Alaska Employment Law

Performance reviews and libel:  The 9th Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a claim that an employer libelled an employee via performance reviews, holding that California law recognizes a “common interest” privilege, and that the employee had failed to show malice. 

Rudwall v. Blackrock, 2008 WL _______ (9th Cir. Aug. 18, 2008)(unpub.)

Alaska habeas corpus:  The panel that sat in Anchorage on August 6th has reversed Judge Burgess’ grant of habeas corpus to an Alaskan defendant.  Burgess had held that the state trial court had violated clearly established law when it admitted certain evidence of prior bad acts.  The panel reversed, holding:

The Supreme Court has never held that the admission of prior bad acts vidence to prove propensity is unconstitutional. See Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U.S. 62, 75 n.5 (1991); Mejia v. Garcia, 2008 WL 2853384, at *7 (9th Cir. July 25, 2008). Conceding this issue, Basurto argued, and the District Court agreed, that when a trial court admits prior bad acts evidence, the trial court must give a limiting instruction, and the failure to do so violates due process. We can find no clearly established Federal law, i.e., a Supreme Court holding, in support of this proposition. In Estelle, the Court noted that, in that case, a limiting instruction prevented the jury from using prior bad acts evidence for an improper purpose.  502 U.S. at 75. The Court in no wise held that a limiting instruction is always necessary to protect a defendant’s due process rights. 

Basurto v. Luna, 2008 WL ______ )9th Cir. Aug. 18, 2008)(unpub.)