This appeal arose from that…
Date: July 27, 2012
Citation: 281 P.3d 84
Docket Number: S-14419
Justia Opinion Summary: "Jeffrey E." appealed his 30-day involuntary commitment order, arguing the evidence was insufficient to support the superior court's conclusion that he was gravely disabled. In June 2011 Jeffrey was 20 years old, had…
Date: July 20, 2012
Citation: 282 P.3d 340
Docket Number: S-13427
Justia Opinion Summary: A man was arrested for misdemeanor crimes after an altercation arising from a business dispute. He brought civil claims against a police officer and the officer's municipal employer based on the arrest. The superior…
Date: July 20, 2012
Citation: 280 P.3d 542
Docket Number: S-14018
Justia Opinion Summary: After the State of Alaska issued a plan for summer-use rules at Willow Lake, at which the State operates as a float plane facility, a non-profit corporation brought suit against the State and a float plane operator,…
Date: July 20, 2012
Citation: 280 P.3d 552
Docket Number: S-14056
Justia Opinion Summary: Two nieces, acting as co-guardians for their elderly uncle, sued their uncle's former caregiver for misuse and misappropriation of his assets; the caregiver counterclaimed for compensation for services rendered. After a…
Date: July 20, 2012
Citation: 280 P.3d 575
Docket Number: S-14074
Justia Opinion Summary: The Office of Rate Review, a division of the State Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), set a Medicaid payment rate for North Star Hospital based on a 2005 home office cost report that did not reflect a…
Date: July 20, 2012
Citation: 280 P.3d 537
Docket Number: S-14155
Justia Opinion Summary: Holiday Alaska, Inc. (Holiday) sells tobacco at over 25 stores in Alaska, and each store holds a tobacco license endorsement from the State. The State sought to suspend five different Holiday stores' tobacco license…
Date: July 20, 2012
Citation: 280 P.3d 559
Docket Number: S-14233
Justia Opinion Summary: A State of Alaska employee was discharged. With union representation, the employee unsuccessfully challenged his termination in grievance proceedings. When he later filed suit for wrongful termination, the State…
Date: July 20, 2012
Citation: 280 P.3d 567
Docket Number: S-14294
Justia Opinion Summary: A healthcare worker was sprayed in the eye with fluids from an HIV-positive patient. She received preventive treatment and counseling. Her employer initially paid workers' compensation benefits; it later filed a…
Date: July 13, 2012
Docket Number: S-13772
Justia Opinion Summary: The passenger of a car was injured in a two-car accident. The passenger brought suit against the other car's driver; the passenger's requested recovery included her insurer's subrogation claim for medical expenses. The…
Date: June 29, 2012
Citation: 282 P.3d 316
Docket Number: S-13227
Justia Opinion Summary: A worker suffered an above-the-knee amputation of his right leg in a work-related accident in 2003. The accident happened when he used his foot to push a bale of mulch that he was feeding into a machine; his leg was…
Date: June 29, 2012
Citation: 279 P.3d 599
Docket Number: S-13584
Justia Opinion Summary: A limited partnership based in New York that invests in the claims of unsecured creditors sent a letter to an Alaska corporation offering to purchase one such claim for about one-third of its face value. The letter was…
Date: June 29, 2012
Citation: 279 P.3d 613
Docket Number: S-13904
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants Richard and Durena Tracy appeal the superior court’s dismissal of their state law negligence and federal constitutional claims against the State of Alaska, Department of Health and Social Services, Office of…
Date: June 29, 2012
Citation: 279 P.3d 619
Docket Number: S-14232
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal presented the question of whether the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights (the Commission) must interview one or more witnesses identified by a complainant before dismissing a complaint for lack of…
Date: June 22, 2012
Citation: 278 P.3d 1267
Docket Number: S-13350
Justia Opinion Summary: Purchasers of a lot in a newly formed airpark subdivision prepared and properly executed an easement agreement granting them access to the subdivision's aviation facilities. The purchasers later claimed the easement…
Date: June 22, 2012
Citation: 278 P.3d 1262
Docket Number: S-14200
Justia Opinion Summary: Eight days after relinquishing her parental rights to twin children, their mother filed a motion requesting that the superior court order the Department of Health and Social Services, Office of Children's Services (OCS)…
Date: June 15, 2012
Citation: 278 P.3d 893
Docket Number: S-13501
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Izaz Khan was indicted on one count of perjury based on four allegedly false statements made in a financial affidavit. At trial, the court instructed the jury, without objection from Petitioner, that they did…
Date: June 15, 2012
Citation: 278 P.3d 876
Docket Number: S-13787
Justia Opinion Summary: M.K. is a 34-year-old mentally ill Alaska Native woman who lived in a rural village. In 1999, when M.K. was 22, her father A.K. sexually assaulted her. M.K. reported the crime to police, but soon changed her story and…
