Miscellaneous

• Another Deadly Motorcycle Crash

  Mike Schneider | July 30, 2007 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  The Seward Highway was shut down for hours Saturday night after a vehicle-motorcycle crash that took place south of McHugh Creek at around 7:00 p.m.. The female driver of the motorcycle apparently crossed the center line and caused the crash that took her life, according to Alaska State Troopers investigating the case.For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Car and...

• Two Dead in Industrial Fall

  Mike Schneider | July 25, 2007 12:22 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  Two young men working to put siding on the mill building at the Rock Creek Mine died Thursday evening when the man lift, a metal basket-like elevated work station, tipped over, spilling them 50 feet to the ground. The mine, near Nome, had recently passed a safety inspection. These fatalities double the mine death numbers for Alaska over the last decade. An investigation of the incident...

• Can Assault Victim Get Justice?

  Mike Schneider | July 18, 2007 12:55 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  An Anchorage bus driver was arrested on sexual assualt charges, allegedly having taken advantage of an adult passenger with the mental age of a child. Criminals often have no money or insurance, but if they were on the job, or if their work position helped them commit the crime, a good lawyer can often find a way to hold the employer and its insurance company accountable.

• The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007

  Mike Schneider | July 16, 2007 12:18 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007 would keep companies from making consumers give up their right to a trial by jury by forcing mandatory binding arbitration. Many consumer contracts, like are offered on a take-it-or-leave-it basis by EBay, lending institutions, brokerage firms, car dealerships, and health care providers take away your rights in the fine print. Consumers should support this...

• Former Ak Airlines CEO Dies in Plane Crash

  Mike Schneider | July 04, 2007 12:46 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  Former Alaskan, and former Alaska Airlines CEO, Bruce Kennedy was fatally injured June 28th, when the Cessna 182 he was flying crashed into the Cashmere, Washington High School parking lot. Kennedy not only made Alaska Airlines a major player in the aviation industry, but became internationally recognized for his humanitarian efforts after he left his CEO position in 1981. He was 68. He...

• Inusrance Claim Denied for Excluded Driver

  Mike Schneider | July 02, 2007 12:05 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  Be careful, or your liability coverage won't help you if the seriously or fataly injured bring suit against you and you have "exluded" the driver of your vehicle from coverage. So held the Alaska Supreme Court June 29, 2007. Seriously injured Nelson sued the inured parents for negligent entrustment of their car to their son, who hit Nelson.Because parents had excluded son from their policy,...

• Big Oil and Insurance Team to Disadvantage Alaskan Families

  Mike Schneider | June 29, 2007 12:51 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  If you are hurt or killed on the job you can't sue your employer or fellow employees. And it used to be that employers/fellow employees were the only ones that enjoyed this immuntiy from negligence...or worse. But a couple of legislative sessions ago, Sen. Ralph Seekins of Fairbanks, big oil, and big insurance teamed up to make things even better for negligent big business, while leaving...

• Multi-Million Dollar Dry Cleaner Lawsuit Tossed

  Jane Schneider | June 28, 2007 8:32 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  On Monday, June 25, 2007, a judge ruled that no pair of pants if worth $54 million. Roy Pearson, ad administrative law judge sued a Washington D.C. dry cleaner alledging that the dry cleaners lost his pants and tried to give him a pair that were not his. D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff ruled that the owners of Custom Cleaners, the Chung family, did not violate the consumer-protection...

• Law a Giveaway to Insurers and Careless Landowners

  Mike Schneider | June 27, 2007 12:52 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  Representative Paul Seaton, of Homer, Ak has proposed a law, HB25, which will immunize landowners, largely to the benefit of the insurance industry, from suits brought by Alaskans seriously injured or killed because of landowner carelessness. Rep. Seaton is trying to do the right thing for public recreation, but unless huge loopholes in the bill are closed, the public policy "baby" will be...

• Injured Crime Victims Have Hope

  Mike Schneider | June 22, 2007 12:06 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  Some crime victims are seriously or catastrophically injured. Some are killed. The criminals often have little or spend what they have on defense lawyers. Most victims know about the Violent Crimes Compensation Act. But few know that there are private insurace policies that may pay for the harms and losses they have suffered.The Violent Crimes Compensation Act may be a small help, but by its...