Justia Alaska Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

While receiving workers' compensation benefits for an injury, an employee periodically endorsed benefit checks that included a certification that she had "not worked in any employment or self-employment gainful or otherwise." Her employer obtained surveillance videos of her activities at an herb store owned by her boyfriend and filed a petition with the Workers' Compensation Board alleging that she had fraudulently misrepresented her employment status for the purpose of obtaining benefits. The Board denied the petition, finding credible the employee's testimony that she did not consider her activities to be work that needed to be reported. On appeal, the Alaska Workers' Compensation Appeals Commission concluded that the Board erred in determining that the employee had not "knowingly" misrepresented her work status, but it affirmed the Board's denial of the petition on the alternative ground that the employer had not shown the requisite causal link between the allegedly fraudulent check endorsements and the payment of benefits. Upon review of the matter, the Supreme Court concluded that the Commission erred in its interpretation of the "knowingly" element of the test for fraud. Nevertheless, the Court affirmed the Commission's decision because, based on the Board's binding credibility determination, the employee's statements were not knowingly false and therefore not fraudulent. View "ARCTEC Services v. Cummings" on Justia Law

A worker at a fish processing plant was injured while on the job. His employer asserted that it did not maintain workers' compensation and that it was immune from suit, so the worker filed a negligence action in state court seeking reimbursement for medical expenses, compensation for lost wages, and attorney's fees. The superior court granted the employer's motion to dismiss on immunity grounds. Because the employer, an international organization, enjoys absolute immunity from suit and it did not waived this immunity, the Supreme Court affirmed the superior court. View "Price v. Unisea, Inc." on Justia Law

A man filed an application for both occupational and nonoccupational disability benefits from the Public Employees Retirement System, claiming disability from both physical and mental conditions. An administrative law judge (ALJ) denied his claim, finding that he failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that he had a physical or mental disability that presumably permanently prevented him from satisfactorily performing his job. The man appealed and the superior court affirmed the ALJ's determination. On appeal to the Supreme Court, the man challenged the ALJ's determination regarding his mental condition. Because the ALJ's written findings were sufficiently detailed to support the ALJ's conclusions, and because substantial evidence supported the ALJ's conclusion that the man’s mental condition did not amount to an occupational or nonoccupational disability, the Supreme Court affirmed the superior court’s decision to uphold the ALJ's order. View "McKitrick v. Alaska Pub. Employees Retirement Sys." on Justia Law

The State of Alaska dismissed an employee for allegedly submitting a falsified timesheet and claiming full pay for a week when she was not working. The employee argued her dismissal violated the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing because a biased supervisor was involved with the termination decision, because the State's investigation was conducted unfairly, and because she was treated differently from similarly situated employees. Upon review, the Supreme Court affirmed the superior court's decision that there was insufficient evidence to show a breach of the implied covenant on any of these grounds. The Court also affirmed the superior court's ruling that the employee's unfair labor practice claim was untimely and therefore waived. View "Lentine v. Alaska" on Justia Law

A State of Alaska employee was discharged. With union representation, the employee unsuccessfully challenged his termination in grievance proceedings. When he later filed suit for wrongful termination, the State subpoenaed the union representative to appear for a deposition with the union's grievance file. The superior court denied the employee's privilege-based request for a protective order. The Supreme Court granted the employee's petition for review to consider whether a union-relations privilege exists in Alaska. The Court concluded the privilege exists by implication of Alaska statutes, and therefore reversed the superior court's ruling and remanded the case for application of the privilege to the discovery dispute. View "Peterson v. Alaska" on Justia Law

A healthcare worker was sprayed in the eye with fluids from an HIV-positive patient. She received preventive treatment and counseling. Her employer initially paid workers' compensation benefits; it later filed a controversion based on its doctor's opinion that the employee was able to return to work. The employee asked for more benefits, but the Alaska Workers' Compensation Board denied her claim. The employee appealed, but the Alaska Workers' Compensation Appeals Commission affirmed the Board's decision. Because the Supreme Court agreed with the Commission that substantial evidence supported the Board's decision, the Court affirmed the Commission's decision. View "Runstrom v. Alaska Native Medical Center" on Justia Law

A worker suffered an above-the-knee amputation of his right leg in a work-related accident in 2003. The accident happened when he used his foot to push a bale of mulch that he was feeding into a machine; his leg was caught in the machine and later had to be amputated. He received workers’ compensation benefits for the injury and later sued the manufacturer and the owner of the machine under various tort theories. After trial a jury found that the manufacturer was not negligent and the product was not defective. It also found that the company that owned the machine at the time of the accident was negligent, but that its negligence was not a legal cause of the accident. After finding that the worker and his employer were negligent and that their negligence was a cause of the accident, the jury apportioned fault for the injury between them. Because the Supreme Court concluded that the superior court erroneously admitted evidence of the worker's receipt of workers' compensation and social security benefits and his past drug use, the Court reversed the trial court’s judgment and remanded the case for a new trial. View "Jones v. Bowie Industries, Inc." on Justia Law

An employer petitioned the Alaska Workers' Compensation Board for reimbursement from the Second Injury Fund for payments it made to a disabled worker. The Fund opposed the petition. After a hearing, the Board granted the petition. The Fund asked the Board to reconsider its decision in December 2009. The hearing officer told the parties that he would inform them in writing by the end of January 2010 about what action the Board was taking on the reconsideration request. Instead, in April 2010 the hearing officer sent a prehearing conference summary indicating that the reconsideration request had been denied by operation of statute. The next day the Fund filed a notice of appeal and a motion to accept a late-filed appeal with the Alaska Workers' Compensation Appeals Commission. The Commission denied the Fund's request to file its appeal late and dismissed the appeal. Because the Supreme Court concluded that the Fund filed a timely appeal, it reversed the Commission's decision and remand for consideration of the Fund's appeal. View "Dept. of Labor & Workforce Development v. Tongass Business Center" on Justia Law

58-year-old Asian-American Appellant Sue Grundberg alleged that she was discriminated against when her employer, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, denied her a promotion to the position of Engineer II, and instead hired "a younger less qualified" Caucasian man for the position. She filed a complaint with the State Commission for Human Rights, which initiated an administrative investigation of the hiring decision. At the conclusion of the investigation, the Commission issued a written determination that Appellant had failed to produce substantial evidence of unlawful discrimination by the Department. On appeal, the superior court affirmed the agency determination. Because Appellant produced evidence sufficient to create an inference that the Department's alleged reason for not hiring her is a pretext for discrimination, the Supreme Court reversed. View "Grundberg v. Alaska State Commission for Human Rights" on Justia Law

Lawrence Trudell was injured when he fell while trying to descend a ladder from the roof of a structure on which he was working. At the time he was employed by Phillips Construction Co. (Phillips), a construction contracting company principally owned by Clayton Phillips and Trish Dorman. Phillips did not have workers' compensation insurance, even though it was licensed by the State. The structure Trudell was working on was owned by John Brent and Debra Hibbert. Trydell filed suit for workers' compensation benefits against Phillips and the Hibberts, alleging that the owners were "project owners" as defined in the Alaska Workers’ Compensation Act and thus liable for securing workers' compensation. Phillips then filed for bankruptcy. The Hibberts denied liability on the basis that they were not "project owners." After a bench trial solely about whether the building owners were "project owners" or Trudell's employers, the superior court decided that they were neither and that they were not liable to pay worker's compensation, and awarded attorney’s fees against the Trudell. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded it was error to interpret "project owners" as excluding the building owners, and reversed the superior court's decision. View "Trudell v. Hibbert" on Justia Law