Date: June 15, 2012
Citation: 278 P.3d 886
Docket Number: S-14377
Justia Opinion Summary: "Jade" is the biological daughter of Roy and Sheila. Jade is an Indian child as defined in the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). Between 1998 and 2007, the Office of Children's Services (OCS) received at least 12 reports…
Date: June 8, 2012
Citation: 278 P.3d 281
Docket Number: S-14323
Justia Opinion Summary: A woman died intestate survived by her husband and three adult children from a previous marriage. The husband had acquired a boat for a fishing charter business during his marriage to the decedent, but the boat and…
Date: June 1, 2012
Citation: 277 P.3d 771
Docket Number: S-14008
Justia Opinion Summary: A father appealed various procedural actions taken by the superior court in his divorce and custody proceeding. Appearing pro se, he alleged that the court’s expedited procedures violated his due process rights and…
Date: June 1, 2012
Citation: 277 P.3d 763
Docket Number: S-14094
Justia Opinion Summary: Richard Villars and Kathleen Villars were married in 1984, divorced in 2002. Richard served in the military for most of the marriage, first in the United States Air Force and later in the Alaska Air National Guard. Prior…
Date: May 25, 2012
Citation: 277 P.3d 753
Docket Number: S-13566
Justia Opinion Summary: Andrew G. Horwath, Sr. died in 1991. His widow, Marjorie Horwath, later moved to Minnesota to live with their daughter, Mary Jaworski. A Minnesota court entered a conservatorship order for Marjorie, appointing Mary…
Date: May 18, 2012
Citation: 276 P.3d 443
Docket Number: S-13866
Justia Opinion Summary: 58-year-old Asian-American Appellant Sue Grundberg alleged that she was discriminated against when her employer, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, denied her a promotion to the position of…
Date: May 18, 2012
Citation: 276 P.3d 453
Docket Number: S-13888
Justia Opinion Summary: An employer petitioned the Alaska Workers' Compensation Board for reimbursement from the Second Injury Fund for payments it made to a disabled worker. The Fund opposed the petition. After a hearing, the Board granted the…
Date: May 18, 2012
Citation: 278 P.3d 266
Docket Number: S-13901
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2008, Alaska's Board of Certified Real Estate Appraisers imposed professional sanctions on appraiser Appellee-Cross-Appellant Kim Wold for violations of the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice…
Date: May 18, 2012
Citation: 276 P.3d 457
Docket Number: S-14160
Justia Opinion Summary: A father appealed the termination of his parental rights to his daughter, an Indian child within the meaning of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). He challenged the superior court's findings that the Office of…
Date: May 8, 2012
Citation: 276 P.3d 422
Docket Number: S-14247
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from a Child In Need of Aid (CINA) case involving four Indian children who were removed from their parents’ care due to substance abuse and domestic violence. The children were placed with their maternal…
Date: April 27, 2012
Citation: 274 P.3d 1193
Docket Number: S-13482
Justia Opinion Summary: An eastbound driver (Shawn Mickelsen) attempted to make an illegal left turn into a restaurant's exit driveway. The eastbound driver collided with an oncoming westbound driver, killing the westbound driver. The…
Date: April 27, 2012
Citation: 274 P.3d 1185
Docket Number: S-14183
Justia Opinion Summary: A couple lived together briefly in New Mexico and then separated, with the man moving permanently to Alaska. Shortly after he moved, the woman ("Stephanie W.") discovered that she was pregnant and gave birth to a son.…
Date: April 27, 2012
Citation: 274 P.3d 1179
Docket Number: S-14222
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Sherman "Red" Smith built and operated a sawmill on 14 acres of land under a special-use permit from the U.S. Forest Service. He alleged that Alaska acquired title to the land and conveyed it to a third party…
Date: April 20, 2012
Citation: 274 P.3d 486
Docket Number: S-13394
Justia Opinion Summary: Citizens sought a ballot initiative to eliminate the special regulations that govern real property transactions in a local economic development area. After the municipal clerk twice denied their petition for a ballot…
Date: April 20, 2012
Citation: 273 P.3d 1140
Docket Number: S-14214
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Sven Rofkar grew a substantial quantity of marijuana in a house he rented. After state troopers searched the house, Petitioner was charged with four felonies, all brought under separate subsections of AS…
Date: April 20, 2012
Citations: 273 P.3d 1140, 274 P.3d 478
Docket Number: S-14332
Justia Opinion Summary: Rudy R. moved to modify the agreement through which he and Heather W. shared 50-50 custody of their daughter. He argued that recent legal troubles and instability in Heather's life amounted to changed circumstances that…
Date: April 13, 2012
Citation: 276 P.3d 413
Docket Number: S-13915
