FAMILY LAW Supreme Court of Alaska (2022) Elza Bouhassira In Rainer v. Poole, 510 P.3d 476 (Alaska 2022), the supreme court held that a court cannot modify a custody order without a substantial change in circumstances. (Id. at 481). The parents in this case had a child in June 2013 and their relationship ended in Continue Reading »
NATIVE LAW United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (2022) Connor Sakati In Metlakatla Indian Community v. Dunleavy, 48 F.4th 963 (9th Cir. 2022), the Ninth Circuit held that Alaskan fishing regulations limiting fishers from entering a fishery are inapplicable to the Metlakatla Indian Community, because these regulations would violate the community’s right to fish traditional Continue Reading »
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW Supreme Court of Alaska (2022) Anighya H.D. Crocker In Cook Inlet Fisherman’s Fund v. Department of Fish and Game, 514 P.3d 1259 (Alaska 2022), the supreme court held that (1) the Alaska Statehood Act did not impose specific ongoing federal requirements on fishery management in state waters, (Id. at 1255–56), and (2) Alaska Continue Reading »
CIVIL PROCEDURE Supreme Court of Alaska (2022) Alex Bartlow In Anniskett v. Tracey, No. S-17398, 2022 WL 2717712 (Alaska July 13, 2022) (unpublished), the supreme court affirmed the superior court’s rulings declining to set aside a probate settlement agreement and dismissing, for failure to state a claim for relief, a separate lawsuit alleging conversion of Continue Reading »
HEALTH LAW Mary Beth Barksdale In Trescot v. Foy, 492 P.3d 1014 (Alaska 2021), the supreme court held that in reviewing a petition for new trial in a medical malpractice case, the trial court erred in admitting the affidavits of jurors as evidence supporting the petition, reversing the trial court’s grant of a mistrial for Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL JUSTICE Mary Beth Barksdale In Smith v. State, 484 P.3d 610 (Alaska Ct. App. 2021), the court of appeals held that, where inordinate expenses for travel and housing would arise, a district judge may limit the radius for calling prospective jurors for a criminal case to a distance lower than the 50-mile radius established Continue Reading »
ELECTION LAW, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW Margot Graham In Alaska Public Offices Commission v. Patrick, 494 P.3d 53 (Alaska 2021), the Alaska Supreme Court held that statutory contribution limits are unconstitutional in the context of independent expenditure groups (Id. at 60). Individual plaintiffs filed complaints with the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC), alleging that to independent expenditure Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Mary Beth Barksdale In State v. Powell, 487 P.3d 609 (Alaska Ct. App. 2021), the court of appeals held that a video of a forensic interview of a victim in a child sexual abuse and controlled substance case was inadmissible evidence as presented to a grand jury because the grand jury format was Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Mary Beth Barksdale In Baer v. State, 499 P.3d 1037 (Alaska Ct. App. 2021), the court of appeals held that a conviction for second-degree theft was proper where a social security card was stolen, that admission of evidence from the initial theft of the card was not clear error, and that special probation Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Peter Graham In Collins v. State, 494 P.3d 60 (Alaska Ct. App. 2021), the Court of Appeals held that the 2013 session law amending the provisions of AS 12.55.125 to establish significantly higher presumptive sentencing ranges for offenders convicted of sexual felonies was a clarification rather than a modification of the statute; therefore, Continue Reading »
