Alaska Supreme Court Decisions 2020
Date: December 31, 2020
Citation: 478 P.3d 208
Docket Number: S-17104
Justia Opinion Summary: Shay Hurd appealed the superior court’s determination that his adjoining neighbor, Larry Henley, adversely possessed a portion of his land. Hurd and Henley shared a boundary line that Henley first encroached on by…
Date: December 24, 2020
Citation: 477 P.3d 637
Docket Number: S-17485
Justia Opinion Summary: A mother and father appealed the termination of their parental rights after proceedings at the Families with Infants and Toddlers Court (FIT Court). They argued their rights were violated when the FIT Court’s “rigid,…
Date: December 18, 2020
Citation: 477 P.3d 626
Docket Number: S-17202
Justia Opinion Summary: A divorcing couple had a community property trust holding title to two rental properties: a fourplex and a mobile home park. The husband had owned these properties before marriage. The superior court divided the marital…
Date: December 18, 2020
Citation: 477 P.3d 613
Docket Number: S-17540
Justia Opinion Summary: A worker died at a construction site when a retaining wall collapsed. Neither the putative employer, who claimed the worker was an independent contractor, nor the property owner, who hired the putative employer, had…
Date: December 16, 2020
Docket Number: S-17537
Date: December 9, 2020
Docket Number: S-17696
Date: December 9, 2020
Docket Number: S-17741
Date: December 4, 2020
Citation: 476 P.3d 1139
Docket Number: S-17259
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court entered a default judgment against a litigant in a dispute over real property improvements and rent. Following a levy on his bank account, the litigant moved for relief from the default judgment,…
Date: December 2, 2020
Docket Number: S-17434
Date: December 2, 2020
Docket Number: S-17729
Date: November 25, 2020
Docket Number: S-17677
Date: November 20, 2020
Citation: 476 P.3d 293
Docket Number: S-17529
Justia Opinion Summary: Loren Larson, Jr. was convicted in 1998 of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree burglary, and he was sentenced to two consecutive 99-year terms for the murder counts and a 10-year concurrent…
Date: November 13, 2020
Citation: 476 P.3d 1129
Docket Number: S-17365
Justia Opinion Summary: A property owner cut down trees on his lot to build a cabin. The trees were protected by his subdivision’s Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CCRs) and could not be cut down without prior approval.…
Date: November 12, 2020
Docket Number: S-17592
Date: November 6, 2020
Citation: 474 P.3d 270
Docket Number: S-17469
Justia Opinion Summary: Ge Vue was an asset-protection worker at the Walmart in Eagle River, Alaska in 2016. On February 3, he was shot in the back and face with a pellet gun when he and another asset-protection worker tried to stop three…
Date: November 4, 2020
Docket Number: S-17432
Date: October 30, 2020
Citation: 474 P.3d 1153
Docket Number: S-17399
Justia Opinion Summary: The Alaska Office of Children’s Services (OCS) took emergency custody of a three-year-old child and placed him with non-relative foster parents. The child lived with the foster parents for over a year when OCS informed…
Date: October 28, 2020
Docket Number: S-17719
Date: October 23, 2020
Docket Number: S-17255
Justia Opinion Summary: In its initial custody decision, the superior court found that a father had a history of committing domestic violence, and therefore established benchmarks for him to meet before he could begin supervised visitation with…
Date: October 23, 2020
Citation: 474 P.3d 636
Docket Number: S-17339
Justia Opinion Summary: A property owner installed a locked gate across an access easement on his property and provided keys to the neighboring easement holder. The neighbor sued, alleging the gate wrongfully interfered with his easement…
Date: October 23, 2020
Citation: 474 P.3d 648
Docket Number: S-17623
Justia Opinion Summary: The superior court awarded the husband the marital home and ordered him to make a corresponding equalization payment to the wife. About a year later the husband sought relief from judgment, arguing that newly discovered…
Date: October 21, 2020
Docket Number: S-17498
Date: October 14, 2020
Docket Number: S-17704
Date: October 9, 2020
Citation: 473 P.3d 699
Docket Number: S-17557
Justia Opinion Summary: In October 2015, Amy Downing purchased a life insurance policy from Country Life Insurance Company. She purchased both an “executive whole life” policy that would pay a flat amount of $500,000 to her beneficiaries upon…
Date: October 7, 2020
Docket Number: S-17655
Date: October 2, 2020
Citation: 473 P.3d 327
Docket Number: S-17256
Justia Opinion Summary: Angela and Kim Thiele married in February 2009 and separated in January 2016. Angela filed for divorce in February 2016. Kim received a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree in 1980. After working as an employee in…