Justia Opinion Summary: Bobbie Ann Hunter and Shaun Conwell had two sons before separating. Conwell filed a complaint for custody in 2006 but Hunter did not respond. The superior court granted Conwell sole legal and primary physical custody of…
Date: April 13, 2012
Citation: 274 P.3d 469
Docket Number: S-14106
Justia Opinion Summary: This case concerned the ownership of James "Jim" and Terrie Gottstein’s former marital home. Jim paid for the property, but Terrie’s name alone was on the deed. The Gottsteins lived in the home for 15 years before moving…
Date: April 6, 2012
Citation: 273 P.3d 605
Docket Number: S-13100
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Daniel Nelson applied for post-conviction relief, alleging 35 claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. At a deposition, trial counsel asserted the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination…
Date: April 6, 2012
Citation: 273 P.3d 1123
Docket Number: S-13594
Justia Opinion Summary: In an October 2007 election, Kenai Peninsula Borough voters approved local initiatives establishing term limits for members of the Borough Assembly and the school board. But voters also reelected five incumbents who, by…
Date: April 6, 2012
Citation: 273 P.3d 1128
Docket Number: S-13596
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case concerned the validity of two 2005 Kenai Peninsula Borough (Borough) ordinances: one enacted by the Borough Assembly and the second enacted by voter initiative. The Borough…
Date: April 6, 2012
Citation: 273 P.3d 594
Docket Number: S-13800
Justia Opinion Summary: An adult woman diagnosed with a mental illness appealed her already completed 30-day involuntary commitment to Alaska Psychiatric Institute (API), arguing the evidence did not support the superior court’s findings that:…
Date: March 30, 2012
Citation: 273 P.3d 575
Docket Number: S-14073
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue presented to the Supreme Court in this case was whether under the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act a misrepresentation by a seller of a used motor home is subject to a defense that the…
Date: March 9, 2012
Citation: 271 P.3d 1098
Docket Number: S-14149
Justia Opinion Summary: A wife left her husband in Ohio and moved with their son to Alaska, where she filed for divorce. The husband filed for divorce in Ohio. The parties agreed Ohio had child custody and property division jurisdiction. The…
Date: March 2, 2012
Citation: 271 P.3d 1082
Docket Number: S-13656
Justia Opinion Summary: Two correctional officers allegedly injured inmate Respondent Paul Heisey within the jail. Respondent filed a complaint asserting several tort claims against the State and the two officers. Pursuant to a statute allowing…
Date: March 2, 2012
Citation: 270 P.3d 805
Docket Number: S-13698
Justia Opinion Summary: The parents of a developmentally disabled adult woman appealed a superior court's decision to appoint a public guardian, rather than the parents, as the woman's legal guardian. The superior court found that the parents…
Date: March 2, 2012
Citation: 270 P.3d 801
Docket Number: S-13858
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant Ethel Kelly sued the Municipality of Anchorage (MOA) for negligence after she stepped into an uncovered valve box assembly pipe in a crosswalk and sustained injuries. MOA conceded that the valve box cover was…
Date: February 24, 2012
Citation: 271 P.3d 456
Docket Number: S-14583
Date: February 17, 2012
Citation: 272 P.3d 331
Docket Number: S-13608
Justia Opinion Summary: Lawrence Trudell was injured when he fell while trying to descend a ladder from the roof of a structure on which he was working. At the time he was employed by Phillips Construction Co. (Phillips), a construction…
Date: February 10, 2012
Citation: 270 P.3d 787
Docket Number: S-13475
Justia Opinion Summary: Margery Kniffen, as Trustee for the Margery T. Kniffen Family Trust and Darrell Kniffen II, purchased an undeveloped tract in Fairbanks North Star Borough, planning to develop a subdivision. They also purchased a lot in…
Date: February 10, 2012
Citation: 279 P.3d 1156
Docket Number: S-13478
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1995, Alaska Interstate Construction's assets were sold to a joint venture but it continued to be operated by its founder, John Ellsworth, through a company he owned called Pacific Diversified Investments, Inc. In…
Date: January 27, 2012
Citation: 268 P.3d 1090
Docket Number: S-13371
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellee Wayne Manning told Appellant Diane Roberson he would give her his share of their jointly purchased mobile home. Without her knowledge, he then transferred title of the mobile home to his name only and sold it to…
Date: January 27, 2012
Citation: 268 P.3d 1097
Docket Number: S-13468
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant Chana Boyko was a teacher who resigned in lieu of termination from the Anchorage School District after violating a "last chance agreement." She alleged the School District breached a resignation agreement in…
Date: January 20, 2012
Citation: 268 P.3d 323
Docket Number: S-13031
Justia Opinion Summary: Darren McLaren sued his wife Teresa for divorce. The superior court divided the couple's property, intending to award each spouse approximately half of the marital estate. Teresa, who appeared pro se, appealed multiple…
