Alaska Employment Law

In a personal injury lawsuit, Judge Winston Burbank has granted the defendant manufacturer summary judgment based on collateral estoppel arising from entry of a Decision and Order from the Alaska Workers Compensation Board. 

The employee/plaintiff had argued that his post-D & O Petition to Modify, and a subsequent Compromise and Release, deprived the D & O of the “finality” necessary for application of collateral estoppel.  In rejecting that argument, Burbank relied on Borg-Warner Corp. v. Avco Corp.,  850 P.2d 628 (Alaska 1993), where the Alaska Supreme Court affirmed a judgment based on collateral estoppel although the foundational judicial decision had not been reduced to a Judgment, and the matter had been settled.

Judge Burbank’s Order is here.  Burbank is a Fairbanks District Court judge who here sat as a Superior Court judge.

Maines v. Kenworth Alaska, Inc., 4FA-S01-1328 CI)(Mar. 17, 2008 Order Granting MSJ)

Allen Vacura of Fairbanks represented the employee plaintiff; Aimee Oravec of Anchorage represented the defendant manufacturer.