Date: September 30, 2020
Docket Number: S-17425
Date: September 30, 2020
Docket Number: S-17514
Date: September 23, 2020
Docket Number: S-17476
Date: September 18, 2020
Citation: 472 P.3d 511
Docket Number: S-16993
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners were sex offenders who received prison sentences with some time suspended and probation imposed pursuant to a statute that mandated suspended imprisonment and probation as part of their initial sentences. The…
Date: September 18, 2020
Citation: 472 P.3d 500
Docket Number: S-17190
Justia Opinion Summary: Two business owners executed a series of transactions to sell a regional airline business. Within two years of the sale, one of the buyer-controlled business entities declared bankruptcy, and the seller commenced…
Date: September 18, 2020
Citation: 476 P.3d 1120
Docket Number: S-17379
Justia Opinion Summary: Russell Baker was hired by Federal Express Corporation (FedEx) as a pilot in June 2006. Employment agreements between FedEx and its pilots are established via collective bargaining with a union, the Air Line Pilots…
Date: September 16, 2020
Docket Number: S-17566
Date: September 9, 2020
Docket Number: S-17625
Date: September 4, 2020
Citation: 473 P.3d 316
Docket Number: S-17041
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2011, Joshua Martinez was driving a pickup truck when he lost control and crashed into a cabin, injuring the cabin owner Charles Burnett, and causing damage, including a spill of heating fuel. Burnett asked Martinez's…
Date: September 4, 2020
Citation: 471 P.3d 569
Docket Number: S-17377
Justia Opinion Summary: Anticipating a shortfall of revenue from previously enacted tax incentives, the 30th Alaska State Legislature attempted to offset future fiscal unpredictability by authorizing a discounted buyback of tax credits financed…
Date: September 2, 2020
Docket Number: S-17443
Date: September 2, 2020
Docket Number: S-17578
Date: August 21, 2020
Citation: 470 P.3d 129
Docket Number: S-16793
Justia Opinion Summary: The State of Alaska selected the land at issue in this appeal in 1989 under an Alaska Statehood Act provision allowing State selections of federal lands for community centers and recreational areas. In the 1990s, in…
Date: August 14, 2020
Docket Number: S-17255
Justia Opinion Summary: The superior court found that a father had a history of committing domestic violence, and it therefore established benchmarks for him to meet before he could begin supervised visitation with his children. The father did…
Date: August 7, 2020
Citation: 468 P.3d 1171
Docket Number: S-17042
Justia Opinion Summary: Mick and Cecilia Manns made unsuccessful applications for preference rights to purchase certain Alaska State land. The Mannses argued they were entitled to a preference right under AS 38.05.035(f) based on their business…
Date: July 31, 2020
Citation: 468 P.3d 721
Docket Number: S-17215
Justia Opinion Summary: A man appealed superior court orders authorizing his hospitalization for evaluation, his 30-day commitment, and the involuntary administration of psychotropic medication. He argued the superior court’s failure to conduct…
Date: July 31, 2020
Citation: 468 P.3d 711
Docket Number: S-17353
Justia Opinion Summary: In late 2014 Andy James was working in Deadhorse for Northern Construction & Maintenance, LLC, a company owned by John Ellsworth and members of his family. Ellsworth also owned Alaska Frontier Constructors, Inc. Alaska…
Date: July 29, 2020
Docket Number: S-16778
Date: July 29, 2020
Docket Number: S-17325
Date: July 24, 2020
Citation: 467 P.3d 1076
Docket Number: S-17192
Justia Opinion Summary: Tiffany O., a woman in her 60s, developed epilepsy early in childhood and suffered from regular seizures. She was also diagnosed with intellectual disability, and was described as "unable to engage in a meaningful…
Date: July 24, 2020
Citation: 467 P.3d 1072
Docket Number: S-17211
Justia Opinion Summary: In April 2015 Tracy Sampson was at the Kotzebue Airport, en route from Anchorage to her home in Selawik. She was walking from the Alaska Airlines terminal to the Bering Air terminal when she slipped and fell on ice.…
Date: July 24, 2020
Citation: 467 P.3d 1053
Docket Number: S-17227
Justia Opinion Summary: Virgil Adams, a self-described journeyman carpenter, worked sporadically from 2009 to 2011 at a house located on Snow Bear Drive in Anchorage. He suffered a “T12 burst fracture with incomplete spinal cord injury” when he…
Date: July 24, 2020
Citation: 467 P.3d 1083
Docket Number: S-17302
Justia Opinion Summary: Landowners Ronald and Annette Alleva settled a lawsuit against a the Municipality of Anchorage and organizations that operated a homeless shelter and a soup kitchen; the settlement agreement recited that the landowners…
