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Search results for “sovereign immunity”

20 results

governmental immunity

A rule that can block or limit lawsuits against a government agency, city, borough, school district, or public employee unless a law specifically allows the claim. In plain...

sovereign immunity

You just got a letter that says the government may be immune from your claim. That means a public body - usually the state, a city, a school district, or the federal government...

qualified immunity

What trips people up most is that qualified immunity does not mean the government can never be sued. It is a legal defense that often protects individual public officials -...

tort claims act

The part that trips people up most is that a government can sometimes be sued for negligence, but not under the same rules that apply to a private person or business. A tort...

I wiped out on gravel in Soldotna and now the government acts like nobody did anything

A bad motorcycle wreck on loose road gravel can turn into a blame game fast, and the public agency on the other side may start working your case before you can even get through your appointments.

ARTICLE by Tanya Ivanoff

Federal Tort Claims Act

Missing this deadline can end a case before it starts, and using the wrong procedure can reduce or completely bar recovery. When an injury or property-loss claim involves a...

governmental function

You'll usually see it in a denial letter or hear it from an adjuster or agency lawyer: the road work, snow response, inspection, policing, or emergency decision was a...

Suing after a dark signal crash in Wasilla feels ugly, but the bills are real

A National Guard member hurt during civilian work at a dark Wasilla traffic light may still have a strong claim even if the other driver is sitting on dashcam footage.

ARTICLE by Tanya Ivanoff

Who Pays After a Workplace Burn Injury

When more than one company may have caused a kitchen burn in Alaska, workers' comp, liability claims, and the blame game can collide fast.

ARTICLE by Sarah Nanouk

proprietary function

Think of a city running a parking garage or a public utility the way a private company would: charging fees, maintaining property, and serving customers. In law, that kind of...

discretionary function

Not every bad government decision counts as a discretionary function. A common misunderstanding is that any mistake by a public employee is automatically protected from a...

deliberate indifference

Picture a captain who sees a warning light, hears the crew report a dangerous leak, and does nothing anyway. That is close to what deliberate indifference means: more than a...

Section 1983 claim

A Section 1983 claim is a federal civil rights lawsuit against a state or local government official, or sometimes a local government body, for violating someone's...

Monell liability

Not a rule that makes a city or borough automatically responsible every time one of its employees violates someone's rights. That is the biggest trap. Under Monell liability, a...

Soldotna crosswalk crash, denied claim, and your kid is still the one paying for it

A parent in Soldotna gets told their child's injury claim is worth less because care was delayed, missed, or interrupted after a crosswalk crash.

ARTICLE by James Kowalski

My coworker is undocumented and got hit near Soldotna can he still file?

Everyone says undocumented workers should stay quiet, but actually immigration status does not cancel injury rights in Alaska. What should have happened: if your coworker was...

You skipped the ER after the Kenai crash. That doesn't kill your claim.

A social worker in Kenai got hurt when a vehicle crashed through a construction zone barrier, kept working instead of going to the ER, and now the insurer is using that delay against her.

ARTICLE by James Kowalski

my wife was hit in a Fairbanks work zone, got worse weeks later, and now the insurer has gone silent

When a crash injury in Fairbanks looks minor at first and turns serious later, the legal clock in Alaska may start when you discovered the real injury, not on the crash date - and insurer silence changes nothing.

ARTICLE by Marie Olson

damage cap for government

How much can you actually recover if a government agency caused the harm? A damage cap for government is a legal limit on the amount of money a person can collect from a public...

my friend borrowed the truck and now nobody will pay is that real

A first crash gets a lot worse when the truck was borrowed, coverage is denied, and the two-year Alaska deadline is still running.

ARTICLE by Tanya Ivanoff