- DAlaska: Fort Rich CO - A Follow-up
Posted May 15, 2008, 3:54 pm by Will Schendel
Magistrate Judge John Roberts today issued an amended Recommendation, again urging District Court Judge John Sedwick to order the Army to issue an honorable discharge to paratrooper Michael Barnes.
- Interior Department: Polar Bear is Threatened Species
Posted May 14, 2008, 4:30 pm by Will Schendel
The Interior Department's 368-page declaration that the polar bear is a threatened species is found here.
- DAlaska: Fort Rich’s Conscientious Objector
Posted May 14, 2008, 12:22 pm by Will Schendel
U. S. Magistrate Judge John Roberts' Recommendation in the case of the Fort Richardson paratrooper seeking CO status may be found here. The recommendation (favorable to the soldier) goes to Judge John Sedwick. The case is Barnes v. Geren, 3:08-cv-0015-JWS-JDR (D.Alaska). Note, however: Today's docket sheet states: The initial recommendation in the above entitled case (Docket No. [...]
- 9th Cir: Due Process Rights of Public Employees
Posted May 14, 2008, 10:31 am by Will Schendel
A city laid off a permanent employee, and denied the employee's request for a pre-termination hearing. The 9th Circuit quickly held that the city denied the employee his federal Due Process, and then focused on the remedy and the issue of immunity. As to remedy, the panel held that when a public employer improperly denies an employee a [...]
- 9th Cir: Title VII and FBI Security Clearances
Posted May 13, 2008, 3:46 pm by Will Schendel
Federal courts lack jurisdiction to review FBI security clearances, even if the clearance issue arises in a Title VII claim, according to the 9th Circuit. Federal courts do not have the power to review an agency's decision to grant or revoke a security clearance. See [Dorfmont v. Brown, 913 F.2d 1399, 1401 (9th Cir. 1990)]. This lack of [...]
- 9th Cir: BIA’s Duty to Its Native American Employees
Posted May 13, 2008, 9:45 am by Will Schendel
The 9th Circuit has held that neither the Indian Preference Act nor the federal government's trust responsibilities toward tribes required the BIA to give actual notice of changes in the rules for calculating Civil Service retirement benefits of BIA employees. The court held that constructive notice via publication in the Federal Register suffices for Native [...]
- DAlaska: Extended Time to Appeal
Posted May 13, 2008, 9:26 am by Will Schendel
If your office staff receives notice of entry of judgment but you miss the 30- or 60-day deadline to appeal a District Court judgment, can your client get relief under either Appellate Rule 4 or Civil Rule 60(b)? Judge Sedwick says, No. The District Court granted the defendant's unopposed motion to dismiss. The Clerk then sent out electronic [...]
- Department of Labor & Industries Decides Sound Transit Concrete Bridge Segments Cast In a Pre-Cast Yard are Subject to Prevailing Wages
Posted May 12, 2008, 5:00 pm by John P. Ahlers
Not unexpectedly, the Department of Labor & Industries ("DLI") prodded and cajoled by labor interests has determined that pre‑cast bridge segments, cast in a pre‑cast yard, are subject to prevailing wages. DLI relied upon three factors in arriving at this conclusion: (1) the bridge segments are "sophisticatedly" engineered and ultimately their use is "complex", (2) the installation task of tying the rebar required "sophisticated skill", and (3) that the tasks required to build the...
- Litigation Control in the Alaska Legislature: An Update
Posted May 12, 2008, 8:22 am by Will Schendel
On February 25th, we reviewed three bills before the Alaska Legislature. Here's the current status: Frivolous litigation HB 349 (Chenault) would amend Civil Rule 82(b) and Appellate Rule 408(e) [and codify both] to authorize fee awards against attorneys and parties who defend, as well as prosecute "frivolous litigation," including cross-appeals as well as appeals. Update: The bill has gone [...]
- Design ContractÂ’s Enforceability of Limitation of Liability Provisions
Posted May 11, 2008, 5:00 pm by John P. Ahlers
Designers often seek to minimize their legal liability on a project by negotiating limitation of liability (LOL) clauses in their professional contracts. An LOL clause in a design contract seeks to cap a design professional's liability for professional negligence at some specified dollar amount, often the amount of the designer's fee. The recent trend is for courts to uphold these clauses as long as those LOL clauses are consistent with public policy and are clearly written. A real estate...
