Summary of Alaska Supreme Court Opinions
In the interest of truth in advertising, I will no longer describe these posts as "weekly" summaries of Alaska Supreme Court opinions. Nonetheless, here is a selection of some relevant and interesting opinions issued by the Alaska Supreme Court over the past month.
May 8, 2009
In Cragle v. Gray, a granddaughter claimed that her grandmother orally promised to leave her house to her if she would care for her until she died. The grandmother’s will left the house to her daughter, and not the granddaughter. The court reversed the trial court’s denial of a motion for partial summary judgment, holding that the oral promise was a succession contract and unenforceable under AS 13.12.514.
Municipality of Anchorage v. Regulatory Commission of Alaska held that the Regulatory Commission had no reasonable basis for denying approval of rate increases requested by the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility. The rate increases were necessary because of new regulations adopted by the Municipality regarding payment in lieu of property taxes.
April 24, 2009
E.P. v. Alaska Psychiatric Institute contains a good discussion of Alaska’s involuntary committee laws. The opinion affirms the commitment of a mentally ill individual on three consecutive occasions. The court found that the individual had suffered organic brain injury as a result of his substance abuse, and was a danger to himself and others.
Smith v. Kofstad addressed the time limit for executing on a judgment, and the effect passage of property by operation of law to the judgment debtor’s spouse had the judgment creditor’s effort to executive on the judgment – the property could not be executed on.
April 10, 2009
Ruest v. Alaska Petroleum Contractors addressed the State’s 50% share of any punitive damage award, and held that the parties to a case in which punitive damages are awarded cannot enter into a settlement post-verdict to avoid the State receiving its share of punitive damages. Consequently, the State’s interest in 50% of any punitive damage award attaches at the time the verdict is published, and not at final judgment.
April 3, 2009
In Gibson v. Nye Frontier Ford, Inc., the Alaska Supreme Court reaffirmed that it will do much to preserve an arbitration clause in a contract. Although it found that part of an arbitration provision was unconscionable, it also held that the unconscionable provision was severable, leaving the remainder of the arbitration agreement enforceable. The court did hold that requiring an employee to pay arbitration costs was not permitted by the Alaska Wage and Hour Act. As such, the employer could require arbitration of the employee’s claims only if the employer agreed to pay the arbitration costs.
Now, we’ve got the Ninth Circuit jumping into the fray with both barrels blazing. On April 20, 2009, the Nines issued an important ruling in
I can just imagine our Official State Gastroenterologist, Dr. Ashman, performing the procedure. The Doc will slip the colonoscope into Alaska’s anal canal, which is otherwise known as the State Capitol Building in Juneau. A little lubrication may be required to do the job properly. The usual lubricant for that location would probably work best. So the Doc is going to have to slip the Sergeant-At-Arms guarding the door a little cold hard cash.
(Actually, this is a damn fine example of an integration clause. Too often, the ones I see leave out some of the important lingo. For instance, you need to use both “complete” and “final” in the first sentence to really have an effective integration clause. Otherwise you end up with a “final” contract, but not a “complete” one. This means the Yo-Yo on the other side of the deal can say something else has to be added to make it a “complete” writing, which then changes the “final” deal entirely. And I’m not just talking about transactions with Master Cellists here.) 

