Alaska Supreme Court hears case at Nome-Beltz

On Monday, the Nanook Den took a break from hosting the usual swath of athletes and welcomed the Supreme Court of Alaska, who held court for students and community members as part of the Supreme Court LIVE program.
The program brings the highest level of state court to schools across Alaska with the real hearing of cases before a student audience, to broaden understanding of the justice system.
“What we have in this proceeding is basically two goals. One is just to let you see your court system at work,” Chief Justice Peter Maassen said. The other is to encourage curiosity around careers in law.
The program first debuted in 2010, but this was the first time the judges came to Nome, thanks to rallying from Nome’s Magistrate Judge Pam Smith and a formal letter request from Meghan Sigvanna Tapqaq, staff attorney at Kawerak.
Smith said it’s taken a few years of outreach to get the justices to Western Alaska, but she’s thrilled to finally be hosting them.
“This school [Nome-Beltz] is near and dear to my heart, and I used to run Youth Court program. It’s great to give the kids an opportunity to meet the justice system,” Smith told the Nugget. She was part of the Youth Court herself as a kid, she said.
In the gym, with an audience of high schoolers, community members and extra security called in by the Alaska State Troopers and Nome Police Department, the five justices of the Alaska Supreme Court sat robe to robe behind a folding table draped in a blue tablecloth with Nome-Beltz written in bold, under it the seal of the State of Alaska.
Court was in session.

The Hearing
The case heard was John D. Rochon v. City of Nome, Allen Wright and Jackie L. Reader. Rochon sued the Nome Volunteer Ambulance Department after it provided services outside of city limits. The Superior Court of Alaska granted a summary judgement in favor of the City of Nome and ordered Rochon to pay the city over $16,000 for attorney fees. Rochon appealed the trial court’s decision, asking the Alaska Supreme Court to overturn the summary judgment and the order to pay the attorney’s fees.
The judges worked to make sense of the legalese, having lawyers break down the background of the case so the audience could understand the decision being made.
Allen Wright, the attorney for the City of Nome and Lee Baxter, representing Jackie L. Reader, gave a statement of the facts of the original case, at the request of Justice Jude Pate.
On October 12, 2019, Rochon was involved in a drunk driving accident 35 miles outside of Nome’s city limits. The people involved in the accident spent the freezing night on the tundra next to the Bonanza Channel bridge due to lack of cell service to call for help. In the morning, a driver saw the accident and drove to town to call 911, prompting response from the city’s emergency services. The Nome Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Departments responded to the accident even though they had no obligation to do so. Rochon later sued the city and some of the first responders, claiming the city’s response aggravated back injuries he received in the accident.
“This appeal will affect how the how the City of Nome and other local governments across Alaska respond to emergency calls for assistance outside of their territorial boundaries,” Baxter said.
Attorney for Rochon, Jeffrey J. Barber, said the case comes down to one main issue: The interpretation of a statute that gives immunity to municipal employees when providing a “gratuitous extension of services outside city limits,” as Barber described.
Both sides had 15 minutes to present their argument to the justices and another five for their final comments.  
“As you would expect, we will take the matter under advisement and issue a written decision at a later time and for now, we are, well, I guess we’re adjourned for today,” Chief Justice Maassen said.

Questions from students
Following the hearing there was a question-and-answer period for the high schoolers, first for the lawyers.
“What do you look for when you’re going to build your defense or your argument?” Finn Gregg asked.
As a personal injury plaintiff lawyer, Barber said his area of law is a “three-legged stool” made up of a clear breach of duty to protect, strength of the argument that the breach caused harm and the damages that resulted.
“You have to have all of those legs on the stool, if one of them is missing, the case is going to be a catastrophe,” Barber said.
Then the justices returned, in their regular clothes to answer questions, but none pertaining to the case they just heard.
Atlas Boeckman asked how many cases the Alaska Supreme Court hears a year, as the “top Alaskan judges.”
Clerk of the court Meredith Montgomery answered that the court gets about 350 appeals per year, which they’re required to hear. They also receive about 500 petitions and only accept about 5 percent each year.
Justice Dario Borghesan clarified that they are the top state court in Alaska, but they’re just one of three jurisdictions which also include Tribal and Federal courts.
“I did read a New York court opinion once that said that the Alaska court was the highest court in the land, just because it is the farthest North,” Chief Justice Maassen said, prompting laughter.
Questions continues and justices shared stories about maintaining work life balance and how they found the career path to a judge.
“We have some very good lawyers behind me. I hope what you see today might inspire you to take one of those paths. So again, thank you very much for having us here today,” Chief Justice Maassen said.

Before the session at Nome-Beltz, the Alaska Supreme court met with tribes of Nome, Native Village of Solomon, King Island Native Community, Nome Eskimo Community and Kawerak, the regional nonprofit tribal consortium.