Alaska Employment Law

Civil practice tips: This morning’s opinion in Bradley v. Klaes, Op. No. 6242 (Alaska Mar. 28, 2008), contains two reminders about obvious but commonly-seen slips by civil practitioners:

On summary judgment motions, the movant must afffirmatively prove the absence of a factual dispute on any material fact, even if the opponent will not contest the fact.  The opponent’s failure to contest the issue, or even to file an opposition, does not permit the trial court to grant the motion.

when a summary judgment movant does not make a prima facie case showing the absence of a factal dispute on a material, fact, it is error to grant summary judgment, and the grant of summary judgment may be reviewed on appeal even if the nonmoving party did not file opposition to the motion in the trial court

Op. at p. 13.

On Rule 56(f) motions, the movant should supply the names of the witnesses who are currently unavailable (and why) and who will supply affidavits or deposition testimony, and the issues on which they will testify.  Op. at p. 10.

Supreme Court widget production: The UCDavis Law Review surveyed the average annual production of “dispositions by signed opinion” from each state’s high court, using 2006 data. Alaska, with 139, surpassed California (105) and New York (110).  Others were Oregon (54) and Washington (139).  The survey was part of an article that found that the California Supreme Court was the most influential state court (based on citations) over the last 65 years.  H/T: Kimberly Kralowec at The Appellate Practitioner.