Date: July 24, 2020
Citation: 467 P.3d 1064
Docket Number: S-17407
Justia Opinion Summary: In October 2017 the Alaska Trust Land Office (Land Office) issued a best interest decision in favor of selling five lots of land owned by the Alaska Mental Health Trust to Louis and Stacy Oliva. The Olivas' neighbors,…
Date: July 24, 2020
Citation: 467 P.3d 1091
Docket Number: S-17544
Justia Opinion Summary: An Alaska Native teenage minor affiliated with the Native Village of Kotzebue (Tribe) was taken into custody by the Office of Children’s Services (OCS) and placed at a residential treatment facility in Utah. She…
Date: July 22, 2020
Docket Number: S-17198
Date: July 22, 2020
Docket Number: S-17303
Date: July 22, 2020
Docket Number: S-17436
Date: July 17, 2020
Citation: 468 P.3d 1046
Docket Number: S-17380
Justia Opinion Summary: Edna K. appealed a child custody modification which declined to find a change of circumstance even though both parties sought to modify their joint custody agreement. Edna and Jeb S. never married but had one child…
Date: July 10, 2020
Citation: 468 P.3d 703
Docket Number: S-17150
Justia Opinion Summary: The Bachner Company leased office space to the State of Alaska. The lease stipulated that the State would occupy 15,730 square feet of space but would not have to pay rent on 1,400 square feet of that space during the…
Date: July 10, 2020
Citation: 467 P.3d 222
Docket Number: S-17247
Justia Opinion Summary: Allison Leigh broke her ankle when she slipped and fell in her employer’s icy parking lot. Following surgery she had a complicated recovery. Her employer began to controvert benefits related to the ankle about nine…
Date: July 10, 2020
Citation: 467 P.3d 231
Docket Number: S-17283
Justia Opinion Summary: Office worker Sallyanne Butts (f/k/a Decastro) fell from her chair onto her hands and left knee. She initially suffered left knee symptoms and later developed right knee problems and lower back pain that she alleged…
Date: July 2, 2020
Citation: 467 P.3d 211
Docket Number: S-17124
Justia Opinion Summary: Falealo Pulusila was charged with fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance (methamphetamine), misconduct involving weapons in the fifth degree, failure to carry proof of auto insurance, and failure to…
Date: June 26, 2020
Citation: 466 P.3d 352
Docket Number: S-17394
Justia Opinion Summary: A mother appealed a final order modifying custody of her three children, arguing the modification was to punish her and was not based on the best interests of the children. She claimed the superior court clearly erred in…
Date: June 19, 2020
Citation: 466 P.3d 345
Docket Number: S-17441
Justia Opinion Summary: In August 2015, Kiel Cavitt was working for D&D Services, repairing a motor home’s windshield, when he fell from a scaffold onto concrete and fractured his right elbow. He suffered what was known as a “terrible triad”…
Date: June 12, 2020
Citation: 465 P.3d 467
Docket Number: S-17079
Justia Opinion Summary: A police officer applied for a Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) for several years when he was not eligible to receive one. Following an investigation, the Executive Director of the Alaska Police Standards Council petitioned…
Date: June 12, 2020
Citation: 473 P.3d 694
Docket Number: S-17111
Justia Opinion Summary: Burl Brim and related entities (Brim) sued Linda Lewis in Oregon. The Oregon trial court first entered a contempt judgment against Lewis in 2016 for failing to abide by an oral settlement agreement the parties placed on…
Date: June 12, 2020
Citation: 465 P.3d 499
Docket Number: S-17126
Justia Opinion Summary: Joseph Traugott suffered from with diabetes and a related foot condition, and developed an infection in his foot while working at a remote site. He required extensive medical treatment for his foot and did not work since…
Date: June 12, 2020
Citation: 480 P.3d 592
Docket Number: S-17168
Justia Opinion Summary: A patient filed suit in 2015 for dental malpractice against his periodontist stemming from care he received from October 2011 through December 2012. The doctor moved for summary judgment based on the two-year statute of…
Date: June 12, 2020
Citation: 465 P.3d 477
Docket Number: S-17629
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal arose from the State’s action limiting the people's constitutional right to legislate directly by initiative. A proposed initiative instituting three substantive changes to Alaska's election laws was…
Date: June 10, 2020
Docket Number: S-17393
Date: June 5, 2020
Docket Number: S-16977
Justia Opinion Summary: After a conflict of interest between an attorney and a long-time client arose during settlement negotiations, the attorney filed a confidential motion with the superior court criticizing his client. The client discharged…
