OPINION CHRISTEN, Justice. I. INTRODUCTION A worker agreed to perform an errand for his employer, a subcontractor, on the worker's day off. While engaged in the errand, the worker was injured at the job site. His employer filed a notice of controversion on the basis that the worker was intoxicated at the time of the injury and his injuries were proximately caused by his intoxication. The worker then sued the general contractor and the Municipality of Anchorage (the owner of the job site)...
OPINION WINFREE, Justice. I. INTRODUCTION Michael McCrary sued Ivanof Bay Village (Ivanof Bay) and its president, Edgar Shangin, under two contracts, alleging breaches of the implied covenants of good faith and fair dealing. The superior court dismissed the suit based on sovereign immunity. McCrary appeals the sovereign immunity ruling, arguing that even though the United States Department of Interior lists Ivanof Bay as a federally recognized Indian tribe, Ivanof Bay has not been formally...
OPINION FABE, Justice. I. INTRODUCTION Michael and Rebecca Sheffield of Unalaska divorced in 2009. Because Michael planned to move to Virginia in 2010, he sought school-year custody of the couple's two sons. The superior court ruled that the children's best interests supported school-year custody with Michael in Virginia. Rebecca appeals, arguing that the superior court placed too much emphasis on the older son's preference to live in Virginia with his father, especially in relation to the...
OPINION CHRISTEN, Justice. I. INTRODUCTION We granted the Office of Public Advocacy's petition for review on the limited question whether the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (ANDVSA) qualifies as a "public agency" within the meaning of Flores v. Flores and AS 44.21.410(a)(4), such that the Office of Public Advocacy is required to provide representation to an indigent party in a child custody dispute in which the other party is represented by ANDVSA. Because we...
OPINION CARPENETI, Chief Justice. I. INTRODUCTION A Native nonprofit corporation applied to the borough assessor for charitable-purpose tax exemptions on several of its properties. The assessor denied exemptions for five of the parcels, concluding that they did not meet the exemption's requirements. The superior court affirmed the denial as to four of the properties and remanded the case for consideration of one property back to the assessor, who granted the exemption. The nonprofit...
OPINION STOWERS, Justice. I. INTRODUCTION In 2002 Kevin O'Connell was awarded damages against Anthony and Paulette Will for the Wills' failure to pay a promissory note. Under the attorney's fee provision in the note, O'Connell was also awarded full attorney's fees and costs. After O'Connell's attorney engaged in post-judgment collection efforts, Anthony Will paid the judgment. In 2009 Anthony Will filed a request for an order that the judgment in the case had been satisfied, and the...
OPINION FABE, Justice. I. INTRODUCTION Renaissance Resources Alaska, LLC (Renaissance) partnered with Rutter and Wilbanks Corporation (Rutter) to develop an oil field. Acting together, Renaissance and Rutter acquired a lease to the entire working interest and the majority of the net-revenue interest of the field. 1 Renaissance and Rutter, along with Arctic Falcon Exploration, LLC (which is not involved in this litigation), then formed a limited liability company, Renaissance Umiat, LLC (...
OPINION FABE, Justice. I. INTRODUCTION After a minor collision between two vehicles in the drive-through line of a Taco Bell, Jack Morrell, the driver of one vehicle, stabbed and killed Eric Kalenka, the driver of the other vehicle. Morrell was uninsured and Kalenka's policy provided coverage for liabilities arising out of the "ownership, maintenance, or use" of an uninsured motor vehicle. Kalenka's automobile insurer filed an action in superior court, seeking a declaration that Kalenka's...
OPINION CHRISTEN, Justice. I. INTRODUCTION Six weeks after the Regulatory Commission of Alaska approved the 2007 Access Charge Rates long distance telephone companies pay to local telephone companies, an association of local telephone companies realized that five of the rates the Regulatory Commission approved were based upon an erroneous spreadsheet the association included in its rate filings. The association requested that the Regulatory Commission correct the rates. The Regulatory...
