CRIMINAL PROCEDURE Natalie Howard Hedrick v. State In Hedrick v. State, 474 P.3d 4 (Alaska Ct. App. 2020), the court of appeals upheld a criminal defendant’s waiver of his right to a jury trial because the trial judge had adequately advised him of his right. (Id. at 5). Hunter Hedrick was charged with multiple Continue Reading »
INSURANCE LAW Angela Sbano Downing v. Country Life Insurance Company In Downing v. Country Life Insurance Company, 473 P.3d 699 (2020), the Supreme Court of Alaska affirmed the superior court’s decision that a mother’s interpretation of her late daughter’s life insurance policy was unreasonable, and that the insurance company had paid out the proper Continue Reading »
ADMIRALTY LAW Kristen M. Renberg, PhD Chaney v. State In Chaney v. States, 478 P.3d 222, (Alaska Ct. App. 2020), the court of appeals held that a defendant was properly convicted of fishing with an overlength commercial salmon seine vessel and the regulation for measuring the length of vessels adopted by the State’s Board Continue Reading »
ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY Macklin Willigan Carr v. Alaska Bar Association In Carr v. Alaska Bar Association (475 P.3d 269 (Alaska 2020)), the supreme court held that health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic did not warrant allowing bar applicants to practice law without taking and passing the bar examination. (Id. at 269.). Seven Continue Reading »
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW EMPLOYMENT LAW Kate Goldberg Baker v. Alaska State Commission for Human Rights In Baker v. Alaska State Commission for Human Rights, 476 P.3d 1120 (Alaska 2020), the supreme court held a commission’s dismissal of a discrimination complaint was not so arbitrary and capricious as to offend due process (id. at 1127) and Continue Reading »
CIVIL PROCEDURE Daisy Gray Alleva v. Municipality of Anchorage In Alleva v. Municipality of Anchorage, 467 P.3d 1083 (Alaska 2020), the supreme court held that the superior court properly considered a settlement agreement that plaintiffs referenced in but did not attach to their complaint in granting defendants’ motion to dismiss, and that the settlement Continue Reading »
EMPLOYMENT LAW Melissa English Adams v. State, Workers’ Compensation Benefit Guaranty Fund In Adams v. State, Workers’ Compensation Benefit Guaranty Fund, 467 P.3d 1053 (Alaska 2020), the supreme court held that substantive evidence supported the finding that the property owner engaged in the “business or industry” of “buying, managing, and selling real estate” and Continue Reading »
In Peidlow v. Williams,¹ the supreme court held that the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) requires a superior court that receives a tribal court order to first determine whether the order was issued in an ICWA child custody proceeding, and if it was, to follow the full faith and credit mandate of the ICWA. The Continue Reading »
In Bjorn-Roli v. Mulligan,[1] the supreme court held that a trustee using trust funds to maintain trust property her son was staying on free of rent did not require removal even though it was a breach of fiduciary duty. After the death of her parents, Bjorn-Roli was appointed as sole trustee of two trusts with Continue Reading »
In Adkins v. Collens,[1] the supreme court held that conduct is exempt from Alaska’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act (UTPA) when it is the subject of ongoing, careful regulation and such regulation prohibits the conduct in question. Collens, a quadriplegic, contracted with Maxim, a healthcare corporation, to provide his in-home nursing care. Several Continue Reading »