Date: June 5, 2020
Citation: 464 P.3d 1242
Docket Number: S-17406
Justia Opinion Summary: Gregory Weaver worked at remote sites for ARCTEC Alaska1 off and on for several years as a relief station mechanic. His job involved heavy labor, and he filed several reports of injury during the times he worked for…
Date: June 3, 2020
Docket Numbers: S-17258, S-17268
Date: June 3, 2020
Docket Number: S-17582
Date: May 29, 2020
Citation: 464 P.3d 266
Docket Number: S-17076
Justia Opinion Summary: The mother of an autistic child filed a petition for a protective order against the child’s father, alleging that the father kicked the child during an altercation that took place at the Extreme Fun Center in Wasilla,…
Date: May 27, 2020
Docket Number: S-17405
Date: May 22, 2020
Docket Number: S-16977
Justia Opinion Summary: After a conflict of interest between an attorney and a long-time client arose during settlement negotiations, the attorney filed a confidential motion with the superior court criticizing his client. The client discharged…
Date: May 20, 2020
Docket Number: S-16837
Date: May 20, 2020
Docket Number: S-16888
Date: May 20, 2020
Docket Number: S-17585
Date: May 15, 2020
Citation: 463 P.3d 833
Docket Number: S-17071
Justia Opinion Summary: At the end of a marriage marked by allegations of domestic violence and substance abuse, a couple sought protective orders as well as a divorce and custody decision regarding their young daughter. After a series of…
Date: May 8, 2020
Citation: 463 P.3d 176
Docket Number: S-16915
Justia Opinion Summary: In previous proceedings, the Alaska Supreme Court vacated a superior court award entered in favor of Alaska Laser Wash, Inc. against the State, and remanded for reconsideration of prevailing party status, fees and costs.…
Date: May 8, 2020
Citation: 463 P.3d 180
Docket Number: S-17551
Justia Opinion Summary: The parents-parties to this appeal separated when their child was not yet two years old. Following contentious divorce proceedings, the superior court awarded equally shared physical custody and joint legal custody of…
Date: May 1, 2020
Citation: 462 P.3d 991
Docket Number: S-17048
Justia Opinion Summary: In August 2013 the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT) entered into a contract with Osborne Construction Company to upgrade the Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting building at the Fairbanks…
Date: May 1, 2020
Citation: 462 P.3d 1000
Docket Number: S-17330
Justia Opinion Summary: In early December 2018, Jan K. gave birth to Ada K. in Anchorage. Within a few days the Office of Children’s Services (OCS) took emergency custody of Ada and filed an emergency petition to adjudicate her as a child in…
Date: April 29, 2020
Docket Number: S-16588
Date: April 29, 2020
Docket Number: S-17497
Date: April 24, 2020
Citation: 462 P.3d 539
Docket Number: S-16970
Justia Opinion Summary: The plaintiff in this case, M.M, was incapacitated, and in July 2014, a superior court appointed the Alaska Office of Public Advocacy (OPA) as guardian. Plaintiff raised several issues in a complaint filed on his behalf…
Date: April 24, 2020
Citation: 462 P.3d 522
Docket Number: S-17018
Justia Opinion Summary: The respondent in an involuntary commitment proceeding, "Meredith B.," appealed the ex parte order authorizing her hospitalization for evaluation and the subsequent 30-day commitment order. Respondent argued that the…
Date: April 24, 2020
Citation: 462 P.3d 529
Docket Number: S-17099
Justia Opinion Summary: Kaleb Basey, who was convicted of federal crimes, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in January 2016 against several Alaska state troopers based on their actions during his investigation and arrest. In September, Basey…
Date: April 24, 2020
Citation: 461 P.3d 1265
Docket Number: S-17254
Justia Opinion Summary: An Alaskan superior court terminated a mother’s and father’s parental rights based on a finding that they caused mental injury to their child. Relevant to this finding, the child in need of aid (CINA) statutes provided…
Date: April 22, 2020
Docket Number: S-16960
Date: April 17, 2020
Citation: 462 P.3d 1
Docket Number: S-17005
Justia Opinion Summary: Several Alaska Department of Corrections inmates challenged the DOC's policy to charge for local telephone calls, arguing the rates they and call recipients had to pay for calls violated their constitutional right to…
Date: April 17, 2020
Citation: 462 P.3d 19
Docket Number: S-17077
Justia Opinion Summary: Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) held a promissory note and deed of trust executed in connection with a borrower’s purchase of his home. AHFC non-judicially foreclosed on the deed of trust without first…
Date: April 17, 2020
Citation: 461 P.3d 1252
Docket Number: S-17310
Justia Opinion Summary: Cleveland Karren and Jayda Roman had a daughter, born March 2012 in Washington, D.C. Jayda and the daughter moved in July to Mount Vernon, Washington, to live with Jayda’s parents. The family moved to Anchorage in April…
Date: April 10, 2020
Citation: 473 P.3d 682
Docket Number: S-16844
Justia Opinion Summary: Jason Barnebey was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. At the police station he was administered a breath test by a DataMaster testing instrument, which showed a result of .081 percent alcohol, above the…
Date: April 10, 2020
Citation: 461 P.3d 421
Docket Number: S-17174
Justia Opinion Summary: In the 1940s, Fred E.W. and Clara Seater acquired a roughly five-acre parcel located along the Nikiski Bay beach in the Cook Inlet region, referred to as Lot 9. In 1956, following Fred E.W.’s death, Clara transferred Lot…
Date: April 3, 2020
Citation: 460 P.3d 1224
Docket Number: S-17078
Date: April 3, 2020
Citation: 460 P.3d 1220
Docket Number: S-17102
Justia Opinion Summary: A mother appealed a superior court’s child support order that was based on imputed income, arguing that the court’s finding of her imputed gross income was based on faulty weekly hour and hourly rate determinations.…
Date: March 20, 2020
Citation: 459 P.3d 1172
Docket Number: S-16619
Justia Opinion Summary: In August 2007 Brent McCormick was injured while working aboard FV CHIPPEWA, owned by Chippewa,Inc. McCormick filed a lawsuit against Chippewa and Louis Olsen, the vessel's captain in August 2010. McCormick initiated…
Date: March 20, 2020
Citation: 459 P.3d 1148
Docket Number: S-16874
Justia Opinion Summary: A 19-year-old man had a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl, and she became pregnant. The man pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree. While the man was incarcerated the girl gave…
Date: March 20, 2020
Docket Number: S-16893
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in consolidated appeals before the Alaska Supreme Court were the custody proceedings involving the same child before two courts of independent sovereignty: the State of Alaska and the Native Village of Barrow…
Date: March 20, 2020
Citation: 459 P.3d 1162
Docket Number: S-16967
Justia Opinion Summary: A construction contractor’s employees were injured on the job and received workers’ compensation benefits from their employer. The workers later brought a negligence suit against three other corporations: the one that…
Date: March 20, 2020
Citation: 460 P.3d 777
Docket Number: S-16990
Justia Opinion Summary: Psychiatrists employed by the Alaska Department of Corrections (DOC) diagnosed inmate Adam Israel with paranoid schizophrenia. The inmate disputed his diagnosis, contending that his claimed rare genetic ability to see…
Date: March 18, 2020
Docket Number: S-17467
Date: March 13, 2020
Citation: 459 P.3d 467
Docket Number: S-17061
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved an obligor father who never missed a child support payment to the obligee, mother for their minor child. The father retired and began collecting Social Security retirement benefits. As a result, the…
Date: March 13, 2020
Citation: 459 P.3d 464
Docket Number: S-17396
Justia Opinion Summary: A father appealed after his parental rights to his daughter were terminated. The father attended the termination proceeding but left early, at which point the Office of Children’s Services (OCS) moved forward with an…
Date: March 13, 2020
Citation: 459 P.3d 476
Docket Number: S-17401
Justia Opinion Summary: A mother filed a motion for clarification, arguing that Alaska no longer had exclusive, continuing jurisdiction over a child custody order under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) after…
Date: March 11, 2020
Docket Number: S-16885
Date: March 11, 2020
Docket Number: S-17362
Date: February 26, 2020
Docket Number: S-17427
Date: February 7, 2020
Citation: 457 P.3d 540
Docket Number: S-17210
Justia Opinion Summary: Arthur A. appealed a 30-day involuntary commitment order entered after the superior court determined he was mentally ill, posed a risk of harm, and was gravely disabled. He contended on appeal that the court erred by…
Date: February 5, 2020
Docket Number: S-17148
Date: January 24, 2020
Docket Numbers: S-16126, S-16526, S-16527
Justia Opinion Summary: The Alaska Supreme Court has held previously that, under some circumstances, a parent whose parental rights have been involuntarily terminated under Alaska’s child in need of aid (CINA) statutes could seek…
Date: January 24, 2020
Citation: 458 P.3d 81
Docket Number: S-17447
Justia Opinion Summary: Before the Alaska Supreme Court in this case was a constitutional claim arising from the application of a juvenile jurisdiction waiver statute. A minor subject to the statutory provision did not testify at his waiver…