Date: January 20, 2012
Citation: 268 P.3d 312
Docket Number: S-13230
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2001, Bill Kiernan owned American Towing & Recovery (Kiernan) and Willie Creech owned Vulcan Towing & Recovery (Creech). That year Kiernan and Creech decided to share a lot for their towing businesses. They agreed to…
Date: January 20, 2012
Citation: 268 P.3d 293
Docket Number: S-13681
Justia Opinion Summary: Six tribal councils, joined by two other associations, filed an action against the State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in the superior court seeking a declaratory judgment that the 2005 Bristol Bay…
Date: January 20, 2012
Citation: 270 P.3d 755
Docket Number: S-13818
Justia Opinion Summary: There was one issue for the Supreme Court's resolution in this, the fifth appeal in this case. After the last remand, the superior court entered a judgment awarding the class a principal refund of $12.4 million with…
Date: January 20, 2012
Citation: 268 P.3d 277
Docket Number: S-13832
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant Jacob Ennen was seriously injured while he was a passenger in Gordon Shanigan's car. Shanigan's insurer, Integon Indemnity Corporation (Integon), paid $50,000 to cover Shanigan's possible liability to…
Date: January 20, 2012
Docket Number: S-13874
Justia Opinion Summary: David S. appealed the termination of his parental rights to his daughter Hannah, who is an Indian child. Hannah was taken into the custody by the Office of Children's Services (OCS) while David was incarcerated. David…
Date: January 20, 2012
Citation: 279 P.3d 589
Docket Number: S-13949
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant Tom Oels was a sergeant with the Anchorage Police Department (APD) since 2002. In 2005, he stated his intent to retire and be rehired while retaining the rank of sergeant. Appellant was told that under AMC…
Date: January 20, 2012
Citation: 268 P.3d 1084
Docket Number: S-14030
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Eleanor Oakes owned a 7/8 undivided interest in a 20-acre parcel of land in Council, while Respondents David and Sine Holly owned a 1/8 undivided interest in the property. The parties went to court to…
Date: January 20, 2012
Citation: 270 P.3d 737
Docket Number: S-14035
Justia Opinion Summary: Stephanie F. and George C. both sought physical and legal custody of their son and daughter. Following lengthy proceedings, the superior court found that it would be in the children's best interests for custody to be…
Date: January 20, 2012
Citation: 268 P.3d 305
Docket Number: S-14036
Justia Opinion Summary: John Weinberger and Patrice Weinmeister are the parents of a young son. After an incident of mutual domestic violence, John obtained an ex parte restraining order against Patrice. John and Patrice both sought custody of…
Date: January 20, 2012
Citation: 268 P.3d 346
Docket Number: S-14086
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2007, Plaintiff Helen Barton was injured while watching a high school football game in Barrow when a player ran out of bounds during a play and collided with her, breaking her leg. Plaintiff sued the North Slope…
Date: January 13, 2012
Citation: 267 P.3d 645
Docket Number: S-13509
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, the Supreme Court considered the long-standing "emergency aid" exception to the general requirement that a search warrant be obtained prior to police entry into a residence. With this opinion, the Court…
Date: January 13, 2012
Citation: 269 P.3d 663
Docket Number: S-13768
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant James Grace suffered permanent brain injuries when his helmet failed after he braked to avoid hitting a dog and was thrown over the handlebars of his motorcycle. Appellant and his wife, Kathleen, filed personal…
Date: January 13, 2012
Citation: 268 P.3d 274
Docket Number: S-13838
Justia Opinion Summary: A mother petitioned the superior court to adopt her biological son. She was never married to the child's father. While the court concluded that the father's consent was not needed, it denied the petition as not being in…
Date: January 13, 2012
Citation: 270 P.3d 719
Docket Number: S-13955
Justia Opinion Summary: Thirty seven years ago, two business partners bought a 160-acre property bordering the Kenai River which they subdivided into 114 lots (Holiday Park Subdivision). The partners reserved an easement across Lot 30 for the…
Date: January 13, 2012
Citation: 268 P.3d 1066
Docket Number: S-14049
Justia Opinion Summary: "Martha" and "William" are the parents of six children. They appealed the superior court’s order adjudicating their two youngest children as children in need of aid and placing the children in the custody of the Office…
Date: January 13, 2012
Citation: 272 P.3d 1014
Docket Number: S-14310
Justia Opinion Summary: The Bethel Superior Court entered an order terminating an incarcerated father's parental rights to three of his five children. The father appealed, arguing that the superior court erred by finding that the State made…
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