- Personal Satisfaction and the Gerund Man
Posted May 10, 2008, 8:09 pm by Jerome H. Juday
I discussed the topic of contract conditions in an earlier blog posting. This got me thinking about conditions that require the personal satisfaction of one party to the contract. For example, the contract may provide that Harry Houdini only has to be pay Magic Tricks, LLC for a new water escape chamber if Harry is satisfied with the chamber's construction. If Harry does not like the completed chamber because it leaks water all over the stage, then Harry will be excused from his obligations...
- The Weekend: Pulp Fiction
Posted May 10, 2008, 6:44 am by Dean Hanley
If you are old enough to remember pulp fiction - I don't mean the movie, I mean the drugstore literature - then the Hard Case Crime series will appeal to you. These are "hard boiled" books, some of them reprints of old crime novels, some of them newly written, that would make Dashiell Hammett proud, [...]
- Employment Bills in the Alaska Legislature - An Update
Posted May 9, 2008, 11:39 am by Will Schendel
We reviewed major employment bills on February 22nd. Here's what's happened since then (bottom line: not much): Caps on mandatory overtime for nurses: CSSB 28 (B. Davis) would set caps on mandatory overtime (generally 80 hours in a 14-day period, though with multiple exceptions), and establish an enforcement process in the Department of Health and Social Services. [...]
- Performance Reviews for Attorney Employees
Posted May 9, 2008, 9:41 am by Will Schendel
Not many Alaska law firms are large enough, I bet, to do formal performance reviews of their attorneys. Maybe such reviews are common in mega-firms. Here's one done for the former Paul Hastings associate whose departure has recently been big news. The attorney apparently authorized the release of the review. H/T: Wall Street Journal Law Blog
- Contractor Prevails on Differing Site Condition and Notice Issue in Colorado
Posted May 8, 2008, 5:00 pm by John P. Ahlers
Recently, the Court of Appeals upheld a differing site conditions clause, reversing a trial court that had concluded that the contractor was not entitled to recover for additional costs incurred due to an unforeseen subsurface conditions. The trial court had ruled that the contractor had assumed the risk of the subsurface conditions by entering into a fixed price contract. The Colorado Court of Appeals reversed the trial court, noting that where contract contains a differing site conditions...
- Employee Rights at Law Firms
Posted May 8, 2008, 1:06 pm by Sarah J. Schendel
Allegations of an unsafe work environment, unresponsive management at Big Law: a law student perspective This morning news of a claim filed with both the EEOC and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination against Boston firm Bingham McCutchen began making the rounds, and by noon the blawgosphere was in its typical frenzy. Michelle A. Moor, an ex-associate [...]
- DAlaska: In Limine Testimony
Posted May 7, 2008, 10:18 am by Will Schendel
In a Clean Water Act case, where the court will first decide liability, Judge John Sedwick has excluded the testimony of numerous defense witnesses, relying on the defendants' summary of proposed testimony. Sedwick ruled that most of the proposed testimony is relevant only in the penalty phase of the litigation. Sedwick also held that Alaska DEC [...]
- City's Pre-Suit Claim Filing Ordinance Not Applicable to GC's Contract Claim
Posted May 6, 2008, 5:00 pm by Brett Hill
This case (Matia Contractors, Inc. v. City of Bellingham, Court of Appeals, Div I) addressed the question of whether a general contractor who is filing a lawsuit against a public entity for breach of contract is required to give notice to the public entity prior to filing its lawsuit. Matia was the general contractor on the Joe Martin Field project, Bellingham's municipal baseball stadium. Bellingham terminated Matia's contract and Matia sued. Bellingham argued that Matia's lawsuit was barred...
- Idaho Court denies GC's claim against project engineer
Posted May 6, 2008, 5:00 pm by Brett Hill
The project involved the development of an area of downtown Pocatello, and the scope of work for Beco Construction, the general contractor, included street and sidewalk improvements as well as installation of utilities. The contract was awarded to Beco by the City of Pocatello. The City also hired J-U-B Engineers to serve as the project engineer. J-U-B was also tasked with administering the City's contract with Beco, and J-U-B's role was described in the City/Beco contract. During the course of...
- Release of Employment Claims - the Paul Hastings Case
Posted May 6, 2008, 11:39 am by Will Schendel
There's been much publicity the last several days about the claim by the Paul Hastings attorney that the firm laid her off with, at least, great insensitivity. Here's the Release that Paul Hastings presented to her. The attorney rejected the offer (which included a non-disparagement provision). H/T: Above the Law