The late Stieg Larsson brings us a trilogy of mysteries – this is book the first – involving Mikael Blomkvist, a middle-aged journalist and publisher of Millennium, a Mother Jones-type magazine based in Stockholm, and Lisbeth Salander, a punkish, occasionally violent woman in her 20s who is a genius computer hacker when she is not […]
The 9th Circuit has reversed Judge John Sedwick’s exclusionary ruling in the criminal prosecution of Juneau attorney, and State Representative, Bruce Weyhrauch.
We hold that 18 U.S.C. § 1346 establishes a uniform standard for “honest services” that governs every public official and that the government does not need to prove an independent violation of state law […]
The December 3rd meeting of the Alaska Employment Law Section will address “Questions I’ve Always Wondered About, and Questions I’m Embarrassed Not to Know The Answer To – a/k/a Stump The Employment Law Section.”
Submit your questions to the Bar Association before the meeting. Anonymity guaranteed. Write to JoAnne Baker here: bakerj@Alaskabar.org
Peggy Roston, at Alaska Divorce Blog, writes about the ADR device known as “collaborative practice,” and about an on-line program called “MeetWays,” which helps divorced parents find the half-way point when exchanging a child.
At Alaska Law Blog, Jerome Juday writes “Ghost Bike in Anchorage,” an elegy to an Anchorage cyclist who recently died in a car-bike accident. […]
In the OSHA retaliation case reported last month, Judge John Suddock has awarded the prevailing defendant enhanced attorney fees of $129,466.50. The defendant had issued an Offer of Judgment for $2,500.00 during the 75 % period of Rule 68(b)(1).
David Schlerf represents the plaintiff-employee. Linda Johnson of Clapp Peterson represents the employer. Both counsel are from Anchorage.
Fee Award
Alaska’s Late Payment law requires prompt payment of “all wages, salaries, and other compensation” after termination of employment. The statute reads:
If the employment is terminated, all wages, salaries, or other compensation for labor or services become due immediately and shall be paid within the time required by this subsection at the place where the employee is […]
In 2005, Michael Connelly published The Lincoln Lawyer and introduced us to a new protagonist, Mickey Haller, notable at the time because he is not Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch, the star of most of Connelly’s excellent detective stories. Haller is the “Lincoln lawyer” in that first book because he conducts his criminal defense law practice out of the […]
The 9th Circuit this morning reversed the Interior Department’s approval of Shell Oil’s plan for three years of exploratory drilling in the Beaufort Sea, and remanded for a “hard look” under NEPA.
Alaska Wilderness League v. Kempthorne, 2008 WL _______ (9th Cir. Nov. 20, 2008).
Deidre McDonnell from Earthquake in Juneau represents several environmental groups. Kyle Parker from Patton […]
In Taheri v. Evergreen Aviation Ground Logistics Enterprises, Inc., the plaintiff employee complains of retaliatory termination. In response to Rule 26, interrogatories, and a court order, plaintiff apparently supplied less-than-full responses. On the employer’s in limine motion, U. S. District Judge Ralph Beistline has limited the employee’s evidence at trial:
Defendant complains that Plaintiff has provided no […]
When a state licensing board sought to discipline an architect for misconduct as an expert witness in an arbitration, the architect claimed testimonial immunity. [The architect issued a report that failed to include all known relevant and pertinent information on a boundary dispute, as required by 12 AAC 36.210(a)(4). ]
The State of Alaska Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers […]
Electronic filing is mandatory in 9th Circuit cases on January 2, 2009. Training for Alaska lawyers will occur on December 9th in Anchorage (live) and in Juneau and Fairbanks (video). More information here, courtesy of Paul Eaglin.
The 9th Circuit, in a panel that included District of Alaska Judge John Sedwick, has affirmed the Department of Labor’s judgment that a non-union contractor underpaid its roofing employees by a) claiming excessive credit for contributions to a non-union industry apprenticeship training fund; and b) paying apprenticeship wages to employees who were not registered with a […]
When several employees alleged a hostile work environment created by several supervisors, the employer hired its regular outside labor counsel to conduct the investigation. He tape-recorded some (perhaps not all) of the interviews. He rendered an opinion to the employer, apparently that no HWE existed. When the employees filed a lawsuit against both the employer and several […]
What do old professors do when they want to hang on to their rock and roll roots? They write a “legitimate” book about their musical heroes, of course.
Tom Kitts, Professor of English at St. John’s University in New York City, gives us Ray Davies: Not Like Everybody Else, an engaging critical biography of the lead […]
Two Fairbanks police officers have sued the City of Fairbanks, claiming that the City demoted one and required the other to undergo a psychological evaluation, in retaliation for exercising their free speech rights. The officers claim that the City’s conduct violates Alaska public policy, as well as the state Whistleblower Act, the 1st Amendment, HIPAA, […]
The State of Alaska Office of Administrative Hearings conducts hearings for a number of occupational licensing bodies. Earlier this year, it started to post its decisions on-line.
Recent OAH decisions include the following:
Medical Board: The Board affirmed a reprimand and civil fine ($2,500) to a neurosurgeon because his license application contained intentional misrepresentations and he had failed to […]
Walter Monegan’s attorney, Jeff Feldman, has responded in some detail to Tim Petumenos‘ report to the Alaska Personnel Board. H/T: Anchorage Daily News
At Alaska Law Blog, Jerome Juday writes on contract law: A Novation is Not a Car.
And in Hutton v. City of Fairbanks, 4:08-cv-00029-RRB (D.Alaska), plaintiff’s attorney Linda Johnson has moved to disqualify defense counsel […]
This is the third discussion arising from the November 5th meeting of the Alaska Employment Law Section, addressing employment issues related to the Troopergate investigation. Earlier posts addressed name-clearing (11/06) and at-will (11/07) issues. This one addresses the construction of the Ethics Act, found at AS 39.52.
Tim Petumenos (Independent Counsel for the State of Alaska Personnel […]
Are there are any limits on an Alaskan Governor’s right to fire a Commissioner of one of the executive departments? The Employment Law Section of the Alaska Bar Association discussed this issue on Wednesday, November 5th.
Article 3, § 25 of the Alaska Constitution (”Department Heads”) provides:
The head of each principal department shall be a single […]
At the November 5th meeting of the Employment Law Section of the Alaska Bar Association, the members heard from Tim Petumenos (Independent Counsel for the Personnel Board), Thomas Van Flein (Gov. Palin’s personal counsel), Jeff Feldman (counsel for ex-Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan), and John McKay (counsel for Alaska media on Public Records Act issues). The Bar […]
Election law expert Rick Hasen (law professor at Loyola, in Los Angeles) discusses what happens if Sen. Stevens wins re-election, but is then expelled from the Senate on a 2/3 vote. Hasen finds no merit in attorney Stanley Brand’s suggestion that re-election creates a rebuttable presumption against expulsion from the Senate At Election Law Blog.
The November 5th meeting of the Alaska Bar Association’s Employment Law Section will feature a panel of Tim Petumenos (Independent Counsel for the Personnel Board), Tom Van Flein (attorney for Gov. Palin), and Jeff Feldman (attorney for Walter Monegan), discussing employment law issues in Troopergate.
Petumenos Report on Troopergate
Branchflower Report on Troopergate
The report, courtesy of the Anchorage Daily News, is here.
Picks, No Pans
David Wroblewski, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - This is a weighty, 576-page first novel about a rural Wisconsin family named Sawtelle that raises and trains what amounts to a special breed of dogs, the Sawtelle dogs. The son, Edgar, a young man in his teens, was born mute but not deaf, a […]
