Alaska Employment Law

Assignment of medical claims: Chris Slottee, at Atkinson Conway’s AlaskaLawBlog, reviews Mat-Su Regional Medical Center v. Burkhead, Op. No. 6458 (Alaska  Feb. 19, 2010), in which the Supreme Court (per Justice Eastaugh) held that a patient couldn’t assign a p i claim for recovery of her medical expenses to her health-care provider.

Red Dog:  On the employee’s motion to reconsider the most recent employer victory, U. S. District Judge Ralph Beistline rejected the employee’s argument that his motion for a permanent injunction didn’t implicitly concede that the factual record was sufficiently developed to grant summary judgment for the employer.  “Conitz may not have requested summary judgment by name, but his motion for a permanent injunction would have required the Court to resolve the merits of the case, including all the factual elements of his claim, in his favor.   . . .  By filing a motion for a permanent injunction, Conitz asserted, in essence , that there was no genuine issue of material fact in this case.”  Conitz v. Teck Alaska Inc., Case No. 4:09-cv-0020-RRB (D.Alaska Order of Feb. 23, 2010)

Individual Title 7 liability:  The 9th Circuit held, back in 1993, that Title 7 doesn’t impose liability on individual defendants.  The Supreme Court has never addressed the issue; courts from other circuits overwhelmingly line up with the 9th Circuit.  Nevertheless, some Title VII plaintiffs continue to plead the theory, presumably on the off-chance that some day the Supreme Court might surprise everybody.  U. S. District Judge Russel Holland struck an individual Title VII claim in Kelly v. Matanuska Electrical Ass’n, Inc., Case No. 3:09-cv-0027-HRH (D.Alaska Order of Feb. 25, 2010).  Plaintiff’s counsel in that case, William Ingaldson of Anchorage’s Ingaldson, Maassen & Fitzgerald, filed a limited opposition to the defendants’ summary judgment motion, recognizing controlling Circuit authority, but noting contrary policy considerations and preserving the argument for appeal.  Patricia Vecera of Turner & Mede represents the employer.