OPINION STOWERS , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION Two credit card holders defaulted on their accounts, and the issuing bank 1 elected to litigate debt-collection actions. After courts entered default judgments against both card holders, the card holders filed new and separate suits alleging that the bank violated the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act (UTPA) during the earlier debt collection actions. The bank moved in each case to arbitrate the UTPA claims, and the superior...
OPINION MAASSEN , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION This case involves a breach of contract claim brought by a contractor that leased office space to the State of Alaska. After a ten-year lease term and a one-year renewal, the contractor alleged that the State was in default on its rent payments, and it filed suit in superior court. The State moved to dismiss the complaint, arguing that the claim was governed by the Alaska State Procurement Code and that the contractor had failed to exhaust its...
OPINION MAASSEN , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION A woman was admitted to a hospital emergency room with pregnancy-related complications. The attending physician recommended that she be transported by medivac to a different facility. The woman and her husband informed the physician that they needed their insurer's preauthorization for that course of action or they could be personally liable for the costs. The physician allegedly promised to call the insurer and, if it would not approve the...
OPINION WINFREE , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION Providence Alaska Medical Center terminated Dr. Michael Brandner's hospital privileges without notice and an opportunity to be heard after determining he had violated hospital policy by failing to report an Alaska State Medical Board order requiring him to undergo an evaluation of his fitness to practice medicine. Dr. Brandner unsuccessfully challenged this action through Providence's internal post-termination hearing and appeal procedures. Dr....
OPINION BOLGER , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION A driver and his passengers sued another driver for injuries arising from an accident. After a trial, the jury returned an award of past pain and suffering damages for the driver and past medical expenses and pain and suffering damages for one of the passengers. The driver and passengers appeal this award, arguing that it is impermissibly inconsistent and not supported by the weight of the evidence. Because the driver and passengers failed to...
OPINION MAASSEN , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION The superior court granted sole legal and primary physical custody of a child to her grandparents, following a trial at which the court found by clear and convincing evidence that leaving the child in her mother's custody would be clearly detrimental to the child's welfare. Nine months later the mother moved to modify custody, attesting by affidavit that she had improved her life in a number of ways and had accomplished goals the court had set...
OPINION BOLGER , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION An employer and its workers' compensation insurer challenged a former employee's continuing eligibility for workers' compensation, relying on surreptitious video surveillance and a doctor's report issued after the doctor viewed an edited surveillance video. The employee and his wife sued the employer's workers' compensation carrier and a number of others involved in the attempt to terminate benefits; they alleged several causes of action,...
OPINION MAASSEN , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION Several men were in a car that rear-ended the plaintiff's vehicle. The plaintiff sued the car's owner, believing he had been driving. The car's owner moved to dismiss the lawsuit on the basis of an affidavit from a second man, who claimed he was driving at the time of the accident. The plaintiff amended her complaint to name both men. The second man then moved to dismiss the claim against him, arguing that under Alaska Civil Rule 15(c) the...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. A party wishing to cite such a decision in a brief or at oral argument should review Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d). MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT * I. INTRODUCTION A mother appeals the trial court's decision terminating her parental rights to two children. Because the court's relevant findings are not clearly erroneous and the court correctly applied relevant law, we affirm the termination of the mother's parental rights....
OPINION WINFREE , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION Alaska's medical emancipation statute historically allowed minors to consent to pregnancy-related health care subject to an express exception for pregnancy termination. In 2001 we held that under the Alaska Constitution's broad privacy guarantee a pregnant minor has the same fundamental privacy right to reproductive choice as an adult, and in 2007 we held that right cannot be conditioned on another's consent. The 2007 ruling allowed minors to...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. A party wishing to cite such a decision in a brief or at oral argument should review Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d). MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT * I. INTRODUCTION A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to her son, arguing that the superior court erred in finding that she failed to remedy the conduct or conditions that caused her son to be a child in need of aid. But the court reasonably relied on expert...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. A party wishing to cite such a decision in a brief or at oral argument should review Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d). MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT * I. INTRODUCTION A mother appeals a trial court's decision to delay and consolidate a child in need of aid adjudication with a termination of parental rights trial. She also appeals the termination of her parental rights to one child. Because the superior court did not err in (1)...
OPINION BOLGER , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION After remand the Alaska Bar Association Disciplinary Board again recommends disbarring an attorney who testified falsely in private civil litigation and in these disciplinary proceedings. Previously we directed the Board to reconsider sanctions in light of our holding that the attorney violated Alaska Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4 and Alaska Bar Rule 15, but not Rules of Professional Conduct 3.3 and 3.4, because the misconduct did not arise...
OPINION BOLGER , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION A former airline employee sued her former employer for wrongful termination without first attempting to arbitrate her claims under the provisions of a collective bargaining agreement subject to the federal Railway Labor Act. The superior court denied the employee leave to amend her complaint, concluding that her claims and proposed claims were precluded by failure to exhaust contractual remedies and were preempted by the Railway Labor Act. But...
OPINION FABE , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION In November 2010 Stevie Lander was unable to complete a right turn on an icy road, and her vehicle slid into a car driven by Bonnie Luther. Although Luther reported no injuries at the scene of the accident, that evening she went to the emergency room for head and neck pain, and within weeks she began to suffer from lower back pain that prevented her from returning to her job as a flight attendant. Luther attributed her pain to the accident and...
OPINION MAASSEN , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION This case involves competing claims of right to the pore space in a large limestone formation about a mile underground. Cook Inlet Natural Gas Storage Alaska, LLC (CINGSA) has leases with the holders of the mineral rights — the State of Alaska and Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI) — that allow it to use the porous formation as a reservoir for storing injected natural gas. But the City of Kenai, which owns a significant part of the surface estate...
OPINION BOLGER , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION Under a Department of Revenue regulation, all appeals of oil and gas property tax valuation must be heard by the State Assessment Review Board (SARB), while appeals of oil and gas property taxability must be heard by the Department of Revenue (Revenue). Three municipalities challenged this regulation, arguing that it contradicts a statute that grants SARB exclusive jurisdiction over all appeals from Revenue's "assessments" of oil and gas...
BOLGER , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION Timothy G. asserted in the superior court that the statute of limitations had been tolled on his claim against the Office of Children's Services because he was mentally incompetent following years of abuse by his stepfather. The superior court held an evidentiary hearing on this issue and concluded that Timothy had failed to prove that he was incompetent. On appeal, Timothy argues that the superior court should have ruled in his favor if he produced more...
OPINION FABE , Chief Justice . I. INTRODUCTION The State Office of Public Advocacy (OPA) filed a petition for an ex parte protective order on behalf of an elderly woman against her adult daughter and caregiver, after receiving allegations of financial abuse made by the elderly woman's other family members. The superior court found those allegations to be unfounded and denied the protective order. The elderly woman's other daughter had previously initiated a conservatorship proceeding, in...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. A party wishing to cite such a decision in a brief or at oral argument should review Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d). MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT * STOWERS , Chief Justice . I. INTRODUCTION A motorist was injured in a car accident. His insurance company paid his medical bills up to the coverage limits and denied further payments. He brought several claims against the insurer. The superior court held that, given prior...