NOTICE Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. A party wishing to cite a memorandum decision in a brief or at oral argument should review Appellate Rule 214(d). MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT * 1. Iris and Ryan are the parents of Drake. 1 Iris is the mother of Jules. 2 Jules and Drake are Indian children within the meaning of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). 3 2. The Office of Children's Services (OCS) removed Jules from Iris after he was exposed to...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. A party wishing to cite a memorandum decision in a brief or at oral argument should review Appellate Rule 214(d). MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT * I. INTRODUCTION In a divorce property division the superior court characterized a couple's major asset as marital property, awarded it to the husband, and ordered a $50,668 payment to the wife for an equal division of the marital estate. The husband appeals, arguing the court...
OPINION CHRISTEN, Justice. I. INTRODUCTION Raising over 50 separate points in this second appeal, Allen Heustess challenges the superior court's rulings on child support, property distribution, and attorney's fees. We affirm almost all of the superior court's rulings, with the following exceptions: (1) Because the record does not support the superior court's finding regarding Allen's income for 1995 and because the superior court did not deduct federal income tax liability from Allen's...
OPINION WINFREE, Justice. I. INTRODUCTION The superior court interpreted a statutory preference for the purchase of state land in a manner disqualifying an applicant. Because the superior court correctly interpreted the statute, we affirm its decision. II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS In accordance with article VIII, section 10 of the Alaska Constitution, the legislature enacted the Alaska Land Act shortly after statehood, providing in part "for the selection, acquisition, management, and...
OPINION CARPENETI, Chief Justice. I. INTRODUCTION In 2002, the superior court appointed a professional conservator for a mother suffering from dementia. Her daughter, who also served as special advocate, resisted the appointment. From 2002 onward, the daughter engaged in wide-ranging legal challenges to the conservator's handling of her mother's conservatorship. In response, the conservator incurred large legal fees, paid by the estate, in defending its actions. After the mother's death,...
OPINION FABE, Justice. I. INTRODUCTION A jury convicted Byron Kalmakoff of raping and murdering his cousin in the village of Pilot Point. Kalmakoff had just turned 15 when the crime was committed. The Alaska State Troopers sent to investigate the murder conducted four interviews with Kalmakoff while they were in Pilot Point. Before trial Kalmakoff moved to suppress his statements from those interviews based on violations of Miranda v. Arizona. 1 The trial court suppressed a portion of...
OPINION STOWERS, Justice. I. INTRODUCTION In March 2007, after receiving 39 protective service reports involving allegations of abuse and neglect over the course of 15 years, the Office of Children's Services (OCS) removed five children from parents Ralph and Nell based on evidence of physical abuse, mental injury, and chronic neglect. 1 OCS put the children in foster care and provided the parents with case plans. In September 2007 Ralph and Nell had a sixth child, Faith. After the...
OPINION PER CURIAM. I. INTRODUCTION A landowner contracted with a manufacturer to purchase a pre-fabricated steel hangar. In a separate agreement, the landowner contracted with a construction company to erect the steel hangar on his land. After completing its work, the construction company sued the landowner for unanticipated costs it incurred as a result of manufacturing defects in the pre-fabricated hangar. The landowner made an $18,000 offer of judgment, which the construction company...
OPINION CHRISTEN, Justice. I. INTRODUCTION Thomas Price posted "No Trespassing" signs on his property in 1998 because he believed an excessive number of snowmachiners were using a trail that crossed his land, damaging it, traveling at high speeds, and causing a great deal of noise. In 2003, we held that a group of snowmachine users had established a public prescriptive easement over the trail, but we twice remanded this case to the superior court to define the scope of the easement. The...
OPINION STOWERS, Justice. I. INTRODUCTION In June 2006 Yvan Safar, a contractor and sole owner and shareholder of Safar Construction, Inc., contracted with developer Per Bjorn-Roli, sole owner and shareholder of Norway Estates, LLC, to construct six units in a 12-unit condominium project in Girdwood for a "not to exceed" price of $2,990,434. Wells Fargo Bank agreed to loan up to $3.3 million to Norway to finance the project. By early May 2007 Norway had paid Safar the entire amount of his...
OPINION FABE, Justice. I. INTRODUCTION The City and Borough of Juneau has an ordinance that prohibits smoking in certain places. In March 2008 the City Assembly amended that ordinance to prohibit smoking in "private clubs" that offer food or alcoholic beverages for sale. The Fraternal Order of Eagles, Juneau-Douglas Aerie 4200 and three of its members challenged the ban on smoking in private clubs both on its face and as applied to their Aerie facility. The Eagles argued